Many people have heard the phrase strength and conditioning training, but you rarely hear about the conditioning aspect. It seems that people are more interested in the strength factor rather than developing excellent conditioning levels.

Proper conditioning training is essential for sports, maintaining good health, and for reducing excess body fat. Conditioning programs must be unique to each individual person. Athletes for examples, will train a completely different energy system than someone who is training for a triathlon.

The two energy systems for conditioning training are anaerobic and aerobic.

Any exercise or movement lasting less than two minutes is generally categorized as anaerobic training. This is most the preferred conditioning training method for explosive athletes like baseball, baseball, and football players. Anaerobic exercises are designed in strengthen the fast twitch muscle fibers. These fibers are responsible for the explosive movements in sports or in high intensity running.

The stronger the fibers, the more explosive an athlete can be. Strengthening the fibers and becoming more explosive is only possible through a conditioning training routine focused anaerobic activity. Some popular forms of anaerobic training are sprints, plyometrics, agility’s, and bodyweight circuits. Certain types of interval training can also be included in the anaerobic category, but many interval routines require to exercise lasting for more than two minutes thus turning more into an aerobic activity.

The opposite of anaerobic is aerobic training. This type of conditioning is any training that requires a person to maintain a pace longer than two minutes. Aerobic training put the heart, lungs, and blood vessels to the test. A long distance run for example, is a test to see how long and how fast your body can continue to pump oxygen into the heart. Aerobic training is suited for people who are just beginning a conditioning routine, and for athletes involved in cross-country, cycling, or swimming. These athletes are able to perform for long periods of time because they have sufficiently developed the slow twitch muscle fibers.

It should be noted that although someone may have excellent aerobic capacity, this does not imply that they would be able to have the same anaerobic capability. Each system requires specific training. It is possible to train both systems in combination, and that’s what makes interval training so efficient for increasing conditioning levels.

A decision on which method should be used can only be decided by an individuals needs, desires, or goals. Each type of conditioning training has its benefits, but you must decide which one is more fitting for you. Good luck!