Aerobics, Necessary or Not?
By Patrick Gamboa B.S.
Many trainees from bodybuilders to powerlifters to the average fitness enthusiast vehemently believe that training aerobically is an unnecessary waste of time and muscle. Although bodybuilding has transitioned from small dank gyms dominated by men into a mainstream multi-gender cultural phenomenon, many age- old myths are alive and thriving today. One of these age-old beliefs is that aerobic work is detrimental to bodybuilders.
Regardless of the scores of university conducted research confirming the benefits of aerobic work, fledgling novices as well as seasoned veterans avoid aerobic work in their quest to become more muscular. Are these bodybuilders justified in their dismissal of aerobic benefits? Or do the perceived costs of muscular wasting outweigh the confirmed benefits? We will discuss the importance of aerobic work in all training regimens.
Aerobics whether it be aerobic endurance training or some form of cardiovascular work on a treadmill, stepper, or bike has numerous benefits, from fat burning to cardiovascular health to improved recovery abilities. Many bodybuilders typically stay away from aerobics until contest time, fearing that it will result in muscle loss. This muscle loss is usually a direct result of an inadequate supply of calories to sustain the aerobic work rather than the aerobics itself. A bodybuilder who loses muscle during a period of aerobic training is not eating enough to compensate for the calories expended. Calorie consumption versus calorie expenditure is an important factor in keeping your muscle while dropping bodyfat. Aerobics forces oxygen through your body, increasing the number and size of your blood vessels. Blood vessels transport oxygen and nutrients to muscles and carry waste products away for muscular growth, repair and recovery. Without aerobics in your training program your body can not create any new supply routes for your newly developed muscles.
The common goal for all bodybuilders is to train for muscle size. Bodybuilding, unlike strength training, which is characterized by high-resistance, near maximal contractions with low overall volume, involves using lighter loads with higher repetitions. This higher overall training volume coupled with a moderate relative intensity optimizes increases in muscle girth. Many bodybuilders’ training routines will be similar to this. Studies have revealed a percentage of Type II muscle fibers in bodybuilders lower than that found in other anaerobic athletes and a larger number and size of Type I fibers. (1) These same characteristics are similar to those found in endurance athletes. (2,3,4). Aerobic development of Type I fiber can account for this similarity.
Type I fibers are said to possess an oxidative capacity greater than that of Type II fibers both before and after training. Whereas strength and hypertrophy training produce somewhat similar muscular adaptations, aerobic training adaptations differ. With aerobic training there may be a gradual conversion of the characteristics of the Type IIb fibers to Type IIa fibers (5). This type of adaptation is significant because Type IIa or fast oxidative glycolitic fibers possess as greater oxidative capacity than Type IIb fast glycolitic fibers, as well as being more similar characteristically to Type I fibers. The result is a greater number of muscle fibers that can contribute to endurance performance.
If you train aerobically on a regular basis, some important metabolic changes take place inside the body. First, at the cellular level aerobic exercise adaptations include an increase in the size and number of mitochondria and a greater myoglobin content. Mitochondria (cellular furnaces where fat and other nutrients are burned) are the organelles in cells that are responsible for aerobically producing ATP via the oxidation of glycogen. When the larger and more prevalent mitochondria are combined with an increase in the quantity of oxygen that can be delivered to the mitochondria through higher levels of myoglobin (see next paragraph), the aerobic capacity of the muscle tissue is enhanced.
Second, aerobic exercise appears to increase levels of myoglobin. Myoglobin is a protein that transports oxygen from the bloodstream into the muscle fibers. Finally, this adaptation increases the level and activity of the enzymes involved in the aerobic metabolism of glucose.
Larger mitochondria in greater numbers, increased levels of aerobic enzymes, coupled with increased blood flow all boosts the fat burning capabilities of the muscle fibers. Aerobics can lead to more routes for blood to reach working muscles and more oxygen, which is needed for oxidation of nutrients within the mitochondria. The more massive a bodybuilder becomes the more routes in the form of blood vessels are needed to supply these working muscles. From fat burning to improved cardiovascular health to improved recovery abilities, aerobic work should be an integral part of all training programs.
By Patrick Gamboa B.S. patrick@issaonline.com |
