Anyone Do Strength Only?

westbrja

Hello Everyone!

I've been working out and have a cardio and strength training routine at the gym. My question is directed to those people working out to lose weight, not necessarily body building, but do you ever go to the gym and do strengthening exercises only? I don't always have an hour to spend at the gym and wondered if I went and at least did my normal routine of weight lifting (about 20-30 mins) if this would be beneficial? Any thoughts, ideas, or comments? Thanks!

RangerSteve

Yes, it would be beneficial. In fact, it could be more efficient than combining weight lifting and cardio together. The reason for this is metabolic pathways. When you lift weights, you signal your mTOR pathway which tells your cells to start building muscle. When you do cardio, you interfere with this pathway by signalling your AMPK pathway. Separating cardio and weights is a good way to get the best of both worlds. If you want to hit the weights only, it would be an effective way to gain strength and muscle. Keep in mind that you'll burn less overall calories if you don't have that added cardio in there though.

kr3851

I do that for two workouts a week - just strength. I go twice a day though, so in that day I'll have done a cardio and a strength session.... I don't have an hour block either but I do have two 30 min blocks so I use them!

westbrja

Yes, it would be beneficial. In fact, it could be more efficient than combining weight lifting and cardio together. The reason for this is metabolic pathways. When you lift weights, you signal your mTOR pathway which tells your cells to start building muscle. When you do cardio, you interfere with this pathway by signalling your AMPK pathway. Separating cardio and weights is a good way to get the best of both worlds. If you want to hit the weights only, it would be an effective way to gain strength and muscle. Keep in mind that you'll burn less overall calories if you don't have that added cardio in there though.

On a regular day I do 30 minutes of cardio immediately followed by 30 minutes of strength. Should I not be doing them together on the same days?

RangerSteve

Yes, it would be beneficial. In fact, it could be more efficient than combining weight lifting and cardio together. The reason for this is metabolic pathways. When you lift weights, you signal your mTOR pathway which tells your cells to start building muscle. When you do cardio, you interfere with this pathway by signalling your AMPK pathway. Separating cardio and weights is a good way to get the best of both worlds. If you want to hit the weights only, it would be an effective way to gain strength and muscle. Keep in mind that you'll burn less overall calories if you don't have that added cardio in there though.

On a regular day I do 30 minutes of cardio immediately followed by 30 minutes of strength. Should I not be doing them together on the same days?

For general health it's completely fine. If you want the absolute maximum efficiency in a workout then no, you would want to separate them. However, this leads to working out twice a day if you want to get cardio and strength training done. (time constraints are an issue)

Think of your cells as little people. If you tell them cardio and strength training together, it's basically asking them to multi-task. They can handle it but they won't be as effective as if you give them one goal to focus on at a time. That is what the metabolic pathways are. mTOR for strength and AMPK for endurance. Both work off difference systems and send difference signals to cells (one for muscle building and one for mitochondrial density) so they interfere with each other.

But, like I said, for general health it won't make that big of a difference. You should still see great results either way if you keep your diet in check and exercise.

westbrja

Yes, it would be beneficial. In fact, it could be more efficient than combining weight lifting and cardio together. The reason for this is metabolic pathways. When you lift weights, you signal your mTOR pathway which tells your cells to start building muscle. When you do cardio, you interfere with this pathway by signalling your AMPK pathway. Separating cardio and weights is a good way to get the best of both worlds. If you want to hit the weights only, it would be an effective way to gain strength and muscle. Keep in mind that you'll burn less overall calories if you don't have that added cardio in there though.

On a regular day I do 30 minutes of cardio immediately followed by 30 minutes of strength. Should I not be doing them together on the same days?

For general health it's completely fine. If you want the absolute maximum efficiency in a workout then no, you would want to separate them. However, this leads to working out twice a day if you want to get cardio and strength training done. (time constraints are an issue)

Think of your cells as little people. If you tell them cardio and strength training together, it's basically asking them to multi-task. They can handle it but they won't be as effective as if you give them one goal to focus on at a time. That is what the metabolic pathways are. mTOR for strength and AMPK for endurance. Both work off difference systems and send difference signals to cells (one for muscle building and one for mitochondrial density) so they interfere with each other.

But, like I said, for general health it won't make that big of a difference. You should still see great results either way if you keep your diet in check and exercise.

All I could picture was the Oompa Loompas from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory when you said picture them as little people :laugh: . What if I alternated cardio with strength every other day?

brandiuntz

I have days of the week I focus on strength training and other days I do only cardio.