Skinny Girl's Quest for Muscle
Intervals, Cardio, Aerobic, Long Slow Distance, Oh My

When building muscle, how does one burn the fat and boost endurance, performance, and aerobic capacity without burning off muscle in the process? Is it just a myth that Long Slow Distance training [think: training to run a marathon] eats muscle? If so, why are all marathon runners stick thin? Have you ever seen a muscular marathoner? Yet sprinters have massive leg muscles and some even have strong upper bodies to boot. Even if it is a myth about marathons eating muscle, what about the amount of time involved--who has a few free hours available to tackle a 10 mile run? Who wants to run for a few hours anyway?

In a past blog post, I mentioned what a painfully slow runner I am. And, I'm not just slow, but I'm a reluctant runner. I do not like running. Well, at least I didn't before tackling some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training aka HIIE High Intensity Interval Exercise). Prior to the HIIT routines, getting out there and pounding the pavement was painful, monotonously dull, and I felt slow--embarrassingly slow--small blind children, riding tricycles, one handed, backwards while simultaneously texting in Braille, to all their pals were passing me as I plowed along with ungraceful, short, choppy strides. Plunk, plunk, plunk.

Aerobic exercise has been studied at length in the past and just this year (2009), a study(1) compared the effects of aerobic training on body composition. The study subjects who performed Long Slow Distance (LSD) training had similar results to those performing Interval Training. This study suggests that either type of training results in improved body composition--therefore one could surmise that long slow distance training does not necessarily burn away muscle mass making the assumption that this type of training eats muscle a myth. Yet, taking it one step further, is it the most efficient use of training time? And, with the added time training, would you also be able to get in an effective strength workout at the gym?

In 2006, researchers studied the effect of HIIT training on body fat oxidation, demonstrating in their results that by performing about an hour of HIIT training every other day, fat oxidation in women is significantly increased(2). "Each session consisted of ten 4-min cycling bouts at 90% VO2 peak separated by 2 min of rest. Heart rate (HR) was recorded throughout training and was held constant at ~90% of maximal by increases in the power output as training progressed." From this, we can infer that to get fat burning benefits from exercise, only three and a half hours of exercise per week is necessary. In contrast, a sample half-marathon training program consists of about five and a half hours per week(3).

So, I've already decided that I'm not going to run a marathon (not right now anyway) so why should I train for one? In fact, why should I even train _like_ a marathon trainer with long, steady bouts of cardio if I'm not interested in marathon running? What I want is big leg muscles, big arm muscles, yet without shunning VO2 Max or endurance. Shouldn't I train like a sprinter if I want a sprinters body and speed? Yes, realistically, I know I'm not a sprinter--but certainly any gain in speed is going to be an improvement. One day, I may need to outrun one of those little tricycle-riding, cell phone wielding blind kids in a dark alley--ya never know.

Now that I've ruled out regular sessions of long, moderately paced, monotonous, aerobic activity (thank goodness!), it's time to narrow in on what I should be doing instead. Yes, I could jump into the HIIT sessions performed every other day by the study group noted above. But, does continual performance of the same activity lead to gains in the long terms? What about adaption--when does it come into play?

If you think about it, all training does is cause the body to adapt to a physical activity. If you want to run a marathon, do something that will cause your body to adapt to a 26 mile run--like gradually working up to being able to run 26 miles. Easy right? If you want to lift 100 lbs on the bench press, adapt first to 25 lbs, next to 30, next to 40 lbs, until you reach 100. So, if this is the case, why are people who want to change their bodies doing the same exercise day in, day out? After a month of doing the same 45 minutes on the treadmill, haven't you pretty much adapted to it? Will your body actually make any progress at this point without a change in activity? Would you have to add duration ad nausium? And, consider that we always have aging working against us so in effect, that 45 minutes that you've adapted to may not even maintain your fitness gains--you may be in a decline! Not only do you have to work against plateaus (adapting to your exercises) you have to work against the detrimental impacts of aging such as a decline in the body's natural production of hormones such as growth hormones, testosterone, etc.

How does one overcome adaptation? Next time, we'll review periodized training programs in attempt to prevent adaptation from gobbling up hard earned gains in fitness and muscle mass.



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1. Crawford, Amanda M.; Foster, Cliffa; Poole, Chris; Bushey, Brandon; and Wilborn, Colin (2009) "Comparison of Aerobic Training Methods on V02 Max, Body Composition and Anaerobic Power.," International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Abstract Submissions: Vol. 2: Iss. 1, Article 16. Available at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol2/iss1/16

2. Jason L. Talanian, Stuart D. R. Galloway, George J. F. Heigenhauser, Arend Bonen, and Lawrence L. Spriet, "Two weeks of high-intensity aerobic interval training increases the capacity for fat oxidation during exercise in women", Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Department of Sport Studies, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland; and Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Submitted 26 September 2006 ; accepted in final form 7 December 2006

3. http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/aerobic-endurance-training.html

Skinny Girl's Quest for Muscle
New Evidence Suggests Low Intensity, Slow Resistance Training as Effective as High Intensity Training


Famous exercise researcher Dr. Izumi Tabata studied the effects of training with heavy weights vs. lighter weights, and the speed the lifts were performed. He found that individual's using lighter weights (55-60% of 1 rep. max) and lifted very slowly with 3 seconds for eccentric and concentric phases of the lift with no resting period were able to gain just as much muscle mass as the study group lifting heavier weights, more quickly with a 3 second rest period.

Here is the research abstract:

J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Nov;22(6):1926-38.

Effects of whole-body low-intensity resistance training with slow movement and tonic force generation on muscular size and strength in young men.

Tanimoto M, Sanada K, Yamamoto K, Kawano H, Gando Y, Tabata I, Ishii N, Miyachi M.

Division of Health Promotion and Exercise, National Institute of Health and Nutrition, Tokyo, Japan. tanimoto@nih.go.jp