I don't think so.

First, one has to define anaerobic capacity. Olbrecht has spent almost 30 years working in this area so I would not cavalierly say he is wrong. He uses a definition that is different from that often used in the academic literature. His definition is the maximum amount of pyruvate that can be produced per second by glycolysis. It is frequently called VLa Max to be comparable to VO2 max.

Olbrecht's dissertation was on the use of energy systems by different types of swimmers and how to measure these energy systems. He worked with several hundred swimmers. His work with swimmers and other athletes since then has focused on these concepts and how to employ them in the training of athletes. So Wrong? I doubt it. Especially with such a success rate.

The anaerobic capacity for the average couch potato is higher than it is for an endurance athlete. Raising this capacity beyond what is innate is almost impossible but not unheard of. Long low level workouts typical of endurance athletes tend to reduce this capacity way below their innate max. However, a swimmer with a high VO2 max will reduce this capacity during base training by long endurance sets but will quickly regain it within 3-5 week of more intensive sets. But an endurance athlete such as a marathoner or cyclist may slowly lower this capacity to the point that it will not return quickly to innate levels.

For an athlete with a high VO2 max but competing in short events, they will usually have a high anaerobic capacity but not as high as a pure sprinter. If such an athlete (800 m or 1500 m runner or 100 m or 200 m swimmer) wants to compete in longer races, they will have to reduce this anaerobic capacity in order to be effective. This may take several years depending on the length of the event. But in a training cycle it is possible to increase and decrease anaerobic capacity in lesser amounts depending on what is desired. It will not be possible to turn a top level 100 m swimmer into a top 1500 m swimmer in a short time but may be possible over several years. So anaerobic capacity can be trained up or down depending on the event. Often the training to increase anaerobic capacity is done after it has been reduced by other types of training.

One would never want to decrease aerobic capacity for any reason but it happens with detraining and can happen with some training sets. Increasing aerobic capacity is a slow process except for initial responses after detraining.

All of this is discussed in Olbrecht's book, The Science of Winning. Obrecht uses a model of energy metabolism developed at the Sports School at the University of Cologne. This model was developed in the 1980's and it was found that optimal energy usage was dependent on the length of the event and the relative strength of the aerobic and glycolytic systems.

This is not a topic seen in a normal book on training but is an essential part of The Science of Winning. And it is essential for the proper training of athletes even for endurance events such as the Ironman as well as for shorter events.

But of course he is wrong. All those poor athletes and coaches who have been led astray.


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Jerry Cosgrove

Sports Resource Group
http://www.lactate.com
https://twitter.com/@LactatedotCom