The Latest on Combined Training: 15% Increase in Muscle Size in 24 Weeks in Healthy Moderately Active Young Men Regardless of "Cardio First" or "Weights First" Training

If you think even non-significant differences in "lean gains" are significant, "weights first" is for you.

If you are about to embark on a combined strength + endurance training regimen in 2015, it does not matter if you do "cardio first" or "strength first"... well, almost. If you stick to the traditional exercise order, you may gain a non-significant 2% extra on your vastus lateralis (some people would wrongly say "quads") size.

You've read evidence for both, the superiority of "cardio first" and "strength first" on the SuppVersity before and it may in fact be a matter of personal preference, whether you do your cardio or strength training first.

You can learn more about the optimal exercise order at the SuppVersity

Before, After or In-Between?

Exercise Order & Leptin

Cardio First for Anabolism?

Large Muscle Groups First?

How to Combine Cardio & Strength?

Exercise Order Reloaded

The latest study from the University of Jyväskylä and the Edith Cowan University actually appears to confirm just that. In their 24-week study Schumann et al. had 34 physically active and healthy young men performed a combined strength and endurance exercise program with 16 subjects performing the endurance and 18 subjects performing the resistance training exercise first, 2-3 times a week for 24 weeks. Or, more precisely, ...

"[d]uring the first 12 wk, the subjects performed according to their corresponding training group two times 1E+1S or two times 1S+1E per week. The frequency was then increased during the second 12 wk so that two combined training sessions were performed in every first and fourth week and three combined training sessions in every second and third week (i.e., two times 1E+1S or two times 1S+1E or three times 1E+1S or three times 1S+1E, respectively)" (Schumann. 2014)

To reflect tapering before testing, both week 12 and week 24 were conducted by maintaining the training frequency but reducing training volume and intensity by reducing the number of sets, lowering the loads during the strength loading, and reducing both the total duration and time spent at high intensity (i.e., above the anaerobic threshold) during endurance cycling.

Dietary control: To control nutritional intake, food diaries were collected for 3 days including one weekend day at weeks 0, 12, and 24. Subjects received both verbal and written nutritional recommendations and were instructed on how to report nutritional intake in the diaries. The food diaries were analyzed by a nutrient analysis software (Nutri-Flow; Flow-team Oy, Oulu, Finland). Subjects were asked to maintain constant dietary intake throughout the study period. In preparation for all testing, subjects were instructed to consume a light meal 2–3 h before the start of each test and were asked to maintain similar nutritional intake before the measurements at weeks 0, 12, and 24. During each training session, a standardized low dose of glucose was provided at the midpoint of each combined exercise session (after E or S, respectively) whereas water was allowed whenever the subjects felt thirsty.

The intensity of the endurance training was controlled by HR (Polar S410; Polar Electro Oy, Kempele, Finland) associated with subject’s individual aerobic and anaerobic threshold determined during measurements at weeks 0 and 12, respectively. Subjects were instructed to maintain a constant pedaling frequency of approximately 70 rpm during each training session while the magnetic resistance of the ergometer was adjusted to achieve the required exercise intensity.

Concomitant Training: Cardio Before or After Weights? Cardio First Triggers 916% Increase in Growth Hormone. Plus: 7x Higher Testosterone & 3x Higher IGFBP-3 Peaks | read more.

"During weeks 1–7, steady-state cycling of low-to-moderate intensity (below and above the aerobic threshold) was performed, and during the remaining weeks, additional high intensity interval sessions (below and above the anaerobic threshold) were incorporated into the training program. The duration of endurance cycling progressively increased throughout the 12 wk of training from 30 to 50 min. During the second 12-wk period, the major endurance program structure was maintained whereas both training volume and intensity were further increased. The aerobic threshold represented intensities (% HRmax) of 65% T 5% and 67% T 6% in E+S and 68% T 8% and 67% T 6% in S+E at weeks 0 and 12, respectively. The anaerobic threshold represented intensities of 85% T 5% and 86% T 5% in E+S and 82% T 8% and 86% T 5% in S + E at weeks 0 and 12, respectively. The loads used during the strength training were determined by the number of repetitions and execution velocity and progressively increased throughout the two 12-wk periods" (Schumann. 2014)

Exercises for the lower body were bilateral dynamic leg press and bilateral (weeks 1–7 and 13–18) and unilateral (weeks 8–12 and 19–24) dynamic knee extension and flexion. Additional exercises for the upper body included dynamic seated vertical press, lat pulldown, and exercises commonly used to improve trunk stability (crunches, torso rotation, and lower back extension).

• During the first 2 wk, training was performed as a circuit using 2–4 sets of 15–20 repetitions at an intensity of 40%–60% of 1RM. 
• Thereafter, protocols aiming for muscle hypertrophy (2–5 sets of 8–10 repetitions at 80%–85% of 1RM, 1.5- to 2-min interset rest) and maximal strength (2–5 sets of 3–5 repetitions at 85%–95% of 1RM, 3- to 4-min interset rest) and, during the last 2 wk, protocols targeting explosive strength (two sets of 8–10 repetitions at 40% of 1RM with maximal velocity, 3- to 4-min interset rest) were performed. 
• During the second 12-wk period, the major strength program structure was maintained whereas both training volume and frequency were slightly increased to maximize fitness and health outcomes and to avoid a training plateau. 

The overall duration of the strength protocol within each combined training session was 30–50 min, resulting in a total duration of approximately 60–100 min for each combined training session (i.e., E+S and S+E, respectively)

Figure 1: Changes in leg press strength (left), time to exhaustion and aerobic power (right | Schumann. 2014).

Similar to the muscle size, the strength (Figure 1 | left) endurance performance (Figure 1 | right) increased non-significantly more in the "weights first" (S+E) group. In that, it is interesting to observe that the discrepancy between the "endurance first" (E+S) and "weigths first" (S+E) group increase over time. A fact that may suggest that after another four weeks the already measurable difference would have become significant.

Figure 2: Changes in vastus lateralis muscle cross sectional area (CSA, left) and lean mass (right | Schumann. 2014).

This is yet as speculative as the corresponding assumption that the inter-group difference in increase in lean muscle mass and vastus lateralis cross sectional area (CSA) would have achieved statistical significance if the study duration had been longer. On the other hand, that would probably imply that the "strength first group" would have ended up with significantly larger increases in upper body muscle mass.

You know what? Who cares! If there is a bottom line to this article it is the same, I used for previous articles discussing the question whether you "should" do your cardio training before or after your weight training: Do whatever works for you!

Beware of the "training frency" - Chronic Resistance Training Reduces the Anabolic Signaling in Response to Exercise - 12 Days of Detraining Restore It | read more.

And in the unfortunate case that neither "weights first" nor "cardio first" works for you, you can still do cardio and weights on separate occasions. Either on a single day with AM and PM sessions, or on separate days, which is what I would suggest to all of you who are aiming for maximal effects on their physique: Three resistance training workouts and two cardio sessions of which at least one should be a high intensity interval workout on five days of the week. If you stick to a whole-food based higher protein diet (30g of high quality = high EAA protein with every meal), that's going make a difference in the mirror... promise! Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Schumann, Moritz, et al. "Fitness and lean mass increases during combined training independent of loading order." Medicine and science in sports and exercise (2014).

