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Re-examining the Value of Aerobic Exercise: Part I
List of posts in Articles by Charles Staley
- “Are You an Exerciser or an Athlete? Part I” by Charles Staley
- “Are You an Exerciser or an Athlete? Part II” by Charles Staley
- “Lat Science: Exploring the Pull-Up” by Charles Staley
- “Towards A Better Way To Train Beginners” by Charles Staley
- “Why I Don’t Want To Clean 315 Pounds” by Charles Staley
- Re-examining the Value of Aerobic Exercise: Part I
- Re-examining the Value of Aerobic Exercise: Part II
You guys already know that I really like the training articles that Charles Staley puts out. Well, he just sent out one of his more controversial two-part articles a week or so ago.
I didn’t get a chance to read it when it was originally written; nevertheless, I’m glad that he re-published it.
What stood out the most to me in the article is what Angela Bassett’s trainer had to say about her jaw dropping physique when she played Tina Tuner in the film What’s Love Gotta Do With It.
Feel free to leave a comment …
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Re-examining the Value of Aerobic Exercise: Part I
By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems
Author’s note: Of all the articles I’ve written, this two-parter has perhaps generated the most phone calls, letters, and e-mails. Now that I’m a few years older (and hopefully wiser), I’m perhaps not quite so anti-aerobic, although I still stand by the basic principles stated in the article. Just like any tool, aerobic exercise can be useful or harmful, depending on your objectives and the dosages you use. Regular small doses of steady-state exercise can actually improve recovery, but of course, too much can sap your strength and lead to muscle wasting.
Ever since the “jogging craze” of the ’70′s, aerobic exercise has been the method of choice for those attempting to “lose weight.” Gradually, the resistance training area of most gyms and clubs is being scaled back to accommodate all manner of equipment designed to elevate the heart rate. With the aerobic revolution in full gear, I feel compelled to ask, “Why are people getting fatter and fatter?”
For those who have critically studied sport training and exercise physiology, this is a rhetorical question.
A quick look at any national level track meet speaks volumes about the effects of aerobic versus anaerobic training.
Compare the physiques of 100 meter sprinters against long distance runners, such as marathoners. Although sprinters do little or no aerobic exercise (it’s not specific to their events), they are just as lean (if not leaner) than their aerobic counterparts. They also have more attractive physiques, which is a by-product of the muscle they’ve gained from hours in the weight room and short-term, intensive running. By contrast, the marathoner’s lack of muscle gives him a “flat” physique. His extensive and frequent forays into the aerobic zone have caused his body to lose muscle (since muscle weighs more than fat, it is the body’s preferred tissue to cannibalize in the interest in lightening the load).
If you’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) to lose 10 to 20 pounds of unwanted fat, despite spending hours upon hours on the stairclimber, read on. Anaerobic exercise may not be politically correct, but it IS physiologically correct—if fat loss is your objective.
Since our language affects the way we think, let’s begin by revising our vocabulary for a moment. I’d like to encourage you to delete a few words from your personal dictionary. Words like tone, shape, contour, sculpt, and all the rest of the vague descriptions you hear on late night infomercials. These terms are irrelevant with respect to the adaptations you can expect from any form of exercise. In reality, there are only two bodily tissues that you have two ways: You can gain, or lose. (By the way: tone simply refers to a state of partial, involuntary contraction, a result of muscular work. Even the most rotund can have muscle tone, and the thinnest people sometimes have no tone.)
So the goal is to gain muscle and lose fat. When you do so, let everyone else call you toned and sculpted.
Of course, many people, influenced by the exceedingly massive (and rare) physiques adorning the covers of muscle magazines, shirk at the prospect of gaining muscle. It’s a shame— myophobia keeps more people from achieving their fitness goals than any other single factor. Just a few pounds of added muscle can make a dramatic difference in your physique, not to mention your health and well-being. Muscle (unlike fat) needs calories to survive. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be. Bigger muscles burn more calories than smaller ones, even during sleep!
Personal trainers— people who earn their living by making substantial changes in their client’s bodies— regard resistance training as the most important item in their professional “toolbox.” Dave Sinnot, trainer of many top Hollywood stars, including Sean Penn and Angela Bassett, is amazed at people’s avoidance of weight training: “People who think that aerobic training is the ultimate fat loss method are totally missing the boat. I’ve worked with people who spend half their waking hours doing some form of aerobics.
They complain that they aren’t getting results anymore. As soon as we shift emphasis to weight training and nutritional modifications, they always start improving immediately. It’s like their body was begging for it!” Dave related to me that Angela Bassett (star of What’s Love Got To Do With It) was not blessed with great genetics as many people assume, and was actually “pudgy” when he started working with her.
What’s the best approach for people wishing to improve their body composition? First, don’t eliminate your aerobic sessions. It’s a good practice to do a handful (three or four) of 20 to 40 minute sessions a week. More than that, and your body starts to drop valuable muscle in an effort to adapt. Second, take another look at your resistance training program. Most people simply don’t spend adequate time and effort in the weight room, and those that do make one or more of the following four mistakes:
1) Too many exercises: One exercise per muscle group per workout is plenty. The key is to pick the right exercises, and work them hard. Forget about “hitting the muscle from different angles” and “shaping” exercises— this is all propaganda stemming from bodybuilding circles.
