Which is better cardio long duration or short, high intensity intervals?

 a recent study published in “Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise”(1) found that shorter, high intensity aerobic intervals raised the VO2 Max of subjects more so than other subjects who followed longer protocols.

The study used 4 groups each with a different running protocol.  They measured VO2max before and after 8 weeks.  Both groups that used short, high intensity running significantly improved their VO2 max.

VO2 Max is a measure used by exercise scientists to determine a person’s aerobic capacity.

So what?  You may ask.  this is huge because this argues against the long held mentality that in order to improve aerobic endurance you have to train at a mild intensity, for a long period of time.  This study shows that training at higher aerobic intensity wil provide more aerbic benefit. 

When I started training for my first marathon, I used a training program given to me by a friend.  It gradually increased my running volume every week, and at one point I was running 5 days a week for 6-8 miles at a time at a steady speed.

 I have already seen the benefits of interval training and now I only run 3 days per week.  I still have a Long Slow Distance run on the weekend, but it’s more to prepare my mind mentally for running a long time rather than making me any faster.

Aerobic High-Intensity Intervals Improve V[spacing dot above]O2max More Than Moderate Training.

I have referenced the article below if you want to read it.

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 39(4):665-671, April 2007.

HELGERUD, JAN 1,2; HOYDAL, KJETILL 1; WANG, EIVIND 1; KARLSEN, TRINE 1; BERG, PALR 1; BJERKAAS, MARIUS 1; SIMONSEN, THOMAS 1; HELGESEN, CECILIES 1; HJORTH, NINAL 1; BACH, RAGNHILD 1; HOFF, JAN 1,3

Bulky Women (part 2) 

The second important thing you need to build muscle is the proper training program.

The program needs to be intense enough to overload your muscular system and signal your body to start building more muscle.  Remember that you also have to be eating enough calories too. And we are talking about a lot of calories.

The training programs used for muscle growth (hypertrophy) use high intensity and high volume weight lifting.  The way to overload muscle is to make it lift more weight than it’s used to.  Body builders are sometimes jokingly referred to as “gym rats” because they spend so much time there.  It’s not because they can’t find anywhere else to hang out, it’s because they have to do so many sets and repetitions and include enough rest between those sets. 

Some bodybuilders even train multiple times during the day for hours at a time. 

Most of us can’t afford to spend the time most bodybuilders need to spend shaping their bodies. 

I’ll discuss the third component to building muscle in the next post so keep a lookout.

Can women get bulky?

The answer is yes, but not as easily as most people think.

I have some individuals (women mainly) tell me all the time that they want to tone up their muscles with weight training, but they don’t want to get bulky.

What most people don’t realize is how hard it is for anyone to gain lean muscle, even guys. Successful body builders, either male or female must adhere to strict diets in order to gain the maximum amount of lean muscle, and they spend a lot of time lifting weights and doing cardio in order to create the specific look they want. In some cases, bodybuilders use androgenic steroids or other supplements to enhance muscle gain.

Building muscles requires three important things.

First, you must eat more calories than you are burning on a consistent, daily basis.

Bodybuilders eat a lot, I MEAN A LOT!

To gain muscle you would need to increase the amount of calories you eat by 500 or more per day depending on how big you want to get.

Any weight gain will always include both lean weight (which is muscle, bone, water and other stuff) and fat. If you are burning a lot of calories with exercise and you keep your caloric intake the same, then you will actually lose weight.

The take home point here is that if you don’t want to build big muscles, don’t eat more than what your body can use. Regardless of how heavy you lift weights, if your caloric intake remains the same or decreases, then you are not going to build any more muscle. Your muscles will repair themselves and you will get stronger, but not by building muscle.