22. Developing Maximum Aerobic Function
Earlier in this book I defined fitness as a crucial element to human
performance. In the purest sense, fitness is the ability to perform
physical activity. For most of their existence humans were extremely
active, expending vast amounts of energy just to accomplish the basic
tasks that kept them alive, like walking for miles in search of food.
These early people had tremendous endurance based on aerobic sys-
tems that were built by their daily tasks of living. Suddenly, in just a
short span of a few generations, today’s humans have become much
less active and as a consequence we are much more prone to dysfunc-
tion and disease. For the relative few who are physically active it’s in
the form of exercise, leaving the majority in a state of aerobic deficien-
cy. But most of those who do exercise get too much of the anaerobic
type, which can be very stressful, causing injury and illness.
All through this book I’ve emphasized the importance of burning
fat for energy and optimal health. This important activity takes place
in the aerobic system, which uses mostly fat as fuel. A different part of
us — the anaerobic system — uses mostly sugar for energy. It follows
that to improve your level of fitness, enhance your ability to burn fat,
obtain unlimited energy and correct most bodily imbalances, the aero-
bic system must be turned on. It’s up to you to develop the aerobic sys-
tem optimally. I refer to this as maximum aerobic function, or MAF.
Your muscles have two important types of cells, or fibers. These
are key parts of the aerobic and anaerobic systems. In some animals,
such as chickens, the aerobic and anaerobic muscle fibers are separate,
with entire muscle groups composed of one or the other type. When
cooked, a chicken clearly shows this distinction — dark meat is com-
posed of aerobic muscle, while white meat is anaerobic muscle.