Shadowing Practice: It's Tough, But It'll Build A Monster Aerobic System - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Your aerobic system has multiple layers and most people only ever train one.

Studies on elite athletes show the single biggest predictor of aerobic performance isn't the training style most people obsess over.

And once you see why, everything changes.

So in this video, I'm going to show you the fastest way to build a monster aerobic system.

My name is Nicholas.

I'm a former professional triathlete with two degrees in sports science and physiotherapy.

Now, the first thing that I'm going to show you is what the four different things you need to train are.

Because if you've never trained all of them, it's the number one thing that you can do that'll make you better.

Now, here's the thing.

Most people find a training style they believe in and then just do that.

Someone tells you that zone two is the secret, so you build your whole week around easy aerobic training.

Or someone else swears by hard training or threshold training, so you switch to that.

And because you're consistent, you assume you're doing it right.

But if you truly want the biggest aerobic system possible, you need to train four different systems most of the time.

So let me show you what those systems are, and then I'm going to show you exactly how to train them.

I want you to think about your aerobic system as watering a garden.

You've got a pump, you've got water in the tank, you've got hoses running out to every plant, and then you've got the plants themselves actually drinking the water.

Now, let's say the garden isn't getting enough water.

So you go out and you buy a huge expensive pump.

You install it, you turn it on, and almost nothing changes.

Simply because the hoses are still thin and the tank is still half empty.

It doesn't matter how strong your pump is if the water can't get anywhere.

That's your aerobic system.

Your heart is the pump, your blood is the water, and your blood vessels are the hoses.

And finally, your muscles are the plants.

When you do nothing but hard intervals, you're buying a bigger pump.

When you do nothing but easy zone 2 training, you're mostly laying more hose.

Now, this is super simplified, and in reality, it's a lot more complex.

but you get the idea.

Each training method on their own hits a wall at some point, simply because the rest of the system is still the same size.

The people with monster aerobic engines don't just pick one way to train, they build the whole thing.

And multiple studies have shown that the best endurance athletes in the world does not train in one specific way.

Instead, they train across a bunch of different paces to train all the different systems in some way

or another most of the time.

So the first step to a bigger engine is to train at at least four different intensities most of the time.

Meaning both the easy long stuff like 60 minutes

or more at an easy pace the medium hard stuff also called your lactate threshold pace or tempo.

So something like five times six minutes

or three times ten minutes at a comfortably hard pace the hard stuff also called your vo2 max

so something like four times four minutes best average pace

and the sprint stuff so the 10 to 20 seconds all -out efforts

and when you train all four together the improvement is a lot faster than most people expect

because almost nobody is doing this now the obvious question is

how do you actually fit all four into a normal training week

when you're not a professional athlete with 10 sessions per week to play with?

Well, let me show you.

So, most people think in seven -day blocks.

Monday to Sunday and then repeat.

And when you try to squeeze four different systems into seven days on top of work and family and everything else,

it either falls apart or you end up so tired you can't hit the sessions properly anyway way.

But professional athletes think differently about training.

When I was a professional triathlete, we did not plan in seven day training blocks.

I mean, think about it.

There's nothing magical about seven days.

It's just an artificial constraint we put on ourselves.

Instead, what we did was that we made sure that we hit every single system at least once every 10 to 14 days.

So it's really simple.

If you want a bigger aerobic system and can't fit everything into your training plan in one week, like most of us can't,

then just expand your time horizon to 10 days or even two weeks.

That way you don't need to train hard all the time.

You just need to switch up your training.

And I'm gonna show you exactly how to do that later in this video.

But there's one more thing you need to do first, which brings me to the third step you have to take if you want to build a monster A -Rubik system.

Now, the problem is that if you do the same sessions week after week, at some point, your body stops adapting.

It's basically because your body is lazy.

So at some point, it'll just say, I can handle this, so I don't need to get better.

But there is something that we can do to force your body to keep getting better week after week.

Let me explain.

When I was a professional triathlete, my training group actually had a phrase for this.

We called it new normal.

You see, every year my coach would hand me a new training plan.

And it was always harder than the one from last year.

So it had more sessions and longer sessions.

And to be honest, when he first showed it to me, I thought, there's no way I'm going to be able to handle all that volume.

But somehow we'd get through the season.

And by the end, those sessions that once felt impossible were just Tuesdays.

It was just the new normal.

Then the next year would come around and this whole thing began again.

What felt insane eventually became routine.

And that's exactly how you need to think about your aerobic training.

You can't do the same distances at the same paces forever and expect to keep improving.

Over time you need to add more volume or push the intensity.

Simply because more volume is the most powerful thing you can do for your aerobic fitness.

The more quality work you can do without breaking down, the bigger your aerobic system gets.

So the goal is always to be doing a little bit more than you've done before.

And then over time you'll notice that something that seems crazy today,

like running a half marathon just because it's Sunday, becomes the new normal.

So now you're training the different systems and you're doing more over time.

But none of this will work unless you pay close attention to the next thing that I'm going to show you.

Now, the problem is that training more or training harder doesn't automatically make you fitter.

It just makes you more tired.

You need to make sure that the training you're doing is actually giving you the adaptation that you want.

And it's not just about rest days.

Let me show you.

So think about a bodybuilder trying to put on muscle.

If he cuts calories at the same time, it will be a lot harder,

if not impossible, to put on muscle because the body simply doesn't have enough resources.

