Pump that iron . . .
and run that mile all in the same day.
If you’ve been blissfully combining aerobics and weight training in your workouts and enjoying the benefits, you can stop reading now.
If you’ve been leery about combining the two, read on. And then exhale.
We’ve had warnings from the sports world that weight training interferes with the body’s response to aerobic exercise and that endurance exercise weakens muscles’ ability to strengthen during weight training.
Enter science.
Two new studies complement each other and report that the theories of “muscle interference” and “exercise antagonism” don’t exist in reality.
A Swedish study had a group of active young men pedal a stationary bike using only one leg. Next the men did strength training with both legs. Muscle biopsies revealed no difference between the legs.
Canadian researchers tested the theories on a group of sedentary middle-aged men and found no evidence of “interference” in the combined exercises.
My Take on the theories and research: It’s a little frustrating that acceptance of an idea and monetary profit too often precede validation of the idea itself, but I’m grateful that science does eventually catch up.
I think one of the biggest challenges of this century is picking our way through the silliness of it.
From Tufts University Health & Nutrition Update, May 23, 2012 Studies published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise and in The Journal of Applied Physiology
My Take on Today 