In my articles for endurance and stamina, I touched on exercises we could do to improve the aerobic and anaerobic systems both on and off the court. Knowing a little more about the energy systems could help in understanding why these exercises are beneficial.
Why Is It Important To Know?
Understanding how your body works will help you understand how to train better, think more about your nutrition and give you an overall appreciation of how the body functions.
It will also help to reassess how you’re training, what changes you need to make and the way you coach or are being coached. This knowledge is beneficial in improving you as a player.
The Three Energy Systems – How They Work
The three systems do not work independently of one another. They work together to create a constant energy flow for your body. Depending on the intensity of the activity, different energy systems will become dominant. For example, if you are running at a moderate pace, the Aerobic system will provide the majority of the energy. This does not mean the other two systems are on hold. They will also be working at a lower capacity to provide energy to fuel your activity.
Click here to see a brief overview of the three systems.
Which Energy Systems Are Dominant In Badminton?
Unfortunately, there isn’t an abundance of research on badminton. In the journal Sports Medicine, they found that badminton is 60-70% aerobic and therefore about 30-40% anaerobic. They also concluded there is more demand on the Phosphate Creatine System than the Lactic acid system. However, it is not specified whether this singles or doubles.
The British Journal of Sports Medicine found similar results. They found greater contributions of Creatine Phosphate system than the Lactic Acid system. There is a bias towards males, who were 10/11 of the participants. Nevertheless, biological differences may be negligible as similar relative demands in both men and women’s singles.
One last interesting study showed the difference between men’s singles and doubles. Published in the International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, they concluded men’s singles players have a much higher aerobic capacity, greater flexibility, and lower body fat levels. This translates to singles being more physically demanding. Interestingly the study found no differences in speed, power or agility.
The Aerobic System
This is the most important system out of the three we will discuss.
The aerobic system requires oxygen in order to create energy. When oxygen reacts with glucose, adenosine triphosphate or ATP (energy) results. By-products are water and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is cleared by the body through exhalation.
The body uses carbohydrates, fats, and proteins (in extreme situations) to fuel aerobic exercise. Carbohydrates are the preferred source as it is the quickest to convert to energy. Fat provides more energy than carbohydrates, but requires more oxygen and is a slower process. Both sources fuels are used simultaneously. The ratio of carbs to fat changes depending on the activity.
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Maintaining a slower pace for a prolonged period will use more fat. Increasing intensity will result in more carbohydrates being used as the body requires energy at a faster pace. In a situation where the aerobic system is not able to keep up with the oxygen demands of the body, the anaerobic system comes into play.
This system provides the most ATP when compared to the anaerobic systems. However, it is also the slowest to produce energy, owing to the more complicated chemical reactions and requirement of oxygen. This is why explosive activities are dominated by the anaerobic system.
How To Measure Aerobic Capacity/Ability
Most people have a general idea of their aerobic capacity. However, tracking improvement
The Aerobic system is dominant where exercise is performed at up to about 65% of total aerobic capacity. This is a general figure and may differ between individuals. The difficulty is knowing what your total aerobic capacity is. This is accurately measured by assessing your VO2 Max, which requires specialized equipment.
Image: Cosmed Twitter
VO2 max = max milliliters of oxygen consumed in 1 minute/body weight in kg
In case you don’t have access to such equipment(!), the simplest way to measure is by your heart rate. A typical resting heart rate is between 70-100 beats a minute. People who have a strong level of fitness tend to have much lower resting heart rates, with some professional athletes having heart rates sub 40 beats per minute.
A fitness watch is a great way to track heart your heart rate over time. As your fitness improves, your resting heart rate should begin to fall steadily.
Another way is to measure the time it takes you to complete an activity. For example a distance run. As your aerobic capabilities improve, you should see your time also improving. Set small, achievable targets rather than aiming for a world record every time. If you push yourself too hard you’ll either injure yourself or not effectively train your aerobic system.
Importance of the Aerobic System
The aerobic system is the most important energy system in our bodies. The capabilities of it to provide energy are almost endless, assuming there is adequate oxygen available.
In terms of badminton, studies (as above) have shown that the aerobic energy system contributes over half the energy supply in high-level players. Therefore statistically it should be the system which you focus on most in your training.
Having a strong aerobic capacity means you will be able to train harder and longer. It will become more efficient at providing oxygen to the muscles as and when it is required. What this effectively does is raise the anaerobic threshold (the point at which the body starts to rely more on the anaerobic systems). When your anaerobic systems become dominant, you will fatigue fairly
The anaerobic system relies on the aerobic system for recovery. Once you’ve fatigued, it is reliant on oxygen to recover. The better able your body is able to provide this oxygen, the faster you can do this.
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