Obesity Negates Glucose Sensitizing Effects of Resistance Training. Lifting Works Only For Normal Weight Women

The results of the study at hand clearly suggest: There is no single ideal type of exercise; plus: What's optimal may change when your health / physique changes

"You got to exercise!" When the average overweight patient hears these words coming out of the mouth of his doctor, the type of exercise he usually will be thinking about is "classic" steady state cardio training on a treadmill, elliptical, stairmaster, or ergometer.

It's the textbook approach and still the predominant form of exercise in most of the pertinent studies on nutrition + exercise interventions that are designed to help overweight / obese individuals shed weight and improve their health.

Among the (usually) non-obese and rarely insulin resistant members of the health and fitness community this type of "cardio training" (LISS) has however gotten quite a bad rep as of late.

More and more trainers suggest that it may bet better to lift weights and do the occasional HIIT sessions for everyone - irrespective of your body weight, health and training status. If we put some faith into the results of a recently published study from the University of Massachusetts this could eventually turn out to be another unwarranted over-generalization that disregards the very specific needs of lean vs. obese and insulin sensitive vs. insulin resistant individuals.

Don't forget you are "evolving": Your journey from fat to fit will not simply change the way you look and feel, it will also have a direct impact on the optimal workout and nutrition regimen for you. Consider it your personal "evolution" that may well start out with a no-carb + endurance approach and "evolve" into a medium-to-high-carb + resistance training approach over the years.

Much contrary to the idea that there must be a perfect way to exercise, Steven K. Malin and his colleagues started out with the hypothesis that

"[...] excess body fat would attenuate the improvement in insulin sensitivity and reduction in glucose-stimulated insulin secretion after acute and chronic resistance exercise" (Malin. 2013)

In other words: The same type of exercise that may be highly beneficial for a lean / normal-weight individual could be absolutely ineffective for his overweight neighbor; and if that were the case, this would at least partly explain why some of the studies in obese individuals suggest that regular strength training would not be a match for the arduous light intensity steady stead training (LISS) approach to fitness.

Despite the fact that the corresponding control group on a LISS regimen was missing in the study at hand, the results Malin et al. present in their soon-to-be-published paper would in fact support just that: As long as you are still fat, weight training may be a good way to maintain lean body mass, but not the appropriate form of exercise to get your blood sugar problems and other health issues under control.

Body fat and pumping iron don't groove

The subjects of the Malin's study were 26 young women (21.2±0.7 years) who ere randomized to either a control or intervention group.

Potential explanation of the phenomenon: In the obese the increase in free fatty acids due to the "stressing" (=sympathetic nervous system activity) effects of weight lifting may impair / reverse the exercise induced increase in glucose uptake.

Weights don't work for HDL, either! The beneficial effects of resistance training on HDL are blunted by obesity, too (Nicklas. 1997; study in men).

While the women in the control group had to do nothing but be their lazy sedentary selves, the (un?)lucky girls in the intervention group performed a classic progressive resistance training (PRT) with the following characteristics:

• fully supervised exercise sessions 
• 3 days/week for 7 weeks
• workout duration ~60 min/session 
• intensity 60 % 1-RM
• 3 set of 8-12 repetitions
• 90-120s rest between sets
• 5-10 min of stretching before + after

Otherwise the women in the strength training arm of the study were instructed to maintain habitual physical activity and diet habits throughout the study...

... with one exception, though: On the day before the metabolic testing sessions, they were yet advised to consume a standardized mixedmeal diet with 55% carbohydrate, 30% fat, 15% protein.

Figure 1: Changes in glucose metabolism in response to exercise intervention (Malin. 2013)

With the standardized diets, it was thus not possible that the results in figure 1 (no improvement in insulin sensitivity in the obese women with a mean body fat percentage of 48.2%) were corrupted by crazy candy feasts on the day before.

Could "cardio" really be more than just a necessary evil on your way to a physique like this? (learn more)

So is it weight loss before weights, then? While it is true that there are no direct beneficial effects of resistance training on insulin sensitivity in the obese, you would be ill advised to skip it all together.

Let's assume you can train four times a week. In that case you could progress from a 3:1 to a 1:3 endurance-to-resistance-training-ratio as you journey from obese to normal weight and insulin resistant to "normal" (you can also use a 2:1 LISS : HIIT ratio, but keep in mind that HIIT hits the sympathetic CNS, as well).

It is also possible to combine both, cardio and weights - specifically if you belong to the group of trainees who lack minimal strength (you can't do 10 push ups) and endurance (you cannot jog casually for at least 15min).

References: 

• Malin SK, Hinnerichs KR, Echtenkamp BG, Evetovich TK, Engebretsen BJ. Effect of adiposity on insulin action after acute and chronic resistance exercise in non-diabetic women. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2013 Sep 27.
• Nicklas BJ, Katzel LI, Busby-Whitehead J, Goldberg AP. Increases in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with endurance exercise training are blunted in obese compared with lean men. Metabolism. 1997 May;46(5):556-61.

Before, After or In-Between? Study Puts Another '?' Behind the Widely Accepted 'Cardio After Weights' Paradigm.

Image 1 (rippedfitness.com): As of late everyone picks on gals who believe they would get bulky, when they train with weights... I wonder, when people finally start picking on big, but chubby guys who still try to justify their laziness with the "conditioning work induces muscle loss" myth, when they are guzzling their sugary weight gainers.

I know that I am probably one of the few people with a bias towards lifting weight and high intensity interval training who does not discard the merits of steady state aerobics (LISS) as a third pillar of the exercise part of physical culture. In that I am however well aware that we all have only so much time to spare for exercise - although I believe each and everyone of us would be able to carve out another hour everyday, if we just streamlined our schedules and threw out some useless Internet surfing or TV watching, but this is another issue... it may thus be necessary or at least desirable for many of us, if we could combine strength and LISS sessions into a single session. Personally, I have been doing that for years and after some initial experimentation I have, for the most time, relied on the broscientific recommendation to do LISS after workouts (when I could not do it separately).

Cardio? Ok... but when? Before, after or in-between?

The recent publication of a study on the post-exercise response to concurrent endurance and resistance training published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine does yet make me question if there may not be better ways to combine weight lifting and light intensity steady state cardio training. To elicit whether you'd better walk on the treadmill at 60% of your HRmax before or after your weight lifting workout and whether there may not be an even better third protocol that would involve jumping back ond forth from the treadmill to the bench Andrea Di Blasio and her colleagues from the G. d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara in Italy recruited 13 young previously untrained women (mean age 24.40y; BMI 21.28 kg/m²).

Figure 1: Outline of the 3 training protocols that were performed by all subjects (Di Blasio. 2012)

On three different occasions, each of the participants, who underwent an extensive initial fitness test and had been required to follow identical nutrition protocols before each of the three testing sessions, performed all three of the endurance / resistance training protocols, i.e.

