Strength and Endurance Go Hand in Hand

There is a common misconception in the fitness world that building strength and improving endurance are two separate things. Traditional gym logic says to use high weights and low repetitions to build strength, and to use lighter weights and high repetitions for endurance. You may or may not be surprised to hear me say this, but it's all utter nonsense. The fact of the matter is that strength and endurance are not diametrically opposed when it comes to exercise, but rather two sides of the same coin. Strength and endurance go hand in hand.

Most of us are familiar with the aerobic and anaerobic metabolic pathways from high school biology class. The aerobic pathway depends on the presence of oxygen to generate ATP (the main energy currency), while the anaerobic pathway does not need oxygen to produce energy. The aerobic pathway is used to a greater degree in lower-intensity activities such as jogging, walking, or biking, while the anerobic pathway comes more into play with activities such as short distance sprinting or throwing the shot put. It is important to understand that no matter what activity you perform, you cannot completely separate the two metabolic pathways. Yes, you will use one pathway to a greater degree than the other, depending on the nature of the physical task, but you will not be able to turn one off at the expense of the other. There is what is known in physiology as the size principle of muscle recruitment. Your slow-twitch muscle fibers (primarily effective in lower intensity activities) will be recruited first. If the task is more than the slow-twitch fibers can handle, the next fibers recruited will be the intermediate-twitch fibers. Only if the intensity of the activity is high will the fast-twitch fibers (which are capable of producing greater force) be recruited. This is where the Olympic-style weightlifting proponents get it wrong; they hold the misguided belief that by lifting explosively they can target just the fast-twitch fibers, which have the greatest capacity for growth. Muscle fibers are ALWAYS recruited sequentially in this order, no matter how you train with weights. The most effective way to recruit and fatigue all of your muscle fibers is to use the Total Results exercise protocol.

Speaking of Total Results exercise, how does the preceding information apply? Clients come to us for a variety of reasons: some want to get stronger, while others hope to ward off chronic disease and reduce their dependence on medications. There are a multitude of reasons why everybody should strength train, but what motivates you to start is a matter of personal preference. In order to stimulate optimal gains in strength, endurance or any other positive physical change, you must train to and beyond muscular failure. To ensure that we are properly incorporating the anaerobic and aerobic metabolic pathways, failure needs to occur somewhere between one and three minutes of time under load (TUL). Anything greater than three minutes and it becomes more of a steady-state activity, and the load isn't sufficient enough to merit the requisite level of effort. We keep detailed records of every workout, and we know that if we have increased your resistance on a given exercise relative to your previous session, you have increased your strength. Consequently, If your TUL increases by 20 seconds at the same weight as your previous workout, you have increased your muscular endurance. Record keeping is very important, as a critical component of improved client performance is knowledge of results. No matter what, strict form is a non-negotiable requirement.

These are some things that the "fitness gurus" rarely take into account. Strength and endurance are key components to a long and productive life. Just think of all the things that you will be able to do every day with less effort and energy expended. All of this can be achieved in less than one hour per week. Get Total Results today.