Your body’s energy is produced through a process known as cellular respiration: this is where your cells use the nutrients you’ve ingested through food, along with the air you breathe, and transform them into adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the fuel for the creation of our body’s energy via cellular respiration. For a cell to ‘breathe’ at optimal levels, there are two systems that need to balance each other: the oxidative system and the reductive system.

Most athletes are aware of the term ‘cellular respiration’ without really understanding what it is and how important it is to their performance levels. So what exactly does this term mean, and what relevance has it to a runner’s fitness, stamina and explosive power?

Cellular respiration involves the intake and use of oxygen by your body cells in order to generate energy called Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). To understand the process, consider a very common energy source – fire.

An increase in cellular respiration is accomplished through establishing current within the cells of your body. Establishing current helps the glucose to convert into energy or to get stored in the cell as glycogen. So once again it goes right back to cell electricity, which leads to greater capacity for glycogen storage.

Compare two athletes of the exact same body size and build, who have followed the same training regimen – they don’t necessarily have the same power, speed or explosive capacity. Why? Once athletes attain a certain level of strength and stamina, the difference in their capabilities comes down to their bodies’ bio-electric current flow. The stronger the current flow, the stronger the body, and the more explosive power and strength you have access to.