ENERGY SYSTEMS: IN EXERCISE YOGA

ENERGY SYSTEMS: IN EXERCISE YOGA

ENERGY SYSTEMS 

Energy Systems Optimize your performance using your energy systems strategically. The energy systems are 3. Don't you know them? Get to know them and learn how to exploit your performance to the maximum here. The key:

"Each energy system predominates depending on the intensity and duration of the exercise"

 

By way of introduction, we first need you to know the most important molecule in relation to our physiology and exercise, an essential molecule for life, a molecule that allows our cells to communicate, that our systems work and that is in charge of supplying all the energy to our muscles so that we can move. That molecule is ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

 We could dedicate an entire book to ATP (in fact, they exist), but we will focus on what summons us in this post and try to explain it in the most colloquial way possible. ATP is a molecule capable of donating "phosphate" groups (it has 3). By donating or "releasing" a phosphate group, it is possible to generate molecular cascades of different kinds in our physiology, including muscle contraction. For practical purposes of this post, 

"ATP = ENERGY".

 Thanks to ATP, the muscle cell is capable of contracting (it is a very complex process), transforming chemical energy from ATP into mechanical energy, generating shortening of the muscle fiber, contraction, and movement.

 Once ATP donates a phosphate group, it is transformed into ADP (adenosine di-phosphate), and by various mechanisms, the re-synthesis of ATP is achieved from that ADP, which captures a phosphate group and becomes transformed into ATP. Those ATP re-synthesis systems in the muscle cell are called energy systems.

 So what are energy systems? As we have told you, energy systems are mechanisms that our muscle cells start to work in order to generate energy (ATP) to function. The energy systems are 3:

• -Anaerobic alactic: Phosphagens (ATP-Phosphocreatine)

•  -Lactic Anaerobic: Glucose-Lactic Acid

•  -Aerobic: Oxidative: Carbohydrates, protein fats.

The "anaerobic" systems are characterized by not needing oxygen to function (O2 molecule). On the other hand, the aerobic system requires oxygen to be able to “oxidize” the energetic substrates.

 What are they for?

 To be able to contextualize, each cell in our body (including the muscle cell) has some structures:

•  -A membrane that surrounds it

•  -An internal fluid called "cytoplasm"

•  -A nucleus (where the genetic material is)

• -Various structures called "organelles"

 Energy systems work within the muscle cell, being able to develop in the cytoplasm or within a very important organelle called MITOCHONDRIA.

 The key to mitochondria is that it is the key cellular machinery to generate ATP for long periods of time, allowing you to spend hours exercising. This occurs mainly thanks to the "Oxidative" energy system.

 The other 2 systems (Anaerobic, Alactic, and Lactic), do not necessarily occur in the mitochondria, and contrary to the oxidative system, they are capable of generating a lot of energy at first, allowing you to perform intense exercises, but of short duration. It's a bit tangled, isn't it? Everything that we explain to you is summarized as follows:

 When we eat, each macronutrient (carbohydrate, lipid, or protein), enters through our digestive tract, is digested, and then absorbed in our intestines, finally passing into the blood. Through the blood, these nutrients reach our organs (brain, heart, kidneys, etc.) and also our muscles.

 When the nutrients reach our muscles, the ENERGY SYSTEMS start to work, to transform those nutrients into ATP (energy). Obtaining that ATP, the muscle cell can contract and allow us to move and perform the activity we want.

 But what energy system does each nutrient use to obtain ATP? What will determine which energy system the cell will use to obtain its ATP at any given time? Although it depends on several factors, in a simple way, it depends on the INTENSITY and DURATION of the exercise you do.

 We explain it to you with the following graphic scheme:

The graph that we show you correspond to a graph of "energy" versus "time". We will analyze each system separately, although we know that they occur interconnected and not necessarily one after the other:

 -The red line represents the first energy system: Anaerobic Alactic: Phosphagens (ATP-Phosphocreatine) -The green line represents the second energy system: Lactic Anaerobic: Glucose-Lactic Acid -The orange line represents the third energy system: Aerobic: Oxidative: Carbohydrates, fats, proteins.

 When the exercise is very intense, but of short duration (up to 10 seconds), the main mechanism used is the Anaerobic Alactic: Phosphagens (ATP-Phosphocreatine), represented by the red line. This energy system does not depend on what you eat, since it is its own, self-sustaining intracellular machinery. (You can see a small explanatory video of what the phosphocreatine cycle is like HERE)

This is the case of exercises or sports such as 100-meter sprints, weightlifting, sprints in baseball or rugby races, long jump, high jump, etc. All intense exercises, but of short duration.

 

 If the exercise is intense but lasts a little longer, the energy of the first energy system reaches a minimum, and the machinery of the second energy system is started predominantly (green line). This energy system uses CARBOHYDRATES, which is why its consumption prior to an exercise of these characteristics is essential. 

This is the case of exercises or sports such as 200-400 meters flat, 100 meters swimming, tennis, soccer, basketball. Races of a lot of intensity, but that last a little longer.

 If the exercise continues in duration (it will force you to lower the intensity), the machinery of the third energy system predominates Aerobic: Oxidative. Although the mechanisms are complex, and the ste system is also dependent on the feeding, both carbohydrate and lipid (and even protein), for which prior to a long-term exercise, there must be a previous carbohydrate intake mode of "loading" (you can read HERE our post on carbohydrate loading) and it will also be necessary to draw on our body lipid reserves since they will allow us to last until the end of the exercise.

 This is the case of exercises or sports such as races of 2km or more, marathons, triathlons, ultra-running, etc. All exercises are of much longer duration.

 It must be clear, and we emphasize it again, that energy systems PREDOMINE others with certain exercises, but it is not that an energy system is used exclusively for each exercise. There are exercises that use several of these systems at the same time, to a greater or lesser extent. An example is the popular HIIT ( you can read our post about HIIT training HERE ), where in the same training, there can be more intense intervals, others less intense and of variable durations.

And how is this put into practice? What is the importance of all this?

The practical importance of everything previously explained is "strategically planning your training and nutrition to optimize performance in the sport or exercise you do." For example, if you know that tomorrow you will go out to run 10 km, you should know which energy system will predominate (in this case the OXIDATIVE would predominate), in such a way that you can eat according to the exercise you will perform.