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Energy Systems Explained

Energy Systems Explained

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Energy systems drive all of our activity on the bike. Understanding them will help you to focus your
training and optimise your nutrition. The 3 energy systems will also help you understand training zones.

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“Regardless of the type of effort, the body never closes off all energy systems completely.”

Learn about the three major systems are energy:

Anaerobic – Phosphocreatine (PCr) System (ATP; triphosphate, as in three phosphates)

Glycolytic or Lactic Acid System

Aerobic System
The body draws on all three, regardless of the type of effort, never closing one off completely. They
merely change in the percentage and amount of energy they contribute depending on the duration and
intensity of the effort.

Before we look at these systems in more detail we can get an understanding of how they are used in
cycling via Dr. Andy Coggan’s Power Levels. If you’re not familiar with these levels, they are a way of
categorising how intense an effort is, which dictates how long the effort will last and which systems will
predominantly supply energy for the effort.

There are a few variations out there, but for cycling with power – Coggan’s Power Levels stand out as the
most popular, or at least the most publicized. There are 7 levels or zones each representing an intensity
and time frame and now an energy system.

Zones 1-3 represent the aerobic system.

Z1 / <55% Active Recovery / 70-80 years

Z2 / 56-75% Endurance / 2.5 hours to 14 days

Z3 / 76-90% Tempo / 2.5-8 hours

Zones 4-6 represent the lactic system.

Z4 / 91-105% Lactate Threshold / 10-60 minutes

Z5 / 106-120% V02 Max / 3-8 minutes

Z6 / >120% Anaerobic Capacity / 30 seconds to 2 minutes

Zone 7 stands out on its own and represent the ATP system.

Z7 / N/A Neuromuscular Power / 5-15 seconds

And that’s where we are going to start:

Energy System 1: Anaerobic – Phosphocreatine (PCr) System

The first phase is called the ATP- CPr (Adenosine Triphosphate)- (Phosphocreatine) system. ATP is stored
in all cells, particularly muscles. It is the only system that doesn’t require a blood supply and has no by
products.

There are not many steps in the chemical reactions that make up the ATP-PCr system. The reactions can
take place in the absence of oxygen and phosphocreatine is a relatively high energy molecule. As a
result, the ATP-PCr system can provide a lot of energy quickly but only for immediate and short (10s)
maximum intensity efforts.

In a sense, it is free energy because the body stores ATP to make it available for immediate use, however,
you can only use it once and it needs recovery time to restore the storage. Once you have depleted you
Phosphocreatine stores in a sprint it can take as long as 5 minutes to restore them to their resting levels,
ready to sprint again. Making it a high rate – low capacity system.
Energy System 2: Anaerobic – Lactic Acid System (LA)

The next major phase is called the Lactic (LA) system. After the 20 seconds of the ATP-PCr system, the
body requires another ingredient– muscle glycogen (glucose) to be added to continue.

This system breaks down carbohydrate, a fuel in limited supply in the body, to produce medium amounts
of power for medium amounts of time. The energy is produced without oxygen using carbohydrate >
sugar > glucose > glycogen > ATP.

The body’s stores around 500 grams worth of carbohydrate in the tissues of the liver and muscles in the
form of glycogen. This amount of energy would fuel approximately 2000 Kilojoules of mechanical work
on the bike, as recorded by a power meter.

Regardless of how long an effort is, carbohydrate is always initially broken down through a chemical
reaction called anaerobic glycolysis. Oxygen is not required for this reaction and whilst only about 5% (2
ATP molecules) of the energy potential of a glucose molecule can be realised the energy is liberated
quickly, so this energy system is well suited to high intensity efforts greater than 10 seconds to 2
minutes.
Because anaerobic glycolysis can only supply short efforts, it only makes a small dent in the 2000
Kilojoules of stored carbohydrate available, so the time limitation is related to the chemical processes
involved in anaerobic metabolism and their interaction with the body, rather than a lack of availability of
carbohydrate.

Its by-product, lactic acid, comes from the breakdown of the glucose released from the muscles. Most
cyclists have heard of lactate or lactic acid. Lactate is not a waste product but is actually an important
part of anaerobic and aerobic metabolism.

During high intensity efforts lactate is produced in greater amounts than can be removed and contrary to
popular belief, fatigue may not simply be the result of lactic acid accumulation – there is a lot of
misunderstanding around this molecule. For one, lactate does not cause muscle soreness. Another,
fatigue from exercise is not due simply to lactate accumulation.

