Here is some information on the metabolic pathways that I always reference in our trainning sessions. The following information was taken from the Crossfit Training Guide, additional information can be found at: http://predator.pnb.uconn.edu
There are three metabolic pathways that provide the energy for all human action. These "metabolic engines" are known as the phosphagen pathway, the glycolytic pathway, and the oxidative pathway. The first, the phosphagen, dominates the highest powered activities, those that last less then 10 seconds. The glycolitic pathway, dominates moderate-powered activities that last a several minutes. The third pathway, the oxidative pathway, dominates low-powered activities, those that last in excess of several minutes.
Total fitness the one that we train for at Crossfit 306, promotes and develops, requires competency and training in each of these three pathways or engines. Favoring one or two of these to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway are arguably the two most common faults in fitness training.