• ERT - 30 min endurance training, first + 3x resistance training circuit*, 2nd
• RET - 3x resistance training circuit, first + 30min endurance training, 2nd
• AERT - [10min endurance training + 1x resistance training circuit] x3

note: the circuit training was performed in sissy mode, i.e. at 55% of the 1RM because "it allows working for 30-second consecutively" (Di Blasio. 2012)

...in random order. Resting energy expenditure, VO2, ventialtion, respiratory frequency, proportion of oxygen in the expired air were collected for 30 minutes via continuous indirect calorimetry (FitMate Pro, Cosmed, Roma, Italy) with the subjects in total rest and in a reclined position in a standardized and quiet room (please keep that in mind! We are NOT looking at intra-exercise energy expenditure, but what happens, when you head home or shower!) according to a standardized experimentally validated protocol (Compher. 2006).

Conventional wisdom fails, both alternatives useful - pick whatever suits your goals

The results, of this trial were - to say the least - more than surprising. Or ... well, honestly they were not. If you take a closer look at the plotted data in figure 2, you will realize that the RPE value, i.e. the rate of perceived exertion, Di Blasio et al. had elucidated visual analogue scale questionnaires, as well as the cardiovascular turned out to be the crucial parameters:

Figure 2: Resting energy expenditure (total and rel. to RPE, left) and changes in oxgyen consumption (VO2), ventilation and oxygen fraction in exhaled air relative to mean changes after ERT, RET and AERT training (based on Di Blasio. 2012)

Interestingly, the long-stading"resistance training first" principle (RET) turned out to be the least useful protocol current experimental setting (see implications, below). Rather, the study found

"[...] that AERT, compared with the other protocols, induced a higher metabolic rate by in- creasing EE, VO2, Ve and RPE during recovery from training, and independently of their pre-test values." (Di Blasio. 2012)

This is an interesting result, because it suggests that the hitherto certainly unappreciated alternation of strength and LISS training within one exercise session appears to elicit those post-exercise increases in EE, VO2 and ventilation, that are necessary to support the re-synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) / creatine phosphate (PCr), to replenish glycogen and oxygen stores, to propel lactate removal and circulation (Børsheim. 2003).

It stands do reason that all these processes are energy intensive. To (1) quantify all of them in kcal (I wonder how long you could survive if you ate kcal instead of foods and how your mitochondria would function if they burned kcal instead of nutrients) and (2) subsume them under the misleading term  "excess post-exercise oxygen consumption" (EPOC) and judge the "optimal" training regimen by its effect on EPOC is yet short-sighted, not just because "EPOC comprises only 6-15% of the net total oxygen cost of the exercise" (LaForgia. 2006), but also because this practice implies that the total or relative (as fat) amount of energy you expend in the immediate vicinity of  a workout was the main determinant of its effects on your metabolic health and physique.

F*** EPOC, the fat burning zone and the calories in vs. calories out hypothesis!

Figure 3: Figure 3: Changes of key enzymes envolved in the phosphorylation of key enzymes in the protein synthetic cascade in response to endurance (E) and combined endurance and resistance (E+R) training (calculated based on Sahlin. 2011; originally posted in "Resistance After Endurance Training Increases Mitochondrial Biogenesis & Protein Synthesis and Ramps Up Fat Metabolism").

That the results of the study at hand do yet still speak in favor of the mixed-mode AERT protocol - at least as long as your main intention is to perform a relatively light full-body conditioning workout at least 3x times a week - is thus not that it yielded the highest post-exercise energy expenditure, but that it did that at the (relatively) lowest rate of perceived exertion (see figure 2, left) and provided the greatest VO2 stimulus to initiate those beneficial metabolic adaptation which won't just reduce the huffing and puffing on subsequent training sessions, but will also help you build a bigger metabolic engine, that's going to keep you lean and help you shed more fat in the future. Apropos "metabolic engine", those of you who have been around for more than a couple of weeks, should actually remember my a post from November 15, 2011, in which I already discussed that adding strength to endurance training can turn even a 60-min cycling workout into a tree-trunk leg builder (see figure 3).

In conjunction with the study at hand, which is the first I know of that compared "cardio first", "cardio second" and "cardio in-between", directly, the results of the 2011 Sahlin study, which employed a true hypertrophy specific pyramid-style leg training after 60min of cycling (without a "hypertrophy first" control, though) do suggest that it may be about time to re-evaluate the bro-scientific standard protocol of "strength, first", "cardio, second" without the long overcome mantra of "you got to work out in the fat burning zone" in the back of your head.

Interestingly, enough, Yardley et al. have only recently reported that "doing cardio first" can make type I diabetics go hypo (Yardley. 2012). Though this may sound scary at first, it would suggest that, in healthy people, the expression of the energy sensor AMPK, as well as the the mitochondria building, fat browning protein PGC-alpha (cf. "If a High Fat Diet was a Pill, the Lay Press Would Celebrate it as Exercise in a Pill!") is probably higher and all the beneficial downstream effects on metabolic health and body composition more pronounced (as always you can of course also argue otherwise - if you want to get hightened leptin levels down, you'd better do it the exact other way around; cf. "Greater Reduction in Leptin With Cardio After Weights").

Suggestion for combining strength and cardio training in one session for,...

• strength - 15 min LISS before*
• hypertrophy - max. 25 min LISS before*
• fat loss (classic) - max. 40min LISS before
• fat loss (alternative) - 10min HIIT + 5min LISS + body part 1, 10min HIIT + 5min LISS + body part 2

* if you feel like it add a 10min HIIT session to the end

You may certainly argue that you would gain more strength without doing any cardio... still, the average O-lifting heavy weight look is probably not what many of you are training for, right? And when you think about it from a physiological perspective it would only appear logical that you better do your cardio first, lift second and add a ~5min cool-down to leave the gym before your protein synthesis peaks / begins to decline, than experience just that during a 45min LISS session after your workouts.

In this respect, even the "equipment hopping" of the AERT sessions, may have it's merit for advanced trainees. While it may certainly not be optimal to "bulk", switching back and forth from cardio to strength training could be a viable alternative for people whose main goal is to maintain the muscle mass while improving their conditioning - particularly when it is combined with short HIIT sessions 5-10min, followed by a short cool-down done twice before say chest and arms (e.g. HIIT > Chest > HIIT > Arms).

References:

• Børsheim E, Bahr R. Effect of exercise intensity, duration and mode on post-exercise oxygen consumption. Sports Med. 2003;33(14):1037-60.
• Compher C, Frankenfield D, Keim N, Roth-Yousey L; Evidence Analysis Working Group. Best practice methods to apply to measurement of resting metabolic rate in adults: a systematic review. J Am Diet Assoc. 2006 Jun;106(6):881-903.
• Di Blasio A, Gemello E, Di Iorio A, Di Giacinto G, Celso T, Di Renzo D, Sablone A., Ripari P. Order effects of concurrent endurance and resistance training on post-exercise response of non-trained women. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2012 Aug; 11:393-39.
• LaForgia J, Withers RT, Gore CJ. Effects of exercise intensity and duration on the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. J Sports Sci. 2006 Dec;24(12):1247-64. 

