Why you shouldn’t do cardio immediately after a strength session!
The number of times I’ve seen people going for a run immediately after a strength session, is countless. They are undoing all the hard work they have just put in.
During strength training you are stimulating the mTOR intracellular signalling pathway, mTOR being the primary pathway for increased protein synthesis and muscular hypertrophy. MTOR signalling intensifies the synthesis of the amino acid chain, increasing protein synthesis and promotes muscle growth. In other words, the chemical signal tells your body to grow and therefore muscles get bigger.
By doing aerobic exercise immediately after a strength session will deregulate the mTOR signalling pathway. All the hard work you put into your strength session to stimulate the mTOR pathway to tell your body to grow and adapt is suddenly turned off and the stimulus from the training is reduced.
Ice After Injury
For years when someone is injured or suffering DOMs you immediately hear ‘put some ice on it’, it’s what many in the medical field have been preaching for decades. Ice is NOT helping the healing process from injury and in fact an overwhelming amount of research shows it does the opposite! Other than temporarily numbing the sensation of pain, ice delays healing and recovery.
Are you still doing static stretch in your warm up?
Static stretch has become ingrained in the psyche of athlete, coaches and personal trainers, with injury prevention and performance enhancement being given as justifications for its inclusion with this mantra repeated parrot fashion or ‘this is what your supposed to do’ and ‘we’ve always done this’. However, there is little, if any, evidence that stretching pre or post training prevents injury. Similarly, in terms of the performance enhancement elements, research suggests that rather than enhance subsequent performance, static stretching can compromise muscle performance.
Ice Baths post-workout…Good or Bad idea?
Athletes around the world are always searching to gain an edge on their competition. Many believe in jumping in a cold ice bath or wrapping some ice packs across their legs after heavy training will help accelerate recovery.
But what does the science say?
When you have a tough session, your muscles sustain tiny amounts of micro-damage. This “trauma” sparks inflammation similar to what happens after an acute injury (like a sprained ankle). The rush of inflammatory cells to the site of “damage” help kick start recovery by first eliminating damaged cells.
Performance At Any Age
So many people believe that when growing old comes, an inevitable decline in strength from being a vibrant individual to sudden feebleness. This includes feeling weak and more scarily… the loss of their independence. These declines may have more to do with lifestyle choices, including sedentary living and poor nutrition than a decline in strength.
If you want to enjoy an active, healthy lifestyle, while maintaining your independence (and able to play with your grandchildren, and hopefully great grandchildren)being active and implementing some form of strength must be a priority and become a habit throughout your life.
