How to Use Progressive Overload to Build Aerobic Capacity
In the sport of CrossFit, you may have heard the phrase “that athlete has an engine”. What that really means is the athlete is very aerobically fit. This athlete who is known to have an engine will look like they can just keep going for hours on end, without ever needing to stop. An athlete's aerobic capacity is the base of their performance. Aerobic capacity is the maximum amount of oxygen an athlete can utilize for a period of time. Meaning, an athlete will only be able to work so hard for so long until they run out of oxygen and hit a wall. The better their aerobic capacity, the longer it will take them to hit that wall. The question you may be asking yourself is, “How do I build my engine?”. Today we’re going to discuss how to build your aerobic capacity using progressive overload.
Progressive overload is a method in which a gradual increase of stress is placed on the body. Progression can happen in many different ways. When using it for aerobic capacity, it is no different than if you were using it for strength training. The objective is to increase intensity or volume from week-to-week, month-to-month, and year-to-year. Progressive overload is also a great way to see if you’re making progress, hence the word “progressive”. Let’s talk about how it applies to aerobic capacity.
Aerobic capacity is the maximum amount of oxygen an athlete can utilize for a period of time. In order to improve your aerobic capacity through progressive overload, you need to either increase intensity or volume on a week-to-week and month-to-month basis. Volume is defined as the total amount of work performed in either a single workout session or over the course of an extended exercise program. For today’s conversation, we will use the example of running and how we can increase volume on a week-to-week basis. In order to increase volume in running, you must increase the distance you ran. An example of how you can do this is: week 1 you go for a 3 mile run, and the next week you could go for a 4 mile run. The extra mile is an increase in volume and a form of progressive overload. Another example of how you can increase volume is using an example of interval style training. Let’s say week 1 you perform a workout that is: run 400-meters, rest 90 second x 5 rounds. The total volume of that workout is 2,000 meters. The next week, you could perform the same workout, increasing the total sets to 6.This would be a total of 2,400 meters and once again an increase in volume. As you can see, there are multiple ways to increase volume, and no one way is better than the other, it just depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.
In exercise, intensity is defined by the amount of energy required to perform the physical activity. To make this as simple as possible, we will use the measurement of speed in running. When using speed or pace as an example, in order for progressive overload to exist, we will need to get faster on a week-to-week basis. Let’s go back to our interval example from before. Let’s say we have an athlete who can run 400 meters for 5 sets at a 2:00 pace. (The athlete took 2:00 to finish the 400-meter every time.) Instead of increasing the amount of sets the athlete performs the following week, we will have them run the 400 meters faster. Instead of having the athlete take 2:00 to complete the 400 meters, we will ask them to do it in 1:58. The action of the athlete running the 400 meters 2 seconds faster than last week is a form of progressive overload. Staying on this same example, another way you can increase intensity is by decreasing the rest between sets. So, instead of having the athlete run faster from one week to the next, you can decrease the rest from 90 seconds to 1 minute. The decreased rest would make the athlete have to push harder to get the sets done at the same pace, which is an increase of energy (intensity). Once again, there is no better way; it all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.
As you can see, there are so many ways to create progressive overload and build aerobic capacity. What’s important is that when trying to progress, you do it in a fashion that is reasonable and realistic. The most common mistake an athlete or coach makes is when they have their athletes start at too difficult of a pace. When you start at a pace that is already difficult, it makes it very hard for the athlete to progress weeks down the road. My suggestion to everyone out there is to start your first week at something that is easier than you want it to be. This will allow you to progress longer and ultimately allow you to reach a higher ceiling than if you were to start too fast. Regardless of how you do it, always remember to have fun and enjoy the process.
