Anaerobic Metabolism & Muscular Power

Your ability to express muscular power and your anaerobic metabolism are linked together. Anaerobic metabolism provides energy for short, high-energy bursts of activity. These activities can involve your entire body, such as exploding off the sprint starting blocks or propelling yourself through space in the broad jump. Activities with much more local demands, such as the bench press in a powerlifting competition or an arm-wrestling contest, also rely on your anaerobic metabolism.

Muscular Strength and Power

Strength is the ability to generate force over distance. If you bench-press 200 lbs from your chest until your elbows lock out, you exhibit strength. Power is generating force over a distance within a given unit of time; the less time it takes, the higher your power. If it takes you one second to press 200 lbs from chest to lockout, but your friend, with arms the same length as yours, needs three seconds to move the same weight the same distance, you are more powerful.

Anaerobic Metabolism

Your body has three sources of fuel: the aerobic energy system, the glycolitic system and the phosphagen system. The aerobic system uses fat and oxygen to provide low levels of energy over long periods of time. The glycolitic system uses carbohydrates stored in your muscles to provide high levels of energy for 90 to 120 seconds. The phosphagen system uses phosphocreatine and ATP, both stored in your muscle tissue, to provide extreme levels of energy for only a few seconds. Power movements rely on the phosphagen system for energy.

Fast-twitch Muscle Fibers

The cells of your muscles come in two basic varieties: slow-twitch and fast-twitch. The slow-twitch muscle cells, or fibers, produce low levels of force, but are highly resistant to fatigue. The fast-twitch muscle fibers produce high levels of force quickly, but also fatigue quickly. There are metabolic differences between the two fiber types as well; slow-twitch fibers are most efficient using aerobic energy, while fast-twitch fibers rely on anaerobic metabolism.

Anaerobic Metabolism and Muscular Power in Sports

Different sports place different demands on your muscular power and your metabolism. Some sports, such as Olympic weightlifting, the discus and shotput, and sprinting distances such as 100 m and 200 m, require a single, high-energy effort. Sports such as boxing, wrestling, fencing and some martial arts require multiple high-energy efforts sustained over several minutes. Field sports such as soccer, football and lacrosse have repeated bouts of intense effort alternating with periods of lower effort. Each type of activity require a specific type of training to prepare you for its metabolic and power demands.