All connected: VO₂ Max, Lactate threshhold, Muscle Structure, Mitochondria, Heart Rate, ATP, Fibers

in this video you learn how your cells produce energy what the energy systems are how they are interconnected which organs are responsible for which energy systems how different muscle types correlate with these systems how our body shifts gears between energy systems and finally which type of training works best for each Energy System crazy amount of information all interconnected and structured so that you get the full knowledge of your body let's Dive In how do we produce energy our body consists of trillions of cells and each one generates energy in the same way by using ATP ATP is a molecule with three phosphate groups the bonds between these groups store significant energy when one phosphate group is ripped off it releases energy for the cell to use and this is exactly what each of the cells of our body do someone provides them with ATP they rip off one phosphate group and get a decent amount of energy the question is who provides ATP to the cells the body has over 20 different ways to create ATP but the four main pathways are creatine phosphat system glycolysis aerobic respiration fatty acid oxidation each of these processes involves numerous steps but we would focus only on the basics simplest one is the creatine phosphate phosphor creatine donates a phosphate to ADP producing one ATP it happens in stantly making it the fastest source of energy but the downside is that the body only has a small amount of phosphocreatine so it depletes within 15 seconds the second pathway that we will explain is fatty acid oxidation fats which we have plenty in our body come through many Circles of beta oxidation as a result we get a lot of acial COA and special fuel atile COA then enters the kreb cycle generating more special Fuel and ATP all collected special fuel goes to the electron transport chain where under heavy fire of protons phosphate is connected to ADP producing ATP overall one fat molecule generates about 106 ATP next two are complicated and connected in fact they almost could be considered as one because the outcome of glycolysis is the starting position of aerobic respiration so the aerobic method aerobic respiration cannot exist without anerobic method glycolysis however glycolysis can exist on its own so we need to keep two lines first let's cover full cycle glucose is converted into pyate which produces two ATP water some special Fuel and protons next pyate is converted into atile COA again producing some special Fuel and some CO2 the crab cycle then takes acetol COA producing more special fuel finally the special fuel enters the electron transport chain where they donate electrons and protons as a result we get 28 ATP water and heat thus from a full cycle of glycolysis and aerobic respiration we get 32 ATP pretty impressive however sometimes our body struggles to deliver oxygen which blocks these processes in that case the way the body can get ATP is through glycolysis even though glycolysis produces only 2 ATP it is a faster energy method than aerobic methods and a valid question would be why would we even need aerobic methods well at some point you run out of nad+ and you need nadh to be converted back to it to proceed with glycolysis this is where your body developed a mechanism to get NAD plus pyate is converted to lactate and please don't worry about lactate it's a helpful byproduct that can be converted back to pyrovate anytime with almost zero energy input issue of glycolysis that on top of pyate it produces a lot of protons protons make the muscles more acidic leading to the burning sensation often felt during intense anerobic exercise and the more we go through the cycle of pyate production the more protons we generate the more blocked our muscles are why then do athletes measure lactate instead of acidity to stud study how bad the situation in their body is because there is no convenient way to measure acidity while lactate level is highly correlated with acidity and this is where the myth that lactate blocks muscle is born anyhow we finally got to the interesting part of the video let's do the comparison we have four sources of ATP the main limitation for two of them is oxygen without it they won't function the limitation of the creatine phosphate system is that there is only a small amount of creatine phosphate available in the body so it doesn't last long as for glycolysis its limitation is it produces a large number of protons which make the environment more acidic and therefore it also cannot last long if we use it on a maximum capacity however it is more important how much we produce per one cycle we get one ATP with creatine phosphate system 2 ATP with glycolysis roughly 30 ATP with aerobic respiration roughly 106 ATP with fatty acid oxidation so you clearly see that fats is most energy-rich process people with a lot of fats have higher energy potential not only do they have more cells than others but also each cell can produce more energy however that also may be the reason why it is hard for them to get into shape just imagine how much energy they need to spend in order to burn through such reserves the second thing we need to compare speed of production I need to note that in this this example we will neglect all limitations of fuel shortage and other restrictions let's take an imaginary world where it is true creatine phosphate system can produce 12,000 ATP in an hour glycolysis can produce 7200 ATP in an hour aerobic respiration can produce 4500 ATP in an hour fatty acid oxidation can produce 2500 ATP in an hour and now you understand that actually the creatine phosphate system is superior you can instantly create much more energy with this method it will last only like 15 seconds you only have one shot one opportunity think about it when you will participate in some form of competition next time but what about some realistic scenarios what about how many atps can we realistically produce in an hour creatine phosphate system can produce 350 ATP in an hour glycolysis can produce 1200 ATP in an hour aerobic respiration can produce 4500 ATP in an hour fatty acid oxidation can produce 