Energy System 3: Oxidative (Aerobic) System

The first or third system is the Oxidative phase. In this phase, as the term indicates you are using oxygen
to fuel the breakdown of carbohydrates first, free fatty acids second and if the exercise continues long
enough -protein. Whereas, the previous systems have related to higher intensity work (or power) the
aerobic system is more for moderate or low intensity work, but of longer duration.
It can draw on your stores of glucose but only for ~90 minutes at max. This is why you need to replenish
your glucose stores with CHO during your ride.

The oxidative system should be developed to aid in the lactic system. The development of the aerobic
system aids in lactate removal so that you can tolerate more lactate.

It is only able to produce a relatively small amount of energy, so cannot produce enough energy for any
sprinting, but can produce power for extended periods of time, making it the predominant system used
during any endurance ride.

What Does Mean For You?

No matter if you’re a road rider or an MTB racer you use all their energy systems to ride in all types of
terrains. Individually you have strengths and weaknesses for specific durations and intensities relative to
others. Whether it’s being a better sprinter than long climbs, or hammering short-steep hills your energy
systems can be improved through training.
As mentioned before when on the bike all systems are providing a portion of energy depending on the
intensity of work being done. This can actually be tested in a lab. Similar to the equipment used to
analyses the Fatmax test.

If you were to do a 120 second sprint test. The first 10-15 seconds is fueled almost entirely by the PCr
system, producing a huge burst of power, but very quickly fatiguing. After around 10 seconds the
Phoscreatin system is completely exhausted and the lactate acid system starts to kick in. By 30 seconds
the LA system has fully taken over but rapidly starts to fatigue as lactate acid accumulates. By 40
seconds, the aerobic system has begun to kick in as oxygen has made it to the working muscle and
begins to assist with the aerobic contribution of energy production.

You can test this without a lab. But really you’re just better off doing a Power Profile Field Test. This will
highlight the main areas that need working on because you aren’t producing enough power or you’re
predisposed to one type of event.

What about training? Training should address all of your energy systems, combining efforts from sprints
to long rides over multiple hours.

The awareness of your energy systems may also come in handy when racing. Anytime you are on the
bike ask yourself ‘where is my energy coming from’ or ‘what energy have I burnt recently?’ Put it on the
Focus Room Checklist and base your decisions on the % of W you are putting out over specific durations.
Know where you are drawing energy from will help you to know how much you might have in reserve. Or
how long you should rest before you can go again at max capacity.
This is still a guessing game at this stage and links in with the idea of ‘matches’ and the work on W
Prime / Functional Reserve Capacity. These are only new ideas (relatively) and there isn’t much literature
around yet but there’s no harm in trying to work out what works for you, and how you can best optimise
your energy systems.

Mentioned:

Ted King

Impact of training intensity distribution on performance in endurance athletes

BMC Racing Team Pre-Season Training

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Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)

Adenosine Triphosphate Definition

Adenosine triphosphate, also known as ATP, is a molecule that carries energy within cells. It is the main
energy currency of the cell, and it is an end product of the processes of photophosphorylation (adding a
phosphate group to a molecule using energy from light), cellular respiration, and fermentation. All living
things use ATP. In addition to being used as an energy source, it is also used in signal transduction
pathways for cell communication and is incorporated into deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) during DNA
synthesis.

Structure of ATP

ATP Structure

This is a structural diagram of ATP. It is made up of the molecule adenosine (which itself is made up of
adenine and a ribose sugar) and three phosphate groups. It is soluble in water and has a high energy
content due to having two phosphoanhydride bonds connecting the three phosphate groups.

Functions of ATP

Energy Source

ATP is the main carrier of energy that is used for all cellular activities. When ATP is hydrolyzed and
converted to adenosine diphosphate (ADP), energy is released. The removal of one phosphate group
releases 7.3 kilocalories per mole, or 30.6 kilojoules per mole, under standard conditions. This energy
powers all reactions that take place inside the cell. ADP can also be converted back into ATP so that the
energy is available for other cellular reactions.

ATP is produced through several different methods. Photophosphorylation is a method specific to plants
and cyanobacteria. It is the creation of ATP from ADP using energy from sunlight, and occurs during
photosynthesis. ATP is also formed from the process of cellular respiration in the mitochondria of a cell.
This can be through aerobic respiration, which requires oxygen, or anaerobic respiration, which does not.
Aerobic respiration produces ATP (along with carbon dioxide and water) from glucose and oxygen.
Anaerobic respiration uses chemicals other than oxygen, and this process is primarily used by archaea
and bacteria that live in anaerobic environments. Fermentation is another way of producing ATP that
does not require oxygen; it is different from anaerobic respiration because it does not use an electron
transport chain. Yeast and bacteria are examples of organisms that use fermentation to generate ATP.