Don't Want to Become Bulky, Just Toned & Strong? Look No Further! A Basic Weight Lifting Routine, Time & Consistency Let's You Achieve Both Without Eating Cotton Balls

Basic weight training to get toned, or hours of cardio in the evening and cotton balls a la pret-a-porter for launch, you got the choice. A choice between health and happiness and chronic fatigue and misery.

The unwarranted fear of getting "bulky" (whatever that may be) is still looming large among the female gym-goers. And since the same goes for the adherence to unnecessary and highly counterproductive hours of "cardio" (*) training in the "fat burning zone" (that is the zone that will burn you out, but not your fat away), I thought it may be nice writing about the results from a recent study that was conducted at the University of Extremadura in Cacare, Spain (Timon. 2013)... If you are now expecting another "revolutionary 2 weeks to your beach body" program, I will yet have to disappoint you. In fact, the only thing that is special about this study is that the thrice a week resistance training regimen the 20 women (age 21-23y) followed was not special, at all. It is rather so conventional that is sounds almost boring and guess what? That's the secret!

*Note: There is nothing to be said against "cardio" training, but if you want to up your cardiovascular capacity you got to challenge your heart, so HIIT for VO2Max increases and nothing but a fast-paced walk on an incline to get some baseline activity into a sedentary day are the tools you should use - no more "training in the zone!"

The scientists had picked their study participants using the following criteria: Healthy physical condition, non-smokers, sedentary or recreationally active (engaging in B20 min of vigorous intensity exercise three or more times per week over the 3 months prior to the study), no use of pharmacologic contraceptives or other medications that might interfere hormone levels, no self-reported endocrine abnormality (diabetes, thyroid or liver disease), self-reported regular menstrual cycles (cycle 25–32 days long) and not to be pregnant. The emphasis on the menstrual regularity actually hints at the real background of the study, which was originally conducted to "evaluate urinary steroid profile across the menstrual cycle phases in healthy women, checking urinary steroid excretion before and after a strength training program" (Timon. 2013); a research question that would obviously also be relevant with respect to what you've read / learned in the SuppVersity Athlete's Triad Series (read more).

Lifting weight increases strength, tones  and leaves the endocrine system intact

The measured changes were yet not so pronounced that you could draw any meaningful conclusions on whether or not a reasonable training regimen like this could skew the menstrual regularity of previously healthy young women. In fact, Timon et al. actually suggest that they could be exploited to increase the benefits from strength training:

The best workout is always the one you can stick to. And the 8% body fat in 10 weeks crossfit workout you read about before does not really fulfill that criterion.

"Focusing on hormonal variations across the menstrual cycle, changes in estradiol and progesterone excretion were observed during the follicular and luteal phases, following a similar pattern both before and after training. [...] Given that there is a high correlation between the blood and the urine steroid profile [...], a large excretion would indicate a rise in ovarian production of estradiol and progesterone during these phases. Based on these hormonal variations across the menstrual cycle, some studies have stated that muscle hypertrophy and strength gain are higher in the luteal phase than in the follicular phase Sakamaki et al. (2012)." (Timon. 2013).

Apropos benefits: What was it about the toning effect? Well, if you take a look at the exercise program, it included neither "toning" exercises nor "cardio" training - just a 10-15 minute warm up with general and specific exercises that was followed by 3x sets of 9-10 repetitions for each of the seven strength exercises:

• 

  Topical fat loss? Thought you may be interested to hear that a 1995 study found that a combination of forskolin, yohimbine and aminophylline (applied 5x/week for 4 weeks) can actually "spot-reduce" body fat. The figure above shows the effect of 10% aminophylline, the most potent of the three agents on thigh circumference in isolation (Greenway. 1995)
  dumbbell lateral deltoid, 

• leg press, 
• hamstring curl, 

• bench press, 

• seated pulley dorsal, 

• dumbbell bicep curl and 

• seated French press

The 2 min recovery time between sets and the 3 min between exercises don't look much like "toning specific" either and the 70–75 % of one repetition maximum (1-RM) are obviously too much to train for strength endurance, of which the average woman's magazine will tell you that it was the way to go to give your muscle that anorexic cover model shape (dunno if you realize that, but that look does not come from muscle, but from sinews and bones, but alas... I don't want to rant).

Figure 1: Body composition, and 1RM strength before and after the 24 training sessions (Timon. 2013)

As the scientist point out, the effects would probably have been more obvious, if the training program had been "accompanied by a specific diet to improve the muscle hypertrophy" (Timon. 2013). But hey, you did not want to build too much muscle anyway, right? And did you lose 1% body fat in the course of the last 2 months without dieting or torturing yourself on the elliptical or stairmaster in your gym? No? That's what I thought. If you did the latter it's in fact more likely you lost much of your power, some muscle and - in the case you accompanied your "toning" exercises with a low calorie diet your menstrual regularity.

---

Learn how to thrive without a scale and program success (read more)

Bottom line: It does not alway have to be a fancy routine to make slow, but significant progress towards improved health and a better physique - and that's true for both women and men. I mean, come on guys 6% more muscle and 6% less fat* in a year with only three workouts per week, no hours of cardio or scary high intensity workouts is better than nothing (*this hilarious calculation assumes that the progress remained constant for a year)!?

Be honest with yourself : Did you achieve that in the past 12 months or were you too busy jumping from one "quick fix solution workout" to the next while constantly scaring the hack out of yourself when you did or didn't see the tongue of the scale moving?

References:

• Greenway FL, Bray GA, Heber D. Topical fat reduction. Obes Res. 1995 Nov;3 Suppl 4:561S-568S. 
• Sakamaki M, Yasuda T, Abe T. Comparison of low-intensity blood flow-restricted training-induced muscular hypertrophy in eumenorrheic women in the follicular phase and luteal phase and age-matched men. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2012 May;32(3):185-91.
• Sowers MR, Crutchfield M, Richards K, Wilkin MK, Furniss A, Jannausch M, Zhang D, Gross M. Sarcopenia is related to physical functioning and leg strength in middle-aged women. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2005 Apr;60(4):486-90. 
• Timon R, Corvillo M, Brazo J, Robles MC, Maynar M. Strength training effects on urinary steroid profile across the menstrual cycle in healthy women. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2013 Jun;113(6):1469-75.

Reflux Disease? Maybe It's a Pressure-Overload-Induced Sliding of the Hiatal Hernia? Injury is Common in Power Athletes & Bodybuilders - 7/8 Lifters Affected

If you don't want to have your phrenoesophageal ligament (see Figure 1) go baggy or rupture, you better watch your breath, when you're deadlifting and squatting or doing any other form of strenuous whole body lifting exercise.

I know that the increasing naturopath followership will tell you that everyone suffering from reflux disease would just have to pound tons of betaine HCL (stomach acid) to cure this nasty condition... obviously, this is just like 99% of the common Internet wisdom only partially true. Yes, there are people who suffer from (non-acidic!) reflux due to insufficient stomach acid, but based on personal experience I would estimate that this is by no means the most frequent reason gymrats regurgitate their food involuntarily.

