Aerobic training is one of those things everyone knows is beneficial, yet it’s the easiest thing for a gym-goer to skip. In this part, we put theory into practice: we’ll find a place for aerobic training in your yearly plan and write it in right away. Assess each recommendation against your own goal and adapt it to suit you.
A simple truth: things don’t go to plan when there is no plan. Your gym training is probably nailed down already — exercises, sets, repetitions, rest days. The aerobic part needs exactly the same care. If you leave it for “when I get around to it,” you usually never do.
Why aerobic training belongs in your gym plan
A long-term plan grows backward from the goal. Set a five- or ten-year target, then this season’s target, then this month’s and this week’s. Once the big picture is clear, it’s easy to define the content of each individual session. Just as you don’t run around at random in the gym, the aerobic part shouldn’t be random either.
You can’t effectively develop two opposing qualities at the same time. Focus on one or two things for a couple of months and maintain the rest — over a year, this gives the best result. Each period has its own focus.
Base preparation: aerobic training lays the foundation
The season usually ends with a competition, a personal record or peak form. After a short break, a new cycle begins with base preparation. Its goal is to recover from the previous hard diet or record-chasing training and to prepare the body for the mass phase.
For a gym trainee, this means above all developing aerobic capacity and muscular endurance. These two qualities support each other and can be developed together physiologically. Developing maximal strength and muscular endurance together is much harder.
In base preparation, do more aerobic work than usual. Quantity alone doesn’t help — quality matters just as much. Lactic acid is left in the body from the previous period, and in the coming periods plenty of it will build up again. It’s worth getting rid of the old acids and developing the ability to clear them.
In practice, this means two things: base endurance training (BE) at a heart rate of 60–70% of maximum, or speed endurance training (SE) at 70–85%. BE cleanses the body, brings in more oxygen and removes acids. SE, i.e. training that leaves you gasping, teaches the body to clear acids faster — exactly what hard gym training demands.
Mass phase and diet — how to dose aerobic training
In the mass phase, the goal is to add strength and muscle mass without letting fat get out of hand or having to battle muscle tears and colds. Against a backdrop of heavy gym sessions and high calorie intake, aerobic training helps you stay healthy, recover faster and prevent fat from accumulating. BE provides this. Acid-producing SE isn’t needed right now — the gym produces plenty of acids anyway, and SE would wear down muscle.
Athletes who have trained for a few years and also want to develop aerobic capacity can continue with heavier training, but then the plan must be laid out very precisely, with the macrocycles and microcycles thought through. Avoid overtraining.
Make aerobic BE part of every gym session: start with a warm-up, finish with easy walking. In lighter weeks, add a couple of jogging sessions in the fresh air. The heavier the gym work, the more important restorative BE and stretching become.
During a diet, the focus is on fat burning, preserving muscle mass and health. Aerobic BE fits perfectly here — it doesn’t break down muscles, doesn’t produce lactic acid and promotes fat burning. Do a warm-up and cool-down at every gym session and add an easy morning run (remember to drink water and mind the length of the run).
When you’re in a calorie deficit, the body readily starts breaking down muscle. SE training burns a lot, but it requires carbohydrates. If you do hard aerobic work during a diet, make sure you get enough carbohydrates — the brain demands its dose of sugar every day, and if food doesn’t supply it, it is taken from the muscles.
Benefits of aerobic training at a glance
- Removes acids — speeds up recovery and helps you stay healthy.
- Improves the use of fat for energy — prevents fat from accumulating in the mass phase and makes burning it easier during a diet.
- Enlarges the heart and widens the blood vessels — you lower your risk of the diseases Estonians are most prone to, get a better pump effect and deliver more nutrients to the muscles.
- Improves oxygen transport to the muscles — more strength and endurance.
- Improves the ability to remove acids — you can handle harder training sessions and recover faster.
Big goals by period
| Period | Goal 1 | Goal 2 | Training load in the gym | Aerobic training load |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base preparation | Recovery from the previous diet or peak form | Prepare the body for the new mass phase and diet | Light | Gradually increasing |
| Mass phase | Increase muscle mass | Avoid fat accumulation | Heavy | Light / heavy |
| Diet | Burn fat | Preserve muscle | Heavy | Light (/ heavy) |
Sample plan: aerobic training over two base-preparation months
Schedule your gym workouts according to each week’s training load, too.
| Week | Training load | Workout 1 | Workout 2 | Workout 3 (combined with a gym workout) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moderate | BE 45 min | BE 30 min | BE 30 min |
| 2 | Moderate | BE 45 min | BE 45 min | BE 30 min |
| 3 | Heavy | BE 60 min | BE 45 min | SE 30 min |
| 4 | Light | BE 30 min | BE 30 min | BE 30 min |
| 5 | Moderate | BE 45 min | SE 30 min | BE 40 min |
| 6 | Moderate | BE 45 min | SE 30 min | SE 30 min |
| 7 | Heavy | SE 45 min | SE 30 min | SE 30 min |
| 8 | Light | BE 45 min | BE 30 min | SE 20 min |
FAQ on aerobic training
How much aerobic training per week is enough?
In the base-preparation phase, three times a week, 30–60 min per session. During a mass phase and a diet, aerobic work in the form of a warm-up and cool-down is usually enough, with 1–2 separate BE workouts a week on top.
Does aerobic training ruin your strength and mass results?
Light BE at a heart rate of 60–70 % of maximum won’t — it actually speeds up recovery and keeps you healthy. Hard SE during a mass phase can slow muscle mass gains, especially in beginners, so dose it according to the goal of that period.
When should you do aerobic training — before or after the gym?
A short (5–10 min) warm-up always goes before the gym session, and the cool-down after it. Do longer, separate aerobic sessions at a different time or on a different day whenever possible, so that your heavy gym workout gets your full energy.
Translated from Body magazine; Author: Jukka Harju
Author: Greta
Source: Turg.Fitness.ee
Come and train! ArtGym