2500 ATP in an hour now you see that actually aerobic respiration is the most efficient method it does not have time limitations like glycolysis also it is pretty fast compared to fats or protein basically each ATP production method has its strengths some are fast some are more efficient all methods are valid but I believe you might not fully understand what to do with all of this information how do you do you use these methods in real life in order to understand that we need to draw a graph of the possible ATP production over time with each method for example for creatine phosphate we said it only works for 15 seconds then this is the creatine phosphate over time graph one note that all previous calculations were made for one cell at this point we need to switch for the whole muscle that means that we cannot really use previous numbers and rather operate on the same scale also to make it a bit more accurate let's rename ATP volume to power because for us it is important how much power we can produce so the graph shows the relationship between the power we can achieve during an exercise and the duration of the exercise we already discussed creatine phosphate which could produce a lot but only in a short period of time glycolysis can produce a bit less but for longer it is limited due to excessive protons and lactate production aerobic respiration takes a bit more time to start working however after about 3 minute mark it is the biggest source of ATP production since other sources have limitations to be fair we only have about 2 hours of glucose storage in our body yes we can eat during exercise and restore around 100 G per hour but let's neglect it for the moment our Fat's capacity however is almost unlimited but we only can produce a small amount of power from it now you see the pattern let's draw the graph of the maximum possible power output over time it looks something like this for each individual it varies some are sprinters who can generate high power for short durations While others are endurance oriented maintaining a steady output over longer periods why are they like this because they have different combinations of ATP production sources developed sprinters have developed glucolysis while stayers have developed fatty acid oxidation worth noting that this graph is only about maximum effort for sure we could make less effort an hour exercise and produce only let's say this much amount of power do we have some examples yes during short races you can run much faster than during long races that is because you can produce more power over a short period of time good examples for this are world records for different running distances if we compare the speed of running which actually represents power we see that the longer the distance the slower the speed so this would be your across all Elite athletes maximum possible power overtime graph now you know methods of energy production and which are better for what one can give you burst in short races other in Long races and here is some useful knowledge first we can actually train different ATP production methods this means for example if we want to increase endurance we can enhance our aerobic respiration on the other hand if we want to become sprinters we can improve the efficiency of glycolysis leading to a higher power output in shorter exercises second the more we increase glycolysis the more we limit aerobic respiration and vice versa the more we increase aerobic respiration the more we limit glycolysis this will be explained in the muscle types subsection a bit further keep in mind I said limit most likely this video is being watched by beginners whose levels of aerobic respiration and glycolysis are still relatively low so they can easily develop both by now you likely feel confident in understanding and energy production methods however to effectively develop these systems it's essential to understand where they occur and which organs and structures are involved let's break this down the creatine phosphate system operates in the sarcoplasm to enhance the system's efficiency you need to increase your creatine phosphate reserves this will provide more immediate energy for short burst of high-intensity activity glycolysis also takes place in the sarcoplasm to improve its efficiency you should focus on building larger glycogen reserves on average the human body stores about 400 G of glycogen in muscles approximately 15 G per kog of muscle mass and an additional 100 G in the liver which serves as an emergency Reserve interestingly this is why Predators often Target the liver first it's the most energy-rich organ in the body next is aerobic respiration and fatty acid oxidation these two are a bit more complicated first of all both of them occur in a special place within a muscle cell called mitochondria and the more you have them the more ATP you can produce glycogen and fat reserves are not the limiting factor instead these systems are heavily reliant on oxygen let's explore how oxygen is delivered and consumed oxygen enters the body through the lungs during breathing you would expect that we tell you that you need efficient lungs to consume more oxygen but that is not the truth usually lungs are not a limitation they produce enough oxygen however further steps of delivering oxygen to the muscles are lacking capacities this is why devices like lung training masks are largely ineffective they address a step which is not a limitation for most people next step is your blood quality specifically how much blood you have and how much oxygen it can carry amount of blood is referred to the number of red blood cells while the hemoglobin amount refers to how much blood cells can carry oxygen and Please be aware that too much hemoglobin is not good excessive hemoglobin thickens the blood slowing circulation and raising the risk of blood clots also it is really hard for such blood to reach well-developed small capillaries usually blood is a limitation for example your lungs might Supply 100 units of oxygen but if your blood can only transport 80 units oxygen delivery is limited yes you feel that you need more oxygen you're suffocating but it is not because you are under