He has to eat enough calories to support the training and the recovery on top of it.

So smart bodybuilders separate two phases.

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First they bulk to build the muscle and then they cut to lose the fat.

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Endurance training works the same way even though most people never think about it like that.

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In fact multiple studies have shown that what's called RED -S is a huge problem for endurance athletes.

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RED -S stands for Relative Energy Deficiency in Sports

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and it's usually a result of trying to train harder while also cutting weight or eating less calories than you need.

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So here's what I want you to do.

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When you're trying to build your aerobic system, that is not the time to also be losing weight.

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Your body needs fuel to recover between sessions and to come back ready to train again.

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So you need to eat enough to support the work.

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Build the engine first.

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Then, if you want to lose some fat, do that afterwards.

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Just know that the training will feel harder while you do it, simply because you don't have the same energy available.

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So, now let me show you how to put all of this together into an actual training plan.

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In my experience, this is where most people get stuck.

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They understand that they need to train different paces and train harder, but when they sit down to make the training plan, it turns into a mess.

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In fact, I remember the first time I tried to plan a proper training block that covered everything.

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Within about 10 minutes, I'd scheduled hard sessions on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday because I wanted to make sure nothing got missed.

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But by Thursday, I was so tired that by the weekend, I had to skip my training just because I needed to sleep.

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But fortunately I learned that there is a better way

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and it's the same structure that has been shown in studies to be the way

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that the best athletes in the world actually plan their training.

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It works like this.

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Each week you have two quality days and one long day.

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That's your framework.

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The long sessions takes care of your AeroWig base and the durability

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and your two quality days rotate across a two -week block.

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One week might be a threshold session and a VO2 max effort.

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The next week might be threshold again and then some faster sprint work.

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So across 14 days every system gets hit at least once without any single week feeling like too much.

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And here's a small trick that makes a big difference.

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If you have more training days with some easy stuff, just add a few short sprints at the end.

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Just four or five short accelerations of about 10 to 20 seconds.

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That way you're keeping your fast twitch fibers awake and reminding your legs what fast feels like.

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It's speed work that costs you almost nothing to recover from.

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So, here's the fastest way to build a monster aerobic system.

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First, train at a bunch of different intensities most of the time.

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Second, make sure you hit each system at least every two weeks.

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Third, do more over time.

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Building your aerobic engine is not something you do in two weeks.

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It takes years.

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Fourth, eat enough to recover from your hard training.

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And the simplest way to structure your training is two quality days

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and one long day every single week with the rest of your training being easy.

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But part of your aerobic system is your VO2 max.

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And if you want to know the fastest way to increase that part of your fitness, I'm going to show you exactly how to do that in this video right here.

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148 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 144 sentences and 1904 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:33. The speaker talks at a natural 165 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
pace noun	/peɪs/	A step taken with the foot.
athlete noun	/ˈæθ.liːt/	A participant in any of a group of sporting activities including track and field, road running, cross country running and racewalking.
pump noun	/pʌmp/	A device for moving or compressing a liquid or gas.
muscle noun	/ˈmʌs.əl/	A contractile form of tissue which animals use to effect movement.
threshold noun	/ˈθɹɛʃ(h)oʊld/	The lowermost part of a doorway that one crosses to enter; a sill.
hose noun	/hoʊz/	A flexible tube conveying water or other fluid.
recover verb	/ɹɪˈkʌvɚ/	To get back, to regain (a physical thing; in astronomy and navigation, sight of a thing or a signal).
intensity noun	/ɪnˈtɛnsɪti/	The quality of being intense.
sprint noun	/spɹɪnt/	A short race at top speed.
endurance noun	/ɪnˈdʊɹəns/	The measure of a person's stamina or persistence.
calorie noun	/ˈkæləɹi/	A non-SI unit of energy, equivalent to 4.184 kilojoules, that can raise the temperature of a kilogram of water by one degree Celsius. This is the unit normally…
fitness noun	/ˈfɪt.nəs/	The condition of being fit, suitable or appropriate.
consistent adjective	/kənˈsɪs.tənt/	Of a regularly occurring, dependable nature.
trick noun	/ˈtɹɪk/	Something designed to fool, dupe, outsmart, mislead or swindle.
thin adjective	/ˈθɪn/	Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
break down verb		To stop functioning.
come around verb	/kʌ.məˈɹaʊnd/	To change one's mind, especially to begin to agree or appreciate what one was reluctant to accept at first.
come back verb		To return to a place.
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.
fall apart verb		To disintegrate, to break into pieces.
get through verb	/ɡɛt ˈθɹu/	To overcome; to endure.
go out verb		To leave, especially a building.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 44 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, you've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: athlete /ˈæθ.liːt/, threshold /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)oʊld/, thin /ˈθɪn/, marathon /ˈmæɹəθən/, physiotherapy /ˌfɪziəʊˈθerəpi/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: threshold /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)oʊld/, artificial /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, adaptation /ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/, acceleration /əkˌsɛl.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: intensity /ɪnˈtɛnsɪti/, artificial /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, differently /ˈdɪf.ə.ɹənt.li/, adaptation /ˌæd.æpˈteɪ.ʃən/, fortunately /ˈfɔɹ.t͡ʃə.nɪt.li/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like pace, athlete, pump.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: It's Tough, But It'll Build A Monster Aerobic System - Learn English Speaking with Video

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