The more the merrier, yes. I’m an amateur road cyclist and most of my training is spent in the lower heart-rate “zones” trying to train my mitochondria. The theory is that for endurance sports the key variable is your mitochondria’s capacity to use oxygen and fuel to produce ATP.
Further, if the mitochondria is being asked to make more ATP than it can aerobically, then it will skip the final respiratory step and respire without oxygen (anaerobically). This causes a build up of lactate in the cells that is not tolerated above a certain level, I believe due to it raising acidity levels in the cell.
You’ll often hear athletes and coaches talk about lactate threshold and Functional Threshold Power (FTP). This is all to do with mitochondria function.
If I'm rowing for 20-30 minutes in a HF range of 150-160, that should fall into your parameters, right? This is a very interesting fact - I have been sedentary for a couple of years and I'm fighting a kind of fatigue. Maybe this is a way to work against the symptoms. Do you know of a way to tell if the effects are taking hold?
Further, if the mitochondria is being asked to make more ATP than it can aerobically, then it will skip the final respiratory step and respire without oxygen (anaerobically). This causes a build up of lactate in the cells that is not tolerated above a certain level, I believe due to it raising acidity levels in the cell.
You’ll often hear athletes and coaches talk about lactate threshold and Functional Threshold Power (FTP). This is all to do with mitochondria function.