breathing it's because your blood is not delivering next component of oxygen delivery is the heart which is the pump for our blood a strong heart pumps more blood ensuring that oxygen reaches muscles effectively the heart is arguably the most critical muscle in the body but I will speak about the muscles just a bit later so it makes sense to come back after that next is the number of small capillaries surrounding your muscles it determines how efficiently oxygen can be delivered a dense capillary Network allows for better oxygen supply but may reduce available space for muscle fibers balancing capillary growth and muscle development is crucial for Optimal Performance next our muscles consume the oxygen first step is myoglobin which acts as a warehouse inside cyop plasm it stores oxygen for periods of high demand increasing myoglobin levels enhances the muscle capacity to absorb oxygen finally mitochondria serves as ATP factories all processes involving aerobic respiration and fatty acid oxidation occur here the more mitochondria you have within your muscle cells the more you can use aerobic respiration and fatty acid oxidation so these are all organs and structures involved in energy production but we forgot about one extra player the one who will be consuming all the ATP microfibrils located inside muscle cells they will be doing the work while the rest we mentioned are only warehouses and factories of fuel and now let's do a couple of imaginary muscles imagine your muscle have large reserves of creatine phosphate vast glycogen stores huge amounts of myoglobin and mitochondria it sounds perfect doesn't it but there's a problem despite the robust ATP production systems you don't have enough myofibrils to perform the work this setup is inefficient in real life because myofibrils must occupy at least 50% of the space to ensure effective muscle performance now imagine a muscle with only a few mitochondria and minimal myo but great glycogen reserves the rest of the space is packed with myofibrils this muscle type mainly relies on glycolysis for energy since glycolysis is fast such muscles provide quick bursts of energy and increased strength due to the abundance of myop fibral this setup is ideal for sprinters it offers speed and power however the lack of mitochondria means the muscle fatigues quickly and Recovery takes longer these examples illustrate how muscle type depends on its internal composition and let me jump straight to the point we as humans have three options of muscle fibers slow twitch fibers these have more myoglobin and mitochondria but fewer myofibrils they are designed for endurance working for long periods but producing less power fast twitch fibers these have abundant glycogen reserves and myop fibral they provide quick powerful movements but lack fatigue resistance intermediate fibers these are a middle ground offering moderate endurance and power without excelling at either next thing you need to learn is that you are born with a unique combination of slow fast and intermediate muscle fibers some people naturally have more fast twitch fibers and tend to excel in sprinting While others have more slow twitch fibers and perform well in endurance events can you with your combination muscle fibers change something well first of all you can train and if you put into work fast switch fibers they will grow same with slow if you mostly will do aerobic jogs they will grow if we take identical twins and train them differently one might develop as a sprinter while the other excels as an endurance athlete but can you change one type of muscle fiber to another it's incredibly difficult it will take a lot of training just to change a small amount however we can change intermediate to fast intermediate to slow fast to intermediate however these changes require consistent high-intensity training over a long period all right let's recap what we just learned all our cells get energy from ATP our body has four mechanisms to produce it some are faster While others are more efficient we explored which organs and structures are required to activate each mechanism we also learn that developing one organ or structure can compromise another or reduce muscle strength as The Limited space within muscle cells prevents accommodating everything we might want finally we examine the types of muscle fibers which are essentially different combin combinations of the organs and structures necessary for various ATP production methods this knowledge is the base however there are a few more things you need to know let's make a timeline what is happening with your body when you do harder and harder exercises first of all at any exercise intensity all energy systems contribute however depending on the intensity your body prioritizes certain systems during low intensity exercise your body primarily burns fat the most energy-rich res source as long as the intensity is low enough this fuel source is sufficient to meet your energy needs when fat burning alone cannot provide enough ATP the body activates glycolysis and aerobic respiration this stage is known as the first lactate Threshold at this point glycolysis begins producing lactate but aerobic respiration efficiently consumes it preventing lactate and excessive acidity build up as intensity increases lactate production via glycolysis surpasses the capacity of air iic respiration to utilize it this is the second lactate threshold here muscle acidity Rises rapidly limiting how long you can sustain this intensity you may notice that aerobic respiration is still not maxed out here in this area lactate accumulates faster than it can be utilized not because aerobic respiration is maxed out but because it is too slow to meet the immediate demand for ATP for example if your body needs 8,000 ATP molecules instantly aerobic respiration might only provide 5,000 this delay forces your body to rely on faster less efficient Energy Systems the next stage is when aerobic respiration reaches its absolute limit it is the point where we hit the limit of our oxygen supply also called V2 Max point where we max out capacities of all organs involved in oxygen production Beyond V2 Max all energy systems