I agree with Steve. I very rarely post there, but much of the stuff on
misc.fitness.weights is not bs. What is BS is the stuff Jeff posted in this
thread.
There is quite a bit of scientific (peer-reviewed) evidence that endurance
training and weight training do not mix well. Weight training does not seem to
affect endurance gains (and may improve endurance performance if done
properly), but endurance training reduces strength gains by ata least half:
Hortobagyi, T., Katch, F. I., & Lachance, P. F. (1991). Effects of simultaneous
training for strength and endurance on upper and lower body strength and
running performance. The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 31,
20-30.
This one is oriented toward improving runing performance, but talks about what
kinds of strength training do and do not mix with endurance (both Sam and I
have written about this one in the past):
http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/86/5/1527
If you are a beginner, you may be able to mix weights with endurance training
and make gains (in strength but not necessarily mass) for about 6-10 weeks;
This is the period when you are training the nervous system to recruit more
muscle fibers, and it is only after this period that true "strength training"
(making muscle fibers larger or more of them) actually occurs. This
neuromuscular activation is all that long distance runners often are looking
for, and if this is all that you are looking for (you will get maybe 25%
stronger but not any bigger), then fine: You can do just one set of 8-12 to
failure and not worry about mixing the contrasting training methods; Once
again, though, this is not going to make you look like "muscle beach" material
(or Maurice Greene, for that matter).
But getting beyond this initial stage is what strength training programs are
all about. And pretty much everything that really works for endurance
performance (anything hard) wipes out your strength gains. You have to keep
your MHR during sustained runs below 80% (this is covered in most certification
training for personal trainers, and any PT worth his salt will tell you about
this).
Even in sprint workouts (very intense but short intervals), you have to be
careful. Alactic workouts (which by definition do not produce lactate) like 6
X 60 flying with 5-8 minute rest or 3 X 3 X 60 with 2-3 minute (reps)/ 5-6
minute (sets) will not impair strength gains (much), but so-called glycolytic
workouts like 8 X 80 with 45 second rest or 6 X 200 with 12-15 minute rest,
will produce lactate loads that can impair strength training performance. At
maximum intensity, lactate production begins to rise significantly after 20
seconds (when the alactic system is basically exhausted until ATP/CP can be
recovered) and the RATE of lactate production peaks at about 40 seconds (this
is why 400 meter runers often to repeats of about 300 meters); You cannot do
much of this kind of stuff and maintain any kind of strength gains.
Whether you need to worry about any of this depends on what kind of gains you
are looking for from your strength training program.
Lyndon
"Speed Kills. It kills those that don't have it" --Brooks Johnson
by