Basic Aerobic Advice Needed!

dembaba

Playing sport at a high enough level and the training I generally do would be considered anaerobic exercise and I rarely do any type of aerobic exercise which I have just learned is extremely important. How do I assess my aerobic exercise capacity and how do I go about improving it?

Clearlier

Why is it extremely important to you? Are you looking at it from a health point of view or a performance point of view?

There's any number of ways to measure fitness - it's not that hard to improve for most people but you really should have some clear goals.

If you can explain a little more what your thinking is I and/or others may be able to help.

dembaba

Clearlier wrote: »

Why is it extremely important to you? Are you looking at it from a health point of view or a performance point of view?

There's any number of ways to measure fitness - it's not that hard to improve for most people but you really should have some clear goals.

If you can explain a little more what your thinking is I and/or others may be able to help.

ok basically realised that for my whole pre season I engaged entirely in anaerobic respiration (sprints, weights etc). When I came back from pre-season in games I had not improved as much as I thought I should ( struggling to finish games strong) but just from reading a few things (while making a lot of sense) I see that my aerobic fitness is vastly inferior to my anaerobic fitness. I am very new to aerobic fitness so any bit of advice to help me find out and improve my aerobic levels would be extremely helpful.

Clearlier

dembaba wrote: »

ok basically realised that for my whole pre season I engaged entirely in anaerobic respiration (sprints, weights etc). When I came back from pre-season in games I had not improved as much as I thought I should ( struggling to finish games strong) but just from reading a few things (while making a lot of sense) I see that my aerobic fitness is vastly inferior to my anaerobic fitness. I am very new to aerobic fitness so any bit of advice to help me find out and improve my aerobic levels would be extremely helpful.

What is it that you're spotting that tells you that your aerobic fitness is poor? Is it just that you're struggling to finish games strong or is there more to it than that? Is it possible that you've improved your aerobic fitness and that is allowing you to operate at a higher level? Have your fitness levels changed over the course of the season, i.e. were you stronger in September than you are now?

It might be helpful to know what sport you're playing or more to the point what the physical demands of the position your are playing are. The kind of base development that you are talking about typically needs to be done in the off season with the aim of maintenance during the playing season. The reason for this is that the training to develop your aerobic base will hinder your performance while you're doing that training.

That said if you outline what your current physical activity is each week I can take a look and see if I can spot anywhere that you could fit something in that would help. Also, have you any gaps of a 2-3 weeks between now and the end of the season where you don't need to perform in a match?

dembaba

Clearlier wrote: »

What is it that you're spotting that tells you that your aerobic fitness is poor? Is it just that you're struggling to finish games strong or is there more to it than that? Is it possible that you've improved your aerobic fitness and that is allowing you to operate at a higher level? Have your fitness levels changed over the course of the season, i.e. were you stronger in September than you are now?

It might be helpful to know what sport you're playing or more to the point what the physical demands of the position your are playing are. The kind of base development that you are talking about typically needs to be done in the off season with the aim of maintenance during the playing season. The reason for this is that the training to develop your aerobic base will hinder your performance while you're doing that training.

That said if you outline what your current physical activity is each week I can take a look and see if I can spot anywhere that you could fit something in that would help. Also, have you any gaps of a 2-3 weeks between now and the end of the season where you don't need to perform in a match?

i play gaa at senior club level, for my college and county intermediate. My aerobic fitness has not improved what so ever. I feel I have gotten faster alright.
My training schedule as of now would be
Mon- HIIT with team mates- 45mins
Tues- Gym and training in the evening with team
Wed- Training with team
Thurs- Gym and training with team
Fri - Rest

Weekend would generally consist of training or matches with teams.

Clearlier

dembaba wrote: »

i play gaa at senior club level, for my college and county intermediate. My aerobic fitness has not improved what so ever. I feel I have gotten faster alright.
My training schedule as of now would be
Mon- HIIT with team mates- 45mins
Tues- Gym and training in the evening with team
Wed- Training with team
Thurs- Gym and training with team
Fri - Rest

Weekend would generally consist of training or matches with teams.

I'm out of my comfort zone here so do see if you can get some better advice here.

I'd start by looking for opportunities to add in 2 - 3 20 min runs each week. Add in 1 per week for the the next three weeks so that you give your body a bit of time to adapt to the extra stimulus. I'm guessing that your gym sessions are strength and conditioning? You could look at doing a lengthy warm up there. You could do them on the morning after a tough training session. What you're trying to do is add the training but not impact the rest of what you do too much.

Over time you can increase the length and frequency of the runs but take it slowly. Aerobic work takes time to see the benefits. You will only start seeing any improvement 6 weeks in and the amount that I'm suggesting won't have a huge impact. What it will do is set yourself up better to do the work that will have a big impact

I'm not familiar with what times of the year you won't be competing but I'm guessing that there must be some periods and it's there where you should look to really establish a foundation. You really need a minimum of 6 weeks to make gains and the more time you have the bigger the improvements you can make. My knowledge is in the area of running and I can put together a plan for you that will make you a better and aerobically stronger runner. What I can't say is how that will impact any weight training that you might be doing and vice versa.

dembaba

Clearlier wrote: »

I'm out of my comfort zone here so do see if you can get some better advice here.

I'd start by looking for opportunities to add in 2 - 3 20 min runs each week. Add in 1 per week for the the next three weeks so that you give your body a bit of time to adapt to the extra stimulus. I'm guessing that your gym sessions are strength and conditioning? You could look at doing a lengthy warm up there. You could do them on the morning after a tough training session. What you're trying to do is add the training but not impact the rest of what you do too much.

Over time you can increase the length and frequency of the runs but take it slowly. Aerobic work takes time to see the benefits. You will only start seeing any improvement 6 weeks in and the amount that I'm suggesting won't have a huge impact. What it will do is set yourself up better to do the work that will have a big impact

I'm not familiar with what times of the year you won't be competing but I'm guessing that there must be some periods and it's there where you should look to really establish a foundation. You really need a minimum of 6 weeks to make gains and the more time you have the bigger the improvements you can make. My knowledge is in the area of running and I can put together a plan for you that will make you a better and aerobically stronger runner. What I can't say is how that will impact any weight training that you might be doing and vice versa.

Great advice thanks