{"id":18292,"date":"2022-05-09T15:23:14","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T14:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eduardbarcelo.com\/?p=18292"},"modified":"2025-08-13T00:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T22:30:10","slug":"physiological-factors-of-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eduardbarcelo.com\/en\/physiological-factors-of-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are your sports results what they are?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tabla_contenidos\">\n<div class=\"titulo\">Table of contents<\/div>\n<nav>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"separador\">\n<a href=\"#anaerobicos\" class=\"encabezado1\">For non-sustainable anaerobic efforts<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#fibra_muscular\">At the center of it all, the type of muscle fiber<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#control_motor\">At the extreme of anaerobic work, motor control<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#masa_muscular\">Muscle mass as the basic structure<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#sistema_energetico\">The anaerobic energy system, glycolytic capacity and lactate recycling<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"separador\">\n<a href=\"#aerobicos\" class=\"encabezado1\">For sustainable aerobic efforts<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#sistema_cardiocirculatorio\">An interconnected system based on the cardiocirculatory system<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#capacidad_respiratoria_musculo\">The respiratory capacity of the muscle<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.trainingpeaks.com\/coach\/timcusick#about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Cusick<\/a> is one of my go-to coaches and thanks to him, many coaches have followed in his wake to be able to <strong>better understand how the human body works in terms of performance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In a webinar of his that I attended, he shared with everyone virtually present a graph through which, schematically, one could perfectly see each and every one of the <strong>performance factors<\/strong> that explained why each person obtains some sports results.<\/p>\n<p>It is certainly very clarifying since it gives you a global idea of the combination of things necessary to obtain a certain sporting performance and, therefore, <strong>you can get to know what to improve with training<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The graphic in question property of Dr. Tim Cusick.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pagina_grupo_imagenes cols_1\">\n<div class=\"pagina_imagen\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eduardbarcelo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/factores_fisiologicos_del_rendimiento_tim_cusick.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eduardbarcelo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/factores_fisiologicos_del_rendimiento_tim_cusick.jpg\" alt=\"Physiological factors of performance\" style=\"max-width:1000px;\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"leyenda_imagen\">Physiological factors of performance<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In making the graph, Cusick organizes it according to 4 different levels. If you imagine a cake and starting from the bottom up, the yield would be the cake on top. That is, what is seen, what comes out (<strong>outcome<\/strong> in English).<\/p>\n<p>Below this level, we find the level of <strong>functionality<\/strong>, in this case, whether the effort is sustainable or not. In other words, if it is an aerobic or anaerobic effort, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>If we continue dissecting and increasing the level of concretion, we find ourselves with a lower level in which the most basic factors are integrated. At this <strong>integrative level<\/strong> we find efficiency, which is a common condition of sustainable efforts but also of unsustainable ones.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from efficiency, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eduardbarcelo.com\/en\/basic-physiology-of-resistance-exercise\/\">neuromuscular mechanisms<\/a> of power and anaerobic capacity are the determinants of the performance of non-sustainable efforts, while the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eduardbarcelo.com\/en\/maximum-oxygen-consumption\/\">maximum oxygen consumption<\/a> and the anaerobic threshold are those of sustainable efforts.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, it is when we find ourselves with the greatest complexity since going down to the most basic level, the one that makes up the cake at the bottom of the cake, taking advantage of the previous metaphor, we find many conditioning factors that are interrelated. Going into detail we have:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"anchor\" id=\"anaerobicos\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h2>For non-sustainable anaerobic efforts<\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"anchor\" id=\"fibra_muscular\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h5>At the center of it all, the type of muscle fiber<\/h5>\n<p>Genetic conditions and training will determine the type of muscle mass and respiratory and lactate recycling capacity that you have.<br \/>\nThis will mean at a higher level that it is the main determinant of neuromuscular power (if an individual has many fast twitches); what anaerobic capacity supports (if an individual is able to support large amounts of lactate or recycle it quickly); the level of efficiency (if coordinatively it has a great performance capacity); maximal oxygen consumption and anaerobic threshold (if an individual has large numbers of mitochondria in muscle cells).<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"anchor\" id=\"control_motor\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h5>At the extreme of anaerobic work, motor control<\/h5>\n<p>This will determine the degree of neuromuscular power as well as the efficiency of the movement. To train it, it is a matter of working intra and intermuscular coordination and obviously the technique of our sports discipline.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"anchor\" id=\"masa_muscular\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h5>Muscle mass as the basic structure<\/h5>\n<p>As I mentioned above, this is determined by the type of muscle fiber and determines the ability to break down energy and convert it into movement. Therefore, it determines the maximum brute force capacity as well as the anaerobic capacity.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"anchor\" id=\"sistema_energetico\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h5>The anaerobic energy system, glycolytic capacity and lactate recycling<\/h5>\n<p>And it is that without the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eduardbarcelo.com\/en\/energy-and-thermoregulatory-system\/\">supply of energy<\/a> we could not do anything even having the best system of muscle fibers or great coordination. Thanks to the glycolytic capacity of the muscle and the ability to reuse the lactate that is generated as a residue of anaerobic glycolysis.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"anchor\" id=\"aerobicos\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h2>For sustainable aerobic efforts<\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"anchor\" id=\"sistema_cardiocirculatorio\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h5>An interconnected system based on the cardiocirculatory system<\/h5>\n<p>Where the heart rate, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eduardbarcelo.com\/en\/cardiovascular-system\/\">volume of blood<\/a> ejected by the heart in each beat and the total volume of blood, condition the maximum oxygen consumption. That is, the maximum aerobic power of the engine of each athlete.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"anchor\" id=\"capacidad_respiratoria_musculo\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h5>The respiratory capacity of the muscle<\/h5>\n<p>Based on the degree of vascularization of the same (the number of blood vessels with which oxygen is nourished and CO2 discarded) as well as the degree of structures that are capable of taking advantage of that oxygen to transform it after fuel degradation into mechanical energy.<br \/>\nThanks to all this, the maximum oxygen consumption will be determined again but also the anaerobic threshold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you know what are the performance factors that explain why each person obtains sports results?<br \/>\nTim Cusick&#8217;s graphic, one of my reference coaches, is certainly very clarifying since it gives you a global idea of the combination of things necessary to obtain a certain sporting performance and, therefore, you can get to know what to improve with training .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-training"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Physiological factors of performance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Physiological factors of performance. 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