2) Ineffective exercises: Don’t avoid so-called “hard core” exercises for fear of getting a result. Choose multi-joint exercises, such as squats and their variations, bench presses and their variations, lat pulldowns, and shoulder presses. Smaller muscles such as biceps, triceps, and calves will receive adequate exercise when you do the multi-joint movements mentioned above.
3) Insufficient intensity level: High reps DO NOT “tone” a muscle! For beginners, high reps are important to strengthen connective tissues, and to allow for technique mastery. But for optimum muscle building, stay in the 6 to 12 range for the majority of your workouts. If and when you get to the point where you don’t want additional muscle, just cut back on the volume and frequency of training.
4) Lack of progression and variety: If you don’t seek increases in strength, your body will stop responding. Similarly, if you train in exactly the same manner for extensive periods of time, your body will adapt to the monotony, and stop responding, no matter how good the training program is. For this reason, there is no perfect training program. Most successful trainers use several programs, which they rotate as needed.
As a final suggestion, remember that the entire personal training profession was founded upon the fact that resistance training works! Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’re beyond benefiting from one. Personal trainers make their living by getting fast results for people. For information on finding a certified trainer in your area, please call the ISSA at (800) 892-ISSA.
Consider These Facts:
1) According to a recent study presented in IDEA magazine, the average female aerobics instructor has 18% bodyfat. This is higher than the average female competitive weightlifter (16%).
2) According to a recent study published in Muscular Development magazine, muscle necrosis (tissue death) and inflammation can be observed in the calves of marathon runners 7 days after a race.
3) According to Dr. Marc Breehl, a leading anesthesiologist specializing in cardiac surgery, the enlarged hearts of aerobic athletes are weaker, not stronger than those with anaerobic backgrounds.
4) Resistance training has numerous benefits to the heart and vascular system, including improved ejection fraction of the left ventricle, and improved elasticity of the arterial walls. This from Power: A Scientific Approach, by Dr Fred Hatfield.
5) Virtually everything we do in life is anaerobic. Aerobic activity is an artificial state which the human organism is not well adapted to. For the majority of individuals, loss of function associated with aging is due to lack of strength, not aerobic capacity.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:21 am
I like the emphasis on metabolic rate. A friend of mine does CrossFit [there I go again
] and it amazes me how much, and what, he can eat and drink, and still in great shape. (For that matter, his girlfriend, a marathon runner, seems to have the same “problem.”) I also like the emphasis on high repetitions – as MLBF said in an email to me, focus on the core exercises, and the littler muscle groups will be taken care of, too.
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Muata Reply:
January 28th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Hey JW. Yeah, folks who are already in good shape, and exercise a lot, appear to eat enough to feed a small village; however, if we were to analyze how many calories they burn exercising, especially the marathon runner, you’ll see that if they don’t eat a lot, then they’ll whither away to damn near nothing
As far as high reps go, this is the way to go for beginners because it helps to teach proper form when lifting, which is so vitally important and most guys miss this. When you see a youtube clip of a guy deadlifting 500+ lbs, you’re not only watching a strong guy, but one that understands “how” to properly lift the weight without hurting himself. And, this takes a couple of years to learn/master, as with any other skill …
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January 28th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I wonder if he’ll talk about some of the injury prevention benefits of weight lifting. I find that it helps prevent common Martial Arts related injuries that have plagued me in the past. Of course, I have to be careful of not injuring myself while lifting as well
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Muata Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:34 am
I hear you Tony, and that’s something that I’m very mindful of now too. I’ve hurt my shoulder using improper form and weights that were way too heavy in the past. So, now I’m realizing how weight lifting can prevent injuries if you do it intelligently, and not like how I used to lift a couple of years ago. Thanks for leaving a comment …
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January 29th, 2010 at 5:08 am
As always a good read.
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Muata Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:34 am
Thanks ICT …
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January 30th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
this is some really great advice, too many people just focus on aerobic exercise and avoid the weight room.
Hopefully this changes their minds
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Muata Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:43 am
I hope so Julie, but there has to be a lot of re-education about the fat loss process before we start seeing a mass exodus from the treadmills and elliptical machines to the weight room. We have the cardio-craze of the 70s to thank for aerobics becoming synonymous with fat loss. Thanks for leaving a comment ….
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January 31st, 2010 at 12:20 am
Six or seven years ago, I belonged to a gym that advertised “free personal training.”
For fat loss, they didn’t even want you anywhere near the weights, not even the machines. One trainer described his fat loss program like this: “60 minutes of cardio, with the heart rate in the fat-burning zone. That’s it. If you don’t like it, find another trainer.”
I guess it’s a lot less labor-intensive to put somebody on a treadmill for 45-60 minutes and check in with them every once in a while than it is to actually teach them something, which is what a trainer needs to do with strength training.
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Muata Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:26 pm
LOL! That’s too funny Steve because I’ve heard the “exact” same advice from a personal trainer. OK, I won’t demonize the trainer and say that, from a business standpoint, folks have been brainwashed to believe that the better they get at doing cardio, the healthier they will become. Strength doesn’t even come into the picture because we all have this notion that we’re going to “get big” from lifting weights, especially women. I just shake my head and laugh at guys, and I was one of them, who shy away from weights because they don’t want to get too bulky … LOL! If guys would realize how much time it takes to build “real” muscle and strength, they wouldn’t think twice about dropping the treadmill for resistance training …
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February 1st, 2010 at 10:52 am
Amiable dispatch and this post helped me alot in my college assignement. Thanks you on your information.
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Muata Reply:
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:56 pm
No problem
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