Anaerobic exercise is basically exercising without oxygen. You do this by working out at an intensity thats so high that your body can’t get oxygen to the muscles, and you cannot do it for extended periods of time. When lactic acid accumulates inside the muscle faster that it can be cleared, muscle failure occurs.

Anaerobic muscle respiration, which is a part of respiration, is what anaerobic exercise refers to. During anaerobic exercise, the muscle receives some oxygen, but not enough of a supply to meet the demands that are being placed on it. The anaerobic capacity of a particular muscle or muscle group is also referred to as its anaerobic or lactate threshold. Although these terms sound very technical, the definition is simple. It refers to the point in anaerobic exercise when the lactic acid starts to build up faster than the body can remove it. This is considered to be a great indicator of an athletes performance.

In the past, an athlete with a higher VO2Max was considered more fit; however, we now know that an athlete with a lower VO2Max and a higher anaerobic threshold has the potential to go further and faster without experiencing muscle failure than an athlete with a high VO2Max and a low anaerobic threshold. Training can increase your anaerobic threshold. Types of anaerobic sports include soccer, hockey, rugby, football and basketball. Essentially, any sport which requires spurts of intense physical activity would be considered to be an anaerobic sport. Weight lifting and Interval Training are examples of anaerobic workouts.

In order to improve your anaerobic threshold you must perform an exercise that allows you to spend an extended time above your anaerobic threshold. An excellent technique for boosting your anaerobic threshold is HIIT . You will spend a considerable amount of time in an anaerobic state using High Intensity Interval Training due to performing extreme intensity actions then taking rest periods periodically.

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