Why Distance Running Shouldn’t Be the Primary Method for Developing Aerobic Capacity in Team Sport Athletes

For decades, long-distance running has been the default approach for enhancing aerobic capacity in athletes. Traditional training paradigms have emphasized steady-state endurance running to improve cardiovascular efficiency. However, while running has its merits, utilizing it as the predominant means of conditioning for team sport athletes is not only suboptimal but may also be detrimental to performance outcomes.

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Running Does Not Replicate Sport-Specific Metabolic and Neuromuscular Demands

Team sports are mostly characterized by high-intensity, intermittent activity, requiring rapid accelerations, decelerations, directional changes, and variable rest periods. Continuous, steady-state running does not sufficiently address these sport-specific demands. Instead, aerobic capacity should be developed through structured methods that integrate repeated efforts, in effort of enhancing the oxidative system’s role in restoring anaerobic energy stores.

Optimizing performance requires prioritizing speed development and movement efficiency. Increasing an athlete’s maximal velocity leads to improved efficiency in executing sport-specific tasks, by reducing the relative energetic cost of performance. The body craves high velocity movements and improves efficiency through such patterns. Conditioning modalities could incorporate sprinting variations, multidirectional movement patterns, strength and conditioning training, and game-like stimuli rather than mono-structural aerobic training.

Long-Distance Running Wins... Last Place in Team Sports

Conventional conditioning often employs isolated long-distance running or generic sprint drills to target aerobic and anaerobic capacity. However, as noted by Verheijen and other experts in sport science, football and many other team sports have a focus of repeated high-intensity efforts interspersed with brief recovery phases, rather than a continuous endurance-based activity. Rather than emphasizing undifferentiated endurance development, conditioning should focus on enhancing an athlete’s ability to sustain high-quality technical and tactical execution under fatigue. This necessitates training methods that integrate technical skill execution with physiological overload.

Sport-Specific Conditioning Strategies

A more effective approach involves conditioning methods that closely align with the physiological and neuromuscular requirements of competition. One of the easiest and simplest and most specific forms of conditioning you can do is play your sport. Understanding how to manage the training load throughout the season from practice and games is key to keeping athletes healthy and performing optimally. Here are some ideas on how to vary conditioning strategies in your training:

• Small-Sided Games: 3v3 basketball, 5v5 soccer or 7v7 football, develop fitness and cognitive decision-making skills with more repetition.

• Position-Specific Drills: Tailored exercises, don't expect a lineman to sprint like a WR, and don't expect a WR to lift like a lineman.

• Work-to-Rest Ratios: Conditioning protocols should reflect the demands of competition to optimize energy system adaptation.

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The Detrimental Effects of Excessive Steady-State Running on Power and Speed

Although aerobic conditioning is essential, excessive reliance on long-duration, steady-state running can be counterproductive. Chronic exposure to slow, submaximal efforts can induce muscle fiber adaptations that favor endurance over explosive power, thereby diminishing an athlete’s ability to generate force rapidly. Team sport athletes require robust neuromuscular function, emphasizing rapid force production and reactive agility. 

Key Physiological Considerations:

• Maximal neuromuscular stimulation enhances recovery and adaptation, High Velocity, High Load (HVLV)

• Submaximal running leads to systemic fatigue and localized inflammation without adequate recovery stimulation.

• Overtraining through non-specific endurance work reduces training efficiency.

  
  

Optimizing Energy System Development

Training should systematically integrate these systems rather than overemphasizing one at the expense of others. Team sports necessitate strategic energy system training that aligns with performance demands:

• Alactic System (0-10 sec): Maximal-intensity sprints, jumps, and explosive movements with full recovery.

• Lactic System (10-60 sec): Repeated high-intensity efforts with incomplete rest to enhance lactate tolerance and clearance.

• Aerobic System (Recovery & Endurance): Aerobic development through tempo runs, controlled circuits, and game-speed drills to support sustained effort and recovery.

Cognitive and Tactical Fatigue Considerations

Fatigue in team sports extends beyond physiological depletion; it encompasses cognitive and neuromuscular demands. Generic running-based conditioning fails to reinforce cognitive elements such as situational awareness, decision-making, and tactical execution under duress. Effective training integrates both physiological and perceptual loads, ensuring that athletes develop endurance in the context of sport-specific tasks rather than in isolation.

A Better Approach for Aerobic Development

Rather than accumulating unnecessary mileage, aerobic capacity should be enhanced through targeted interventions based on the needs of the athlete or team, as well as context of the season. Long distance running accumulates high impacts compared to its counterparts of cycling or rowing, even sleds have become popular for many variations of training both on field and in the weight room. High load, high velocity training also enhances aerobic efficiency through maximal anaerobic stimulation, which drives the recovery processes.

