Two concepts that are often thought to exist in separate training worlds are endurance and power. Traditional coaching philosophy would have you train them in vastly different ways.
The typical example is the difference between marathoners and sprinters. This leads to a common debate - can a sprinter become a marathoner? Or vice versa?
Are endurance and power really as different as we might think?
Endurance and power have a common thread. What brings them together in real life? Mitochondria.
Mitochondria – the energy power houses of the cell – can provide us with many answers in terms of training principles for endurance and power.
Endurance: Mitochondria are the cell organelles that we think of when we think “endurance”. If you have lots of mitochondria generating lots of energy, you can go and go and go. So how do we get more mitochondria?
Mitochondria will be found in greater concentration around active muscle fibers, not inactive ones. The greater number of muscle fibers recruited, the greater the demand for energy. The greater the demand for energy, the greater the density of mitochondria.
So how do I increase muscle fiber recruitment? Add resistance – high load, and few repetitions. There are many ways to accomplish this depending on the sport.
Keep that in mind as we move ahead with the discussion.
Power: A quick physics review is in order. In physics terms,
P = FV
where P is power, F is force and V is velocity. We can increase power by either increasing force, or doing so at a faster velocity.
How do I generate more force? By recruiting more muscle fibers. And how do I increase muscle fiber recruitment? Add resistance – high load, and few repetitions. Again, there are many ways to accomplish this depending on the sport.
Guess what? If I recruit more muscle fibers, I have a greater demand for energy which requires, yes, more mitochondria. What happens to endurance in the meantime when I have more mitochondria?
A parallel training universe: I can increase the number of mitochondria for endurance sport activity by increasing resistance. Resistance (load/intensity) is your friend – as a power athlete, and as an endurance athlete.
Traditional thinking focuses on concepts like “muscular endurance” in the gym, in which the athlete works with a moderate resistance for multiple sets of a moderate number of repetitions. It is not uncommon to see 3 to 5 sets of 20 or more repetitions. A similar thought process exists for endurance athletes doing long, slow distance with little interval work. But does this address the mechanisms of endurance at the cellular level?
Does this address the key mechanism of increasing mitochondrial density? No.
Does this provide the critical stimulus for muscle recruitment? No.
Have coaches and clinicians been getting reasonable results nonetheless? Perhaps.
Most importantly though - could we optimize the exercise parameters and get even better results? Absolutely.
Photo credits: Oran Viriyincy
Allan Besselink, PT, DPT, Ph.D., Dip.MDT has a unique voice in the world of sports, education, and health care. Read more about Allan here.