Rather than a lack of stomach acid, the combination of a per se healthy, but hard to digest diet, the negative impact of exercise on the digestion process and last but not least the risk of developing a pressure-overload sliding of the hiatial hernia during deadlifts, squats & co are the most frequent contributers to "reflux disorders" in physical culturists.

Want to get stronger? Don't take creatine? Huge mistake! Learn why at the SuppVersity

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Build 'Ur Own Buffered Creatine

I guess the first two factors, i.e. a ton of high fiber foods, veggies and protein, as well as the role of exercise as digestion "off-switch" are pretty self-explanatory and eventually nothing you could not deal with by appropriately timing your food intake.

Figure 1: Wrong breathing patters promote the rupture / bagging out of the phrenicoesophageal ligament and will thus allow the parts of the stomach including the the lower esophageal sphincter, which keeps the stomach shut, to pass through.

The occurrence of sliding hiatal hernias, on the other hand, is something that's commonly associated with increasing age and the accompanying degenerative processes that impair the structural integrity of all tissues, including the phrenoesophageal ligament (see Figure 1) which will then allow parts of the stomach, including the lower esophageal sphincter that's supposed to keep the stomach shut, into the thorax.

The incidence of sliding hiatal hernias in the general population is 0.5%. In fact, the prevalence in the Western world is thought to be significantly higher, with approximately 60% of geriatric patients in North America having a hiatal hernia on radiologic studies.

Most hiatal hernias occurring in young adults are idiopathic or associated with hardly noticeable reflux problems after large meals.

There has been speculation of a stress-induced hiatal hernia from repeated episodes of elevated intra-abdominal pressure, and there is plenty of evidence that "injuries" like these are pretty common among elite body builders and, as a 1999 study by Smith et al. shows, young male power athletes, as well.

Warning - Belts don't protect you! Aside from the fact that weightlifting belts increase the already high pressure that's at the heart of the weightlifting induced sliding hiatus hernia, the contemporary evidence suggests, that they don't protect those of you who have nor previous back issues against injury, increase the risk of severe over less severe injuries, tend to give people the unwarranted perception that they were "protected", tend to increase both intra-abdominal pressure and blood pressure, and appear to change the lifting styles of some people to either decrease the loads on the spine or increase the loads on the spine, so that their use is, as Stuart M. McGill from the University of Waterloo points out in an invited review for the National Strength and Conditioning Association  (NSCA Hot Topics Series) not recommended for healthy individuals either in routine work or exercise participation (McGill. 2005).

The data in Figure 1 was collected in a sample of eight male elite power athletes and seven male non-weightlifters who were matched for age. The subjects underwent a fluoroscopy with barium which allowed Smith and his colleagues to test their hypothesis that "pressure overload can induce hiatal hernias in young adults." (Smith. 1999).

Figure 2: Occurrence of sliding hiatial hernia in power-lifters and non-weight training subjects (left; Smith. 1999); normal and pathologically altered esphagus and stomach (right).

Although it cannot be be repeated often enough that statistical significance and "significance" in absolute terms are two pairs of shoes, I don't think that it's necessary to point out that a difference between 7 out of 8 and 0 out of 7 is both real-world and statistically signifcant.


It should likewise not be necessary for me to point out that the occurrence of this injury is a consequence of wrong breathing patterns and will usually happen, when lifters are still working on their form and breathing technique - in other words, it happens to exactly those rookies who are particularly prone to use way more weight than they can handle.

The good news, however, is that for most those wannabe-weight lifters the hernia is without consequences of the 7 power-lifting subjects in the Smith study, for example, only one admitted to having reflux symptoms outside of weight lifting - that was also the one with one of the moderate-sized hiatal hernias.

Study suggests: Training intense, may help making gains that last | more

Unless you're overdoing it and trying to protect your back with one of those belts that actually caused the stomach to protrude into the thorax in one of the otherwise unsymptomatic powerlifters in the Smith study, it's thus unlikely you'll be turning into a ruminant from weight lifting. And in case it's already to late, there are currently a handful of effective minimally invasive treatment techniques available that can help those of you who suffer from an unbearable reflux due to a professionally diagnosed sliding hiatal hernia eat and digest normal again (Bello. 2012).

References:

• Bello, Brian, et al. "Impact of minimally invasive surgery on the treatment of benign esophageal disorders." World journal of gastroenterology: WJG 18.46 (2012): 6764. 
• McGill, Stuart M. "On The Use Weight Belts." NSCA Hot Topics Series. www.nsca-lift.org (2005).
• Smith, A. B., et al. "Pressure-overload-induced sliding hiatal hernia in power athletes." Journal of clinical gastroenterology 28.4 (1999): 352-354.

Energy Drinks Before Workout Make You Thirsty. Single HIIT Session Every 14 Days Maintains Fitness in the Off-Season. Postprandial Walk Decreases HbA1c by 5%. Cardio Before Weights Increases pAKT +87% Over Weights Alone

You simply cannot start "working out" too early - even if it's just child's play.

"Three for one!" No, I am not trying to sell you three bottles of "uberpotent" test-boosters for the rat of one. Three for one that's the SuppVersity Figure of the Week and it is the ratio of the decrease in breast cancer risk in women and the hours of physical activity per week during their adolescence.

According to a 2004 review by Lagerros, Hsieh and Hsieh, each additional* hour of weekly physical activity is associated with a -3% risk of developing breast cancer later in life (Lagerros. 2004)

Needless to say that the "additional" hours are in addition to the low physical activity in the laziest of the study participants, who had a 20% higher risk of developing breast cancer than their most active peers.

So what else do we have today? With this primer on the importance of physical activity esp. in the critical periods of your / your children's and grand-children's lives, let's delve right into a "special edition" of the Saturdaily "Short News" with a focus on a selection of very recent results from exercise-related studies.

• Energy drink before a workout make you thirsty. don't enhance performance (Tanskanen. 2013) While the mantra of the "intra-workout" beverage producer that you need at least a small amount of carbohydrates to optimally absorb the added salts, a recent study from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland showed that the ingestion of both high- and low-carb (33g vs. 10g) caffeine-containing energy drinks before the workout resulted in a temporary increase in thirst compared to to both caffeinated (106mg, just as the two energy drinks) an non-caffeinated water.
  
  

  

  With +1kg Fat in 4 Weeks from less than 2 energy drinks/day, thirst may be the least problem you will have if you guzzle "energy drinks" (learn more).

  The fact that the increase in thirst was only transient, and decreased in the course of the 60min cycling exercise (60% VO2max) the healthy young adults had to perform, as well as the non-existent differences in hydration status between the groups do yet show that these effects were practically irrelevant. Incidentally, the latter has to be said for the promised / expected performance enhancing effects of energy drinks - with the relatively low amount of caffeine in the drinks, there were no significant differences between the the time the 10 participants cycled on an incremental test to exhaustion that followed the "steady-state-cardio" during each and every of the four testing days of this randomized, crossover study.