Integrating Strength and Conditioning Methods

A well-rounded approach to aerobic development could include:

• Contralateral Circuit Training

  • A training method that emphasizes coordinated movements between opposite limbs (e.g., right arm and left leg) to enhance neuromuscular efficiency, core stability, and functional strength.

• Isometric Holds (Maximal - 5 Min)

  • A strength training technique where an athlete sustains a maximal voluntary contraction without joint movement for an extended duration (up to five minutes) to improve muscular endurance, tendon stiffness, and force output.

• Escalating Density Training (EDT)

  • A progressive overload strategy where athletes perform as many quality reps as possible within a fixed time frame, with the goal of increasing total work volume in subsequent sessions to drive muscular adaptation.

    
    

• Super Endurance Training

  • A high-intensity conditioning approach that combines extended-duration isometrics, resisted movements, and metabolic demands to build extreme muscular and aerobic endurance without compromising power and speed.

• Metabolic Running

  • A conditioning methodology that strategically manipulates work-to-rest ratios, sprint durations, and intensities to develop the athlete’s energy systems in alignment with sport-specific metabolic demands.

• Tempo Running

  • Submaximal sprint training (typically 70-80% max speed) performed in controlled intervals to develop aerobic capacity, recovery efficiency, and running mechanics while minimizing fatigue.

• Maximal Aerobic Speed (MAS) Training

  • A conditioning method based on an athlete’s lowest speed at which maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂ max) occurs, used to optimize aerobic endurance, interval programming, and energy system efficiency.

The Psychological and Physiological Toll of Excessive Running

Traditional high-volume endurance running can lead to mental fatigue and physical overuse injuries. Unlike structured high-intensity training, prolonged steady-state efforts may result in motivational decline, compromised neuromuscular function, and chronic stress injuries such as stress fractures and tendinopathies.

Moreover, excessive aerobic training may lead to cardiac remodeling that reduces maximal stroke volume and impairs high-intensity performance. Instead, training should balance aerobic efficiency with high-velocity force production.

Load Management and Recovery Strategies:

• Monitor total training volume and neuromuscular load.

• Utilize objective performance markers (KPIs) to inform programming.

• Optimize recovery through sleep, nutrition, and individualized adjustments.

  
  

The Role of Respiratory Training in Aerobic Efficiency

Breathing mechanics play a critical role in optimizing aerobic efficiency and recovery. Training strategies should aim to enhance CO2 tolerance and optimize oxygen delivery:

• Maintain HR at 120-170 BPM to optimize aerobic adaptation while avoiding lactate accumulation.

• Increase Tolerance of CO2/O2 levels to facilitate hemoglobin’s oxygen release (Bohr Effect)

• Utilize Nasal Breathing and Diaphragmatic Techniques to enhance ventilatory efficiency and autonomic recovery.

  
  

  Practical Respiratory Training Strategies:

  
  

  • 4-1-8-1 Breathing Patterns to enhance CO2 tolerance.

  • Diaphragmatic Breathing & Mouth Taping for improved oxygen utilization.

  • Water-in-Mouth Drills as a practical alternative for nasal breathing reinforcement.

  
  

“The "Bohr effect" in relation to hemoglobin refers to the phenomenon where a decrease in blood pH (increased acidity) or increased carbon dioxide levels causes hemoglobin to have a lower affinity for oxygen, thereby facilitating the release of oxygen to tissues that need it most, like actively working muscles; essentially, it's the mechanism that allows hemoglobin to efficiently unload oxygen in areas with high metabolic activity.”

Conclusion

The aim is not to portray running as a negative activity but to highlight that it's not the best approach for team sport athletes to reach peak condition for the season. Long-distance running is more suited for endurance athletes and those who find it enjoyable. There's even an argument for the benefits of certain types like trail running for foot and ankle strength. To clarify, this isn't a critique of running itself, but rather an acknowledgment that the traditional emphasis on long-distance running for team sports is outdated. Conditioning should reflect the demands of competition, and we can explore the specific requirements of each position in greater detail. As an athlete or coach, it's important to be open to trying new training methods that could directly enhance your and your team's performance.

 Nathan Albright is the owner of XI Sports Performance, where he works with youth, high school, and college-level athletes offering a wide variety of training with various sports, including Soccer, Football, Basketball, Baseball, Volleyball, and more. Nathan has a BSc. in Exercise Kinesiology from the University of Toledo and currently resides in Northwest Ohio.