Characteristics of endurance and weight training for fitness exercises

General exercise or training methods can be divided into two types. One is endurance training, focusing on long-term continuous exercise, including long-distance running, long-distance swimming, long-distance free vehicle, etc. The main goal is to enhance cardiopulmonary function, improve the muscles' ability to use oxygen, and make the body adapt to long-term aerobic exercise. The other is weight training, focusing on training muscles to fight the added weight or resistance, including weight lifting or weight training for muscles in each part of the body. The main goal is to increase muscle strength and increase muscle fibers.

     The effect of training

    Due to different training methods, the human body will have different reactions to these two training methods after a period of time. Generally speaking, endurance training can improve the maximum oxygen utilization rate. On the one hand, it increases the heart's ability to output blood and the number of microvascular vessels, so that the amount of blood reaching the muscles increases within a certain period of time, and can provide more oxygen for muscle use. At the same time, it increases the chondrome and enzyme activity in the muscles responsible for oxidizing nutrients and providing energy, so that the muscles can use the oxygen in the blood more efficiently, provide the energy required during exercise in an aerobic manner, reduce the production and accumulation of lactic acid, slow down the phenomenon of muscle fatigue, and maintain a certain exercise intensity for a long time. However, sometimes endurance training will reduce the strength of muscles and will not have a significant effect on promoting muscle growth.

     On the other hand, weight training causes an increase in muscle strength, promoting muscle growth and enlargement, but does not increase granular glands and oxidative enzymes, nor does it promote microvascular growth, which reduces the concentration of these substances responsible for the aerobic system in the muscles. Therefore, pure weight training cannot help endurance-type exercise.

     Many sports require long-term endurance and muscle strength. For example, basketball players need to have the endurance for 40 minutes, and they also need sufficient muscle strength to increase their bounce ability and cope with collisions in the game. Baseball players need to have the endurance to play nine innings, and they also need sufficient muscle strength to provide the strength to swing and pass the ball. Therefore, many athletes need endurance and weight training to cope with the situation during the game.

      As mentioned earlier, different training methods will produce different effects, and some effects may offset or affect the results of another training, such as weight training that causes muscle enlargement, but at the same time it may reduce the concentration of oxidative enzymes in the muscle, which may affect the performance of endurance exercise. The following two studies explore whether two trainings at the same time will have a better effect, and whether two trainings on the same day or different training on different days.

Research results

A group of Canadian University of Alberta The researchers compared one group of subjects who were engaged in leg weight training for three days and another group of subjects who were engaged in leg weight and endurance training three times a week (weight and endurance training interacted with each other the next day). After 12 weeks of training, the legs muscle strength and leg muscle size of the two groups increased significantly, and the increase was similar, so the additional endurance training did not affect the effect of weight training.

     Another group of Canadian McMaster University The researchers compared the effects of weight and endurance training on the same day and different days. Each training was performed twice a week. Weight training focused on the muscles of the legs, while endurance training was performed on a fixed bicycle, so both training mainly utilized the muscles of the legs. After 20 weeks of training, the maximum weight that the two groups of subjects could lift with leg pressing increased, but more people who trained on different days increased. However, the increase in the intensity of the quadriceps of the thigh and the increase in the muscles of the legs was not different from the increase in the muscles of the legs. Changes caused by endurance training, including increasing the maximum oxygen consumption rate and increasing the activity of oxidative enzymes, also had the same amplitude of changes in both groups of subjects. So whether they were engaged in these two trainings on the same day or on different days, the effect of the training was very similar.

According to the above two research results, adding one training method will not have a negative impact on the results of the other training, and the results of the training are very similar whether you perform these two training methods on the same day or on different days. So if you need these two training methods to improve your athletic performance, or if you want to increase endurance and muscle strength at the same time, don’t worry, performing these two trainings at the same time can still achieve the effects of various trainings.

   As for the two different trainings that should be performed on the same day or on different days, I think it is mainly based on your schedule. If you can exercise for 4-5 days a week, you can interact with one training method every day, so that the muscles are less likely to be tired, and they also have more time to supplement the nutrients and energy lost during exercise. If you only have 2-3 days a week, you must do two trainings on the same day. At this time, you should pay special attention to supplementing appropriate amounts of carbohydrates and water before and during exercise. , to provide sufficient energy and maintain sufficient exercise intensity. As for which training you should first engage in, I think you should first perform training methods that are more important to you. For example, your main goal is to increase muscle strength, then do weight training first, and then endurance training, because sometimes the subsequent training will not be able to achieve the predetermined training intensity due to fatigue. If the two training methods are equally important to you, then you can arrange them according to your own preferences, or replace them interactively so that the training process will not be too monotonous.