  ---

  Putting things into perspective: The fact that previous trials yielded different results, esp. wrt to the performance enhancing effects of caffeine, is probably attributable to a the low dosage of caffeine. Another very recent study by Ranchordas & Kenzie, for example has just confirmed that a compbination of 32g of carbs and 300mg of caffeine can "enhance some aspects of soccer-related fitness including acceleration, maximal velocity, 20-m sprint speed, speed-endurance, and lower RPE during repetitive sprints compared with CHO-only and PLA beverages." (Ranchordas. 2013)

 

• 

  Remember the "Iranian HIIT Solution" - 9% body fat in 12 weeks? Perfect evidence: HIIT is not for athletes, only.

  It does not take much to stay fit, a single every other week HIIT session is enough (Rønnestad. 2013) Right from the former Olympia "Metropolis" *rofl* Lillehammer comes a study which shows that trained athletes like semiprofessional soccer players can maintain their baseline fitness levels in the off-season by no more than a single HIIT session, which consisted of five bouts of 4 min running at 87–97% of age-predicted maximum heart rate, every other week.
  
  The overall loss in the distance the subjects covered during the 20-m shuttle run did obviously decline (-8% ± 6%), but the difference to the control group that performed the same HIIT sessions on a weekly basis was non-significantly different from the every-other-week group.Moreover, both groups maintain their VOmax over the whole six week study period.

  ---

  Bottom line: A little of HIIT can go a long way ... wait, this is almost the title of a previous SuppVersity post, i.e. "Some HIIT For Life & Less LISS For More! How to Burn 27,300 Kcal Extra W/out Losing a Single Extra Pound of Fat!", of which I would really suggest you read it now, in case you are still not convinced that a reasonably dosed amount of HIIT makes a valuable addition to almost every trainees regimen.

 

• Hit the weights! If you want to do more than just increase your daily activity levels to lower your HbA1c, don't waste your time on the treadmill. Increase your daily activity level and lift weights! Three supervised resistance training sessions per week for 10 weeks have been shown in a 2009 study by Bweir to be significantly more effective in lowering the Hb1Ac levels than in adults with type II diabetes than an isoenergetic (=spending the same energy during the workout) treadmill exercise (Bweir. 2009).
  The postprandial stroll in the bark is an effective means to lower your HbA1c (Nygaard. 2013) While the former post on the conservation of the conditioning of a trained athletes by HIIT does confirm the notion that "aerobic exercise" in the original sense of the meaning, which would imply that you increase your body's exercise capacity (as evidenced by VO2max), another recently published study shows that metabolic benefits of exercise can be achieved with much lower intensities.
  
  At least in the in the South Asian immigrants with high risk of type 2 diabetes who participated in a recently conducted 12-week intervention, it took nothing but the figurative "walk in the park" (30min+ of physical activity of any sort) after a meal, to reduce their HbA1c levels - a marker of long(er) term glucose levels - by allegely relatively unimpressive, but statistically highly significant ~3% (p = 0.012). That the intervention in the course of which the average subject increased his / her daily activity by 40min compared to the control group did not yield any significant changes in body composition should yet be as evident as the fact that it was 100% side-effect free.

  ---

  Bottom line: It really depends on where you are and if you are a sedentary slob, even 40min of extra (light) activity a day can make a difference. After all, previous studies have shown that each 1% increase in HbA1c is associated with a 1% increase in cancer risk (data fro 25,476 patients with type 2 diabetes registered in the Swedish National Diabetes Register; cf. Miao Jonasson. 2012). 

• Rodent study says: Cardio does not hamper anabolic signalling (Souza. 2013) While the comprehensive review by Wilson et al. you've read about here at the SuppVersity several times (e.g. April 2012, January 2013, etc.) found that there is a
  

  "significant negative relationships between frequency (-0.26 to -0.35) and duration (-0.29 to -0.75) of endurance training for hypertrophy, strength, and power." (Wilson. 2012)

  a very recent study from the Universidade de Sao Paulo would suggest that the negative influence of endurance training on the anabolic stimulus of restistance training is either
  
  1. species specific and occurs only in humans, but not in rodents,
  2. occurs only with chronic high volume trainging, or
  3. is at least not related to changes in the AMPK, TSC2, mTOR, or p70S6K1 ratios
  Now while each of the former is certainly possible, my best bet would be that the training volume, i.e. 5 sets of 10 reps on a "rodent leg trainer" and a 60min endurance workout on the treadmill, and the fact that the protocol was performed only once are the main reasons that the AMPK, TSC2, mTOR, or p70S6K1 ratios were identical.

  ---

  

  Doing cardio before strength workouts results in a higher testosterone:cortisol ratio after the workout (learn more)

  One thing is remarkable, however: The scientists observed a pretty remarkable +87% increase in Akt phosphorylated/total ratio that occurred 2h post only in those rodents who performed a 60min bouts of treadmill running before their leg workout. What? Yeah, that's actually what Carl and I have been talking about in the past - "pre-workout glycogen depleting cardio as intensity technique" (learn more)

---

So what's left to do now? Ah, yes of course. The best wishes for the weekend and a brief link-list for those of you who can't be without SuppVersity news for another 24h.

• 

  "Going Nuts On Berries: Ellagic Acid in Rasp- and Blueberries, Pecans, Walnut & Co Protects Against Visceral Obesity" - I hope you are not one of the guys who spits the tiny seeds of the raspberries out. That is not just disgusting, you would also spit away ~90% of their ellagic acid content (learn more).

  Do you stand right? Scientists investigate the influence of dynamic vs. static posture on leg stiffness and future risk of fall (read more)
• Anabolic steroid use has distinct effects on tendons. Scientists speculate that the increased stiffness and higher modulus contribute to the frequent ruptures in chemical athletes (read more)
• Oldie but goldie: Do you cook the creatine out of your steaks? A mid 20th century paper shows that cooking degrades creatine to creatinine (read more)
• More walnut lovin' Despite the fact that you have to be careful with what you say about the health effects of walnuts, these days a group of reseachers does not fear the repressions from the FDA and says: "We found two novel mechanism that explain why walnuts are good for your heart!" (read more)

These and other news are already waiting for you on Facebook and you can bet that there will be at least half a dozen additional ones posted before the next official SuppVersity article will see the light of the day, tomorrow.

