Aerobic Training — What About Strength Workouts? (Part 3)

In the two previous parts of Principles of Aerobic Training, Dr. Steve Gangemi, aka Sock Doc, reviewed the critical components of building a healthy aerobic base that can lead to enhanced performance for all runners. In this part, Sock Doc turns his attention to strength training.– NRC

We all can agree (hopefully) that strength is important. There is some disagreement as to when one should add in, or begin strength training. Some say to develop the aerobic system first and shun weights initially one hundred percent as it will impair proper aerobic development. Others say the opposite – start with weights because you’ll burn more calories and see results quicker than when training your aerobic system alone.

I feel it’s very individualized but I don’t see strength training to be harmful as anaerobic endurance workouts can be when there is an insufficient aerobic base. For example, if I saw a patient who was doing absolutely zero daily exercise I would first encourage him to start walking. That’s going to be aerobic. Moving – it’s fairly important. I also want to know what he’d like to do so he’d hopefully stick with an exercise routine. So although I’d love it if he were walking and doing some dynamic, natural movements every day and eventually also some strength work too; but that may not happen for some time for some folks.

If the person is already under a tremendous amount of stress and eating poorly he’s living an anaerobic lifestyle already, so no way do I want him training too hard either via anaerobic endurance or heavy strength training. Deep squats, balance work, and maybe some carrying of weighted objects would be a good way to get this individual integrated into more strength training. Now if the person just doesn’t know where to start and they are eating well and under very little stress then I’m all for some weight training to start.

So the point here – take a look at the whole picture and don’t just do what everybody else is doing; do what works for you, do what you like to do, and make sure your body is able to handle the workout. Unfortunately, if you’re often involved in group-training sessions, this may be difficult to do as you will be pressured to train with the group versus doing what is ideal for you. Therefore, the group setting is often not best at least for the majority of your training program, especially if you start in a class that is above your current fitness level.

People often go from one extreme to another. It’s somewhat like diets, going from the high carb, low fat diet to a low carb, high fat diet. Endurance athletes fear strength work and too much anaerobic, while sprinters, lifters, and power athletes fear workouts that are overly aerobic. The marathoner wants to steer clear of the weight room. The bodybuilder avoids the treadmill, track, or trail.

But strength training is very important for every athlete, even for marathoners and ultrarunners who might think twice of carrying around too many muscles. That doesn’t mean the runner needs to be squatting massive weight just as a shot putter shouldn’t be running several miles every day. How much weight and how many miles respectively? That depends on the individual – what he’s trying to accomplish and what their goals are. Clearly a long distance runner doesn’t want the over-development of Type II muscle fibers or use a lot of energy trying to develop such; and a strength athlete doesn’t want to expend too much energy into his aerobic system. But for the runner, power developed by carrying a heavy load up a hill can be very beneficial at various times in one’straining just as a strength athlete can achieve some benefits by running for a prolonged period of time – even 30 minutes – to develop one’s  aerobic capacity. That brings us to the next point.

Train Your Weaknesses

“Train your weakness” is stressed as a MovNat principle, one of the many I learned last summer while attending a MovNat camp with a dozen other participants. (see my MovNat Guest post.) Training your weakness is important in becoming a well-rounded athlete. This can mean training your body more on the weaker side (the less dominant side) so you become more balanced, but it also means you should train what you’re not very good at so you can become a more fit and healthy individual. So if you’re more into lifting weights, work on some easy long runs to develop your aerobic system. You’re not going to lose your strength and develop skinny legs! I’m talking some 30 minute runs, maybe even up to 60 minutes every so often. Keep it slow; walk if you need to. Carry a kettle bell or a log if it makes you feel better (or cooler), or benefits your training. If you’re more of an endurance athlete as I am, work on strength – carry heavy objects, lift, throw, and jump – things that help develop power. Find the fine balance between what your goals are, what you like to do.

Aerobic conditioning may not benefit the strength-only athlete as much as the endurance athlete can benefit from strength, but they can both can help (or hinder) to various degrees. The strength-only athlete will lack many of the health benefits of true aerobic training, such as reduced stress hormone levels, increased immunity, and resistance to fatigue. Those incorporating aerobic activity are thought to live longer too.On the other hand, the endurance athlete shunning anaerobic will lack power and speed and have impaired glucose metabolism.

I’m not going to lift heavy everyday even if I was able to keep my running up. That would impair my ability to run a one to three hour race as fast and as efficiently as I possibly can. But I do want to develop power and anaerobic endurance, so I incorporate strength training at different times in my training cycles during the year. Strength training is fine but the more you do, the less time and energy will go into your endurance training (which will hopefully be primarily aerobic) and the greater chance you’ll develop an aerobic/anaerobic imbalance. These aerobic/anaerobic imbalances lead to muscle imbalances resulting in pain, injury, illness, and lackluster performance. Lackluster is an old word; thought I’d bring it back.

Likewise, if you want to lift a whole lot of weight, integrate some aerobic activity into your workouts but not so much that it impairs your strength. The more developed your aerobic system the longer you’ll be able to sustain certain workouts and the faster you’ll recover. Even in a very anaerobic sport, such as ice hockey, soccer, boxing, or MMA fighting, the athlete who is going to still be strong physically and sharp mentally til’ the end is the one with superior aerobic and anaerobic conditioning.