In order for a high performance track athlete to reach a level needed to compete, he/she needs to have a focused training, training with an objective. Not all training is the same; there are different kinds of training to achieve different results. In this essay I will discuss the differences between an aerobic and an anaerobic training.

First of all, both kinds of training are done to achieve different goals. If what you want is to develop force, you must do an anaerobic training. Anaerobic training increases your force and muscular mass; therefore, your velocity increases because you are now stronger. But if it is more stamina what you want, you’ll have to do an aerobic training. Aerobic training builds up your lung capacity, and your heart is forced to pump more blood to your body, resulting in heart strength.

In aerobic training the warm-up is short and with a low intensity. The anaerobic training warm-up is longer because muscles receive a much more aggressive treat treatment than in an aerobic training. Sprints (50-200m) are part of an anaerobic training, while longer runs (300-500m) with a more comfortable rhythm belong to an aerobic training. In anaerobic training there is a gap between runs, to recover, and then to run the next repetition just as fast. On the other hand, aerobic training has very short recovery times between repetitions, and very often the recovery must be done jogging. That is not recovery at all! But that is the way it’s done. Working out in a gymnasium is a useful anaerobic training too.

Finally, I perform both types of training several times a week; consequently, I can describe what my body feels like after each training session. When I finish an anaerobic training, I feel my legs heavy and numb after all the effort done. My body aches as a result of the lactic acid produced by my muscles, but I can breathe perfectly well after 5 minutes. After an aerobic training, I feel my muscles loose and weak. My lungs feel stretched and my recovery can last all day long.

A sprinter has to carry out more anaerobic training sessions than a distance runner, but they both do aerobic and anaerobic training. We can’t choose only one because they are equally important to grow as a competitive athlete.

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