Australian_Mens_Fitness_2016_08_

Game Changers Training

■

The fitness world has always

been split down the middle

between those who love to lift and

those who love doing cardio. Most

people who seek to get in shape

choose to either build muscle by

lifting weights and training with

short, intense workouts, or burn

fat by hitting the treadmill and

exercising at a moderate intensity

for longer workouts.

Obviously, for well-rounded fitness,

you need a blend of both approaches;

but past research had shown that

aerobic exercise can lessen muscle

and strength gains — a heartbreaking

compromise for lifters, and fuel for

grizzled gym veterans who like to

warn skinny newbies that doing any

cardio will keep them small forever.

But, good news: Recent studies

indicate that the so-called

“interference e ect” that aerobics

has on muscle isn’t what we thought.

And that means a lifter can have his

weights and his treadmill, too. Here’s

how to do it.

Believe it or not, the latest

research will have you rethinking

your weight-training sessions —

and adding aerobic exercise.

By Sean Hyson

Photograph by Jorg Badura

“I want to test myself

and max out my lifts.

What’s the best

way to do that?”

■ I like the system

used by Ed Coan,

who’s widely regarded

as the greatest

powerlifter of all time.

It’s simple to follow

and works great.

Give yourself 10

weeks and focus on

one major lift — the

squat, bench press, or

deadlift — per workout.

For the first two

weeks, work up to the

heaviest load you can

handle for two sets of

10 reps — each should

be explosive and done

with perfect technique.

Spend the next two

weeks doing sets of

eight reps. Then go to

fives for four weeks.

In Week 9, work up to

a three-rep max, and

then in Week 10 go

for one set of one rep.

By gradually working

your way down in reps

and up in weight, you

prepare your body to

handle the heaviest

load safely.

Feel free to repeat

the cycle for another

10 weeks afterwards

when you will have a

significantly better

idea of what you

can lift and can set

specific goals. That’s

what Coan did, and he

ultimately deadlifted

408kg at a bodyweight

of 100kg.

Sean Hyson is the Men’s

Fitness training director

and author of 101 Best

Workouts of All Time,

101bestworkouts.com.

HARD

FACTS

OUR TRAINING

DIRECTOR, SEAN

HYSON, SOLVES

YOUR WORKOUT

CONUNDRUMS

if you mix cardio

and lifting, you

should consider

how much you

can recover from.

Ask yourself how

active you are out

of the gym — eg,

do you work at a

desk, or do manual

labour? — and how

much your diet and

sleep are on point.

But one to two HIIT

sessions and two or

more low-intensity

aerobic workouts on

top of three to four

lifting days per week

should work well for

most people.

Sceptical?

Consider this: Any

given week, Saladino

uses various aerobic

and anaerobic

cardio methods

ranging from

walking to battling

ropes — and he

looks like a Roman

gladiator.

Why Cardio

Got a Bad Rep

■ When you do

steady-state cardio

(ie, aerobic training,

including long runs,

cycling, etc), you run

down your body’s

energy reserves. That

causes the activation

of a compound called

AMPK. In vitro and

rodent studies over

the past 20 years

have shown that, in an

ef ort to protect your

body by preserving its

energy stores, AMPK

inhibits a protein

called mTOR, which is

the body’s main driver

of muscle growth.

Add to that the

findings of a study

that showed leg-press

strength was reduced

more in a group that

lifted and did aerobic

training than in guys

who only lifted, and

you can see how

the anti-aerobics

movement gained

steam.

In other words, it

would seem that at

least slow cardio (as

opposed to high-

intensity interval

training, or HIIT,

which is cardio but

anaerobic in nature)

would sabotage

your ability to make

strength gains.

Right?

What the New

Science Says

■ Wrong — at least

according to long-

term human studies.

A recent review in

Sports Medicine

found evidence to

suggest that, while

the interference ef ect

does damage muscle

signalling within

muscle fibres, while

heavy lifting works

mainly type II fibres.

And how does HIIT

af ect lifters? The

Journal of Strength

and Conditioning

Research found not

only that it didn’t

hinder gains in

strength or muscle

mass, but that it

also actually led

to improved body

composition.

How You Can

Strike a Balance

■ “The idea that 30

minutes of cardio is

going to eat up muscle

makes me laugh,”

says Don Saladino, a

trainer to celebrities

and athletes. “The

body is more resilient

than we think.”

He does, however,

caution that

overtraining is a

possibility with any

exercise, and that

the body, there’s

practically no proof it

harms actual muscle

gains over time.

It’s the dif erence

between smelling

smoke and seeing fire.

Another study in

PLOS ONE this year

pitted a resistance

training–only group

against subjects who

lifted and did steady-

state cycling for 30

to 60 minutes. Not

only did both groups

improve their max

leg press by about the

same amount, but the

lifting-plus-cardio

guys actually gained

much more muscle

than the lifting-only

guys — and of course

that’s in addition to

improved aerobic

capacity. Why they

gained more muscle

isn’t clear, but it may

be because aerobic

training activates

type I endurance

Cardio your way

34 MEN’S FITNESS AUGUST 2016