References:

• Bweir S, Al-Jarrah M, Almalty AM, Maayah M, Smirnova IV, Novikova L, Stehno-Bittel L. Resistance exercise training lowers HbA1c more than aerobic training in adults with type 2 diabetes. Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2009 Dec 10;1:27. doi: 10.1186/1758-5996-1-27.
• Miao Jonasson J, Cederholm J, Eliasson B, Zethelius B, Eeg-Olofsson K, Gudbjörnsdottir S. HbA1C and cancer risk in patients with type 2 diabetes--a nationwide population-based prospective cohort study in Sweden. PLoS One. 2012;7(6):e38784.
• Nygaard H, Grindaker E, Rønnestad B, Holmboe-Ottesen G, Høstmark AT. Long-term effects of daily postmeal physical activity - Preliminary results.International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism,2013, 23, S1 -S15.
• Ranchordas M, Kenzie J.Effect of carbohydrate only and carbohydrate plus caffeine co-ingestion on a battery of reliable soccer-specific tests. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism,2013, 23, S1 -S15.
• Rønnestad BR, Slettaløkken G. High-intensity interval training every second week maintains VO2max in soccer players. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism,2013, 23, S1-S15.
• Souza EO, Tricoli V, Bueno Junior C, Pereira MG, Brum PC, Oliveira EM, Roschel H, Aoki MS, Urginowitsch C. The acute effects of strength, endurance and concurrent exercises on the Akt/mTOR/p70S6K1 and AMPK signaling pathway responses in rat skeletal muscle. Braz J Med Biol Res. 2013 Apr 19:0.
• Tanskanen M, Heikkinen T, Linnamo V. Effects of caffeine drinks on endurance performance, fluid balance, and subjective feelings. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism,2013, 23, S1 -S15.
• Wilson JM, Marin PJ, Rhea MR, Wilson SM, Loenneke JP, Anderson JC. Concurrent training: a meta-analysis examining interference of aerobic and resistance exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Aug;26(8):2293-307.

Exercise Order Reloaded: Testosterone Advantage of Doing Weights First Does Not Persist over 24 Week Study Period ➲ Strength Gains Identical, But GH Difference is Suspicious

Could the "wrong" exercise order be holding you back?

If you take a look at the SuppVersity articles with the keyword "exercise order" (click here to do that now), you will probably find "good" arguments for both: Doing cardio before and  doing cardio after weights - this begs the question, whether it is merely a question of personal preference, doesn't it?

I, for my part, have done both in the past and didn't notice much of a difference. For mere time reasons I do my cardio completely separate from my workouts, but in general, I would probably do longer 20min+ low intensity steady state cardio after the workouts. Not the least for the beneficial effects of very low intensity exercise on both metabolic and performance markers of recovery (Corder. 2000).

You can learn more about workout routines at the SuppVersity

What's the Right Training 4 You?

Hypertrophy Blueprints

Fat Loss Support Blueprint

Strength Training Blueprints

Study Proves: Overtraining Exists

Recovering from the Athlete's Triad

If we take a look a the results of a recent study by Moritz Schumann et al., these acute recovery effects may yet have about as little effect on the real-world outcome of your training sessions as the temporary reduction in testosterone the researchers from the Public University of Navarra, the Edith Cowan University and the University of Connecticut observed in those 12 of their ca. 30 years old, ca. 179 cm tall and ca. 79 kg heavy male, recreationally active study participants who had been randomized to the "cardio before weights" (E + S: endurance before strength training) group. It goes without saying that the exercise prescriptions for the E+S and S+E groups were identical:

Additional read: "Cardio&Strength What Do I Do First?" Plus: Could the Answer Be Sex-Specific?" | more

"During the first 12 weeks of training, the subjects per formed according to their corresponding training group either 2x[1E + 1S] or 2x[1S + 1E] per week.

During the second 12 weeks, the frequency was increased so that two combined training sessions were performed in every 1st and 4th week and three combined training sessions in every 2nd and 3rd week (i.e., 2x[1E + 1S] or 2x[1S + 1E] or 3x [1E + 1S] or 3x[1S + 1E], respectively). " (Schumann. 2014)

For the "E" in "E + S", the subjects cycled on a regular ergometer at an intensity that was controlled by heart rate zones determined from subjects’ individual aerobic and anaerobic threshold obtained during the baseline measurement at week 0 and 24. 

Figure 1: Overview of the 24-week study protocol (Schumann. 2014)

They were asked to maintain a constant pedaling frequency at about 70–80 rpm during each training session, while the magnetic resistance of the ergometer was used to achieve the prescribed cycling intensity:

"The endurance program consisted of both steady-state and interval exercise sessions while the intensity was progressively increased from low (below the aerobic threshold) to high (above the anaerobic threshold) throughout both 12-week periods." (Schumann. 2014)

If you add the 30-50 minutes it took the subjects to complete the periodized (circuit training 2-4 sets of all exercises at 15-20 reps  40-60% in week 1-2; 2-5 sets of 8-10 reps @80-85% during the rest of the study) strength training routine, that consisted of exercises for the lower and upper body, i.e.

• lower body -bilateral dynamic leg press, as well as both bilateral (weeks 1–7 and 13–18) and unilateral (weeks 8–12 and 19–24) dynamic knee extension and flexion -
• upper body - vertical shoulder press and lat pull down, as well as exercises commonly used to improve trunk stability -,

to the 30–50 min of cardio the subjects performed on each of their three weekly workouts, the total duration of the workouts would be 60–100 min for each combined training session.

Post workout testosterone = statistically significant, practically irrelevant difference

In view of the fact that the total training time, the exercises and the workout frequency were identical, the previously mentioned inter-group differences in post-workout testosterone are attributable to the exercise order - irrespective of whether they were mediated by a reduced performance in the strength training session or whatever crazy counter-evidence you were just about to mention in the comments ;-)

Figure 2: Serum testosterone concentrations during loading and recovery before (a) and after (b) the combined
training (left); changes in basal serum markers after 24 weeks of training (right; Schumann. 2014).

If you take a closer look at Figure 2, you will also notice that the initial difference in post-workout testosterone levels (left) is lost over the course of the 24-week study period. Against that background and in view of the inter-mediate increase in testosterone in the E+S vs. S+E group, it is not surprising that the relevant outcomes, i.e. the 1-RM, the increase in maximal voluntary contractile force (MVC) and the gain in aerobic power didn't differ between the S+E vs. E+S groups.

Figure 3: Rel. change in performance parameters within the 24 week study period (left); acute responses and recovery of maximal isometric leg press force (MVcmax) before (a) and after (b) the combined training (right; Schumann. 2014).

What is interesting though and may even be interpreted as evidence to support my previous suggestion to do "cardio after weight" for its beneficial effects on recovery is the slightly more pronounced decrease in creatine kinase in the S+E group (see Figure 3). Even if we take into consideration that CK is not the reliable marker of muscle damage everyone says it was (Chrismas. 2014), the relative CK values may still serve as a proxy of recovery, which could be enhanced with cardio after weights.

The GH response would also speak in favor of "weights first": With post-workout GH levels of 54.4 vs. 13.7 in week 1 and 56.7 vs. 19.1 mIU/l in week 24, the difference between the groups is huge and could be associated with an increased consumption of fatty acids post-workout, as well as greater increases in muscle fiber size as it was observed by West et al. (2012) in their seminal paper on the correlations between exer- cise induced changes in GH, testosterone, cortisol & co on the one, and size and strength gains, on the other hand.

Bottom line: If the study at hand was able to prove one thing, it would be be the non-significance and absurdity of the never-ending debate about "cardio before or after weights". While you may argue that doing light intensity cardio on your off-days has the "activity on almost 7 days of the weeks health advantage", there really isn't a reasonable argument why you would prefer doing it before or after your strength training sessions that would apply to everyone.

