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Concurrent TrainingBy Greg Nuckols June 2014

Cardiovascular training has been much maligned in the powerlifting community. By that, I amreferring to purely aerobic work. You’ll find people touting the benefits of sled work, sprints, or barbellcomplexes, but steady state aerobic work? Never! We’ve been told it’ll make us small and weak somany times we’ve taken the bait. The real story is a little more nuanced than that. Let’s dive in.

Mode-specificIn a 2012 meta-analysis 1 it was found thatcombining strength training and aerobic trainingdid in fact decrease the rate of progress both interms of strength and hypertrophy. However,when different modes of exercise were comparedin isolation (i.e. running and lifting by themselvesor cycling and lifting by themselves) the negativeeffects only materialized when combining liftingand running.

That’s right, cycling didn’t cause any decrementsin strength and hypertrophy. There are two likelyexplanations:

a) Joint angles – cycling includes joint anglesmore similar to squatting. Instead ofminimal hip and knee flexion you get with

jogging, the joint range of motion trainedfor cycling is much more relevant to weightroom activities.

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b) Muscle damage. With running, you have toabsorb the shock of each step, and thiseccentric loading can cause muscledamage. With cycling on the other hand,all the muscle action is concentric, whichcauses minimal muscle damage. Thus, itdoesn’t add to the total amount of recoverywork your body has to do betweenstrength training sessions. In fact, it mightaid in recovery by substantially increasingblood flow to the legs without causingfurther damage.

Addi tional h ypertrop hy with cycling?Some studies have actually shown that combiningcycling and strength training can cause greaterhypertrophy than strength training alone.

Admittedly, these studies incorporate lowertraining volumes than the average RTS reader

will be using, but mechanistically they show thatcycling, rather than detracting from the strengthand hypertrophy response to training, mayactually be additive in terms of overall anabolicstimulus. What’s more, the studies wereconducted with cycling and strength training bothtaking place within the same training day 2 andalso on separate days 3. This tells us that there’slittle need to fear an interference effect with bothacute and chronic effects of combining cyclingand lifting.

A small caution: it’s important to note that thestudies do find a decreased rate of forceproduction when combining cycling and lifting. Ittherefore may be prudent to taper aerobic workalong with strength training leading up to a meet.However, this isn’t a major concern for apowerlifter. Total time under tension for a max liftwill almost always be shorter than time it takesthe body to produce maximum force utilizing

stored ATP and phosphocreatine as rapid energysubstrates. Whether you reach max force in .25second or .5 seconds shouldn’t be a majorconcern in a lift that can take 4-5 seconds orlonger.

Energy expenditureLifting heavy stuff is an energy-intensiveendeavor. In 1994, research found that oxygenconsumption could be predicted, and thus derivecaloric expenditure, with a pretty high degree ofaccuracy based on total work done in thedeadlift 4. The equation they found is:

Oxygen consumption (L) = 2.63 + 0.80 x work (in kilojoules)

Then, multiply oxygen consumption by 4.9 to getcaloric expenditure since each liter of oxygenconsumed means about 4.9 kcals burned.

So, just to do a little rough math – let’s say you’rea 235kg deadlifter, hitting 85% for 5 sets of 3.Your range of motion is about half a meter.

Oxygen consumption = 2.63 + 0.80 x (200kg x 0.5m x9.8m/s^2 / 1000) x 15 total reps

For that set, you will consume about 14.4 L ofoxygen, and expend 70 kcals. That’s about howmany calories you’d burn running half a mile ifyou’re around 200 pounds.

Although this study was looking specifically at thedeadlift, the same principles would likely hold true

Over time, as your aerobic capacity improves, setsthat used to take 3 minutes for full recovery mayonly take 2 minutes, and a level of volume thatused to run you into the ground will become muchmore manageable.

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for squats. At the very least, there is no reason tobelieve they wouldn’t.

Here are some implications. If you feel just fine towork out after jogging half a mile, dedicatedaerobic work may not be necessary for you.However, if you’re out of shape aerobically, you’lltake longer to produce the energy necessary forrecovery between sets, and consequently your

training volume will suffer. You’ll probably benefitfrom adding some dedicated aerobic work to yourtraining. Another important thing to point out isthat as you get stronger your aerobic enduranceshould also improve. Since caloric expenditure isbased on total work, you increase it by puttingmore weight on the bar (which will happen as youget stronger), and by doing more volume (whichwill become necessary to keep progressing past acertain point).

Why do aerobic work when lifting can also beaerobically taxing?Risk versus reward. The more aerobicallyfatigued you are, the more likely you are to slip upand hurt yourself lifting heavy stuff. Use aerobicwork to improve aerobic capacity, and usestrength work to get strong. Over time, as youraerobic capacity improves, sets that used to take3 minutes for full recovery may only take 2

minutes, and a level of volume that used to runyou into the ground will become much moremanageable.

Conclusion Aerobic work won’t make you small and weak,especially if you stick to cycling. What’s more, asolid aerobic base can help you safely pushyourself harder in the gym and increase training

density and volume. If you value yourperformance, maintaining a strong base ofaerobic fitness will help you, not hurt you.

Abou t t he AuthorGreg is a strength coach, writer, and elite drug-freepowerlifter. His passion is synthesizing scientific researchand in-the-trenches experience to stay at the forefront ofthe strength game, and to become the best coach andathlete possible. With best lifts including a 755 squat, 475bench press, and 725 deadlift, he knows what it takes to getyou strong. Visit www.gregnuckols.com for more of hiswork.

References 1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22002517 2 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24408998 3 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22706947 4 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7932947

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