Chapter 7 - Exercise Training and Metabolic Adaptation

Abstract

This chapter reviews the principles of exercise training and relates aerobic and anaerobic programs to the underlying metabolic phenomena. The major aspects of all training are defined—frequency, intensity, time, type, volume, and progression—and each is elaborated. Aerobic and anaerobic programs are differentiated by the physiological and biochemical adaptations dominant in each, though some mechanisms and effects are common to both. The shift in preference between carbohydrate and lipid as an exercise fuel source, as a function of training adaptation, is discussed, as are complexities in this generalization. Type I and Type II skeletal muscle fibers, mitochondrial density, maximal oxygen uptake, and other key factors at the cellular level are discussed, and suggestions about the mechanism of muscular fatigue are offered.