Irrespective of the potential GH advantage, I discussed in the box to the right, my suggestion would thus be: If you cannot or don't want to separate cardio and strength training, listen to my body and do whatever you feel suits you better.

If that's cardio before weights and thus not what I prefer, personally, that's perfectly fine - I mean, if I meet someone to talk to while doing cardio, I will also prepone my cardio workout and hit the weights afterwards ;-)

Reference:

• Chrismas, Bryna CR, et al. "Reproducibility of creatine kinase: how useful is this measurement tool?." International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings. Vol. 10. No. 1. 2014.
• Corder, Keith P., et al. "Effects of active and passive recovery conditions on blood lactate, rating of perceived exertion, and performance during resistance exercise." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 14.2 (2000): 151-156.
• Schumann, Moritz, et al. "The order effect of combined endurance and strength loadings on force and hormone responses: effects of prolonged training." European journal of applied physiology (2014).
• West, Daniel WD, and Stuart M. Phillips. "Associations of exercise-induced hormone profiles and gains in strength and hypertrophy in a large cohort after weight training." European journal of applied physiology 112.7 (2012): 2693-2702.

Exercise Threesome: Heart Protective Effects of Lifelong Weight Training ✰ Cortisol Doping in High Intensity Sports ✰ Lifelong Exercise Normalizes CVD Risk of T2D Patients

Which of these news do you find more dubious? The fact that weight training is good for the heart or that cortisol doping can make the difference between victory and defeat in high intensity sports?

It's Sunday and I am still trying to figure out, if Sunday or Saturday is the day with the least visitors here at the SuppVersity. I am not sure what exactly you are doing on the weekend, but I guess after reading today's "Exercise Threesome" you will certainly feel "caught in the act" - in the act of working out or in the act of not working out on the weekend ;-)

In the end it does yet not matter if you are a weekend-warrior or loafer, the mere fact that you are here tells me that you must have some kind of interest in exercise and will thus probably not mad at me if I tell you that today's installment of the Short News is an exercise exclusive.

What? Oh right, the topics. Well I guess with heart health, performance and longevity I managed to cover some of the most interesting aspect of exercise training, didn't I?

• Long-term intense resistance training has beneficial effects on heart health / morphology -- (Morra. 2013) In their latest paper in the Journal of Hypertension, Morra et al. do away with the often-heard prejudice that resistance training as bad for your heart.

  

  Figure 2:  Central and peripheral hemodynamics and cardiac structural parameters (left), as well as Crude and adjusted central augmentation pressure (cAP) of intense resistance trained, endurance runners, and healthy untrained controls (Morra. 2013)

  As the title of the study already tells you, their analysis of the radial tonometry-pulse wave, pulse wave velocity (PWV), and echocardiogram's of sixty-nine 25-50 year-old male participants (19 intense resistance trained (IRT) group, 21 endurance runners, and 29 CON) revealed "preserved cardiac structure/function, decreased aortic stiffness, and lower central augmentation pressure" in the long-term intense resistance trained study participants.

• 

  If you don't want to resort to prescription drugs to boost your HIT performance, I'd suggest you take a closer look at the effects of baking soda (NaHCO3) and beta alanine on 4-min All-Out Sprints Even in Highly Trained Athletes.

  Glucocorticoids improve high-intensity exercise performance in humans -- (Casuso. 2013) That's not just the result, it's also the title of a paper in the December edition of the European Journal of Applied Physiology in which  Rafael A. Casuso, Lars Melskens, Thomas Bruhn, Niels H. Secher, and Nikolai Baastrup Nordsborg describe a statistically significant increases of +29% in one-legged dynamic knee-extensor exercise time to exhaustion, and +19% total running distance during a shuttle run test in response to the ingestion of 2 mg of dexamethasone or placebo in the morning (between 7 and 9 a.m.) and evening (between 5 and 9 p.m.) for five consecutive days.
  
  These improvements didn't come without a minimal downside though: The twitch relaxation was slower (P < 0.05) after dexamethasone compared to placebo treatment after 45 s of exercise. In view of the fact that the rate of force development was higher in the dexmethasone treated subjects, this is yet probably a "downside" professional athletes can cope with. The ~30$ and ~20% increases in strength and sprint endurance, respectively, could after all make the difference between victory and defeat.  
• Life-long physical activity restores metabolic and cardiovascular function in type 2 diabetes -- (Schreuder. 2013) While the overwhelming majority of epidemiological evidence suggests that the impact of type II diabetes (T2DM) on metabolic and cardiovascular health will necessarily limit our life-expectancy, the results of a recent study from the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in The Netherlands clearly suggests that this may apply only to the lazy majority of T2DM patients.

  

  Figure 1: Lifetime risk score (%, risk of cardiovascular mortality in the next 30 years) in inactive and age-, sex- and body weight-matched life-long  active T2DM patients, and healthy controls (Schreuder. 2013).

  According to the results of their analysis (see Figure 1) of fitness, HOMA-IR (insulin resistance), brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and lifetime risk for cardiovascular disease in 15 exercising T2DM patients, 12 age-, sex- and weight-matched sedentary T2DM patients and 9 sedentary men that were free of established cardiovascular and metabolic disease and served as controls, being physically active before the diagnosis of T2DM (7.8 ± 6.9 years duration of T2DM at the time of study), and having been physically active for 37.4 ± 8.4 years (18–47 years), with an average number of 5.3 ± 1.8 hours / week of physical activity, nullifies the negative effects of type II diabetes on the lifetime risk if cardiovascular mortality in the next 30 years.

Addison's disease is the consequence of a hereditary cortisol deficiency... looks like pimped up "adrenal fatigue", doesn't it?

Let me guess, you dig the news about the heart protective effects of weight training and are by no means surprised by the CVD protective effects of exercise in type II diabetics, but the thing about the performance enhancing effects of cortisol is giving you headaches, right?

I am not sure how often I will have to repeat that, but cortisol is more important for you than testosterone and growth hormone together. You just have to look at the poor wretches who are born with a congenital cortisol deficiency... I don't even want to start talking about the (usually self-induced) phenomenon people call "adrenal fatigue". If you experienced that once, you will certainly be inclined to believe that cortisol is ergogenic and can help you lose body fat (learn more).

References:

• Casuso, R. A., Melskens, L., Bruhn, T., Secher, N. H., & Nordsborg, N. B. (2013). Glucocorticoids improve high-intensity exercise performance in humans. European journal of applied physiology.
• Morra, E. A., Zaniqueli, D., Rodrigues, S. L., El-Aouar, L. M., Lunz, W., Mill, J. G., & Carletti, L. (2013). Long-term intense resistance training in men is associated with preserved cardiac structure/function, decreased aortic stiffness, and lower central augmentation pressure. Journal of hypertension.
• Schreuder, T. H., Maessen, M. F., Tack, C. J., Thijssen, D. H., & Hopman, M. T. (2013). Life-long physical activity restores metabolic and cardiovascular function in type 2 diabetes. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 1-9.