operate at their maximum capacity now you understand the breaking points but you might still wonder how to apply this knowledge or identify where you are during exercise this is where heart rate comes into play heart rate correlates directly with exercise intensity the higher the intensity the higher your heart rate heart rate zones which you may already be familiar with represent different combinations of energy systems at work to determine the precise heart rate at your breaking points a lab test is necessary however most smart watches provide fairly accurate estimates so you can rely on them for practical purposes lastly athletes include an additional Zone in their training the recovery zone this zone is intentionally set at an intensity level where none of the energy systems are maxed out or approaching a breaking point it's not aimed at improving Energy Systems but instead focuses on relaxation muscle tuning and Recovery the key to improving a particular Energy System lies in fine-tuning your training intensity to answer the question how do I improve my specific Energy System you need to train at the maximum capacity it of that system this sends a clear signal to your body that it must adapt and grow stronger for fat metabolism the optimal intensity is at the first lactate threshold for Arabic respiration it's at the second lactate threshold for glycolysis you need to train at V2 Max intensity and remember recovery occurs in zone one where no significant Improvement happens before diving into specific training types tailored to each system let's focus on the relationship between VO2 Max and the second lactate threshold many endurance athletes obsess over V2 Max striving to increase this number however training excessively in this Zone primarily develops glycolysis which can limit aerobic respiration it means you are limiting your endurance opposite of what endurance athletes are looking for second example would be you are really focused on developing aerobic respiration you are increasing and increasing your second lactate threshold but at some point it hits your V2 X which is low because you never try to develop it then you are also not really welld developed for endurance the second lactate threshold reflects the efficiency of your oxygen consumption system which involves mitochondria and myoglobin inside the cells V2 Max on the other hand measures the capacity of your oxygen delivery System including your heart blood and capillaries both systems are crucial for overall performance these examples highlight the importance of a balanced well-designed training plan to achieve optimal growth But first you need to understand what is limiting you is it not a well-developed oxygen delivery system which stands for v2 Max or oxygen consumption system which stands for second lactate threshold one more pretty important point is about weight loss many of you might be thinking to lose weight I need to train in the fat burning Zone unfortunately this is a common misconception the truth is weight loss happens when you consume fewer calories than you burn no matter how and where you train when you train in the so-called fat burning Zone all you're doing is teaching your body to improve its fat burning efficiency during exercise I repeat during exercise let's look at an example you can train in zone 4 for 10 minutes and then to recover your body will burn an incredible amount of fat or you can train in zone 2 for 10 minutes and burn some fats however your recovery will not be that big so actually it doesn't really matter which workout you choose you need to eat less than you burn this is the the only way to lose weight now let's talk about training types and how they help develop different Energy Systems in general we have four common types of training recovery run easy tempo run fast tempo run and intervals or fart lck on hill climbs I need to remind you that to develop any Energy System you have to push it to its limits and I think by now you already have a good sense of which training improves which system a recovery run doesn't directly impact any energy system system but it's still valuable outside of energy systems there are other areas we need to develop however just doing recovery runs won't make you faster or improve your endurance a basic steady run is focused on developing your fat burning system this is why endurance athletes spend so much time in this Zone as you remember fats are virtually unlimited while glucose lasts only around 2 hours that means most people run marathons using fat for fuel and I'm not even talking about ultramarathons here also incre ing the number of mitochondria benefits not just fat burning but also aerobic respiration a fast tempo run focuses on arobic respiration it helps you balance glucose consumption through glycolysis and mitochondrial activity intervals on the other hand push the limits of your body where aerobic methods aren't enough this develops your glycolysis but it also develops your V2 Max which is still very necessary for aerobic systems my examples are simple but even intervals can be broken down into three or more types each targeting different aspects of your body but that's a bit much for today this is exactly what we do for our athletes in the Run FAQ running school if you really want to learn more the best way is to experience it firsthand by training with us with that said I just want to quickly sum everything up each cell in our body gets energy from ATP we have four main ways to produce ATP and each method has its own advantages and disadvantages we can choose which one to develop and based on that choice we either become more enduring or faster when we focus on developing a particular method we're also developing specific structures in our body for example muscle types are linked to the energy systems they rely on we also learned how our body selects its energy production method based on workout intensity and how heart rate zones correspond to gears in this system finally we went over the different training types that develop each Energy System I think that's more than enough for one video I'm sure I messed up somewhere so feel free to leave a comment bye-bye