Is it Okay to Run Before You Lift?

By: Andrew Jagim

I've been asked this question several times before: "Is it okay if I do cardio before lifting weights?" I understand that time is a luxury that not all people have, especially when it comes to getting your workouts in each week. So I understand when people want to maximize their time in the gym and try to get 2 workouts in at one time by doing their cardio and strength training all in one trip. 

However, by doing cardio first does it take away from your strength training?  Researchers recently sought out to answer this question.

What did they do?

Researchers had 11, resistance trained men complete a "control" resistance exercise session consisting of 3 sets of 6-10 repetitions for 5 exercises (high pull, bench press, deadlift, back squat and push press).  Then on 4 separate occasions the same subjects completed 1 of 4 aerobic exercise workouts followed by the same resistance exercise workout 10 minutes after. The 4 different aerobic conditions consisted of: 1) 60% of VO2 reserve for 45 min; 2) 75% of their VO2 Reserve for 20 min; 3) 90-100% of VO2 Reserve in 3-min intervals (x5) with a 1:1 work:rest ratio; and 4) 75% of VO2 Research uphill (6-9% grade) for 20 min.

What did they find?

All 4 aerobic protocols resulted in 9.1-18.6% fewer total repetitions completed in the resistance exercise workout compared to the control session.  In addition, average power and velocity were significantly reduced for the high pull, squat and bench press following the aerobic protocols.  Heart rate and ratings of perceived exertion were also higher following all 4 aerobic protocols.

Conclusions

The authors concluded that acute resistance exercise performance is compromised following aerobic exercises of different type, intensity, and duration with the largest performance decrements occurring post high-intensity interval workouts.

Take Home Message:

From this study we can draw a few conclusions. The first being that if we do any form of cardio prior to a strength training session, the overall quality of that strength session may be compromised. In addition, the biggest decrements appear to occur following a bout of high-intensity interval training; likely because it is the most physically demanding. Is HIIT a great form of training that offers several benefits? Yes, but it may not be the best prior to a bout of resistance training.  HOWEVER, in my opinion it depends on what your number one priority is.  Ideally, it would be best to do cardio and strength training on separate days but not everyone has that luxury. If your goal is to maximize the benefits from HIIT (i.e. increased aerobic capacity, increased lactate threshold, increased caloric expenditure etc.) then by all means do this first if you have no choice but to combine your cardio and strength days. But if your goal is to improve maximal strength, power and muscle hypertrophy, then you may be better off doing your strength training first so that you are not slightly fatigued going into your workout.  It's not the end of the world if you can't make this happen but if you are a high level competitor then you should probably pay more close attention to how you are structuring your workouts. If you are a CrossFitter, I have no idea what to tell you. Probably do all of the above? It's a tough sport.

Reference:
Ratamess, N., Kang, J., Porfido, T. et al. Acute Resistance Exercise Performance is Negatively Impacted by Prior Aerobic Endurance Exercise. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. PAP. (2016).

Could a Multivitamin Be Counterproductive?

By: Andrew Jagim

A lot athletes or active individuals usually supplement with a multivitamin to help provide some anti-oxidant support, in addition to several other health benefits of course. However, if we look at the concept of oxidative stress and why people recommend an anti-oxidant rich diet versus what drives several physiological adaptations, it just gets more and more confusing.

For example, some of that oxidative stress from reactive oxygen species (ROS) production make actually be a good thing and therefore interrupting this mechanism could be counterproductive.

During strenuous exercise, the production of free radicals (aka ROS) is increased. These free radicals, collectively referred to as oxidative stress can lead to cell apoptosis (death) if levels are chronically elevated. By consuming foods or vitamins that specifically contain a high degree of anti-oxidants, or substances that help reduce oxidative stress, it's thought that we can reduce the potential damaging effects of strenuous exercise.  With that being said, these free radicals may also serve as a necessary evil when it comes to triggering adaptive responses within the muscle. The reason why we train is to expose our bodies and specific physiological systems to a certain stressor, with continuous exposure we combat these stresses by adapting (i.e. increase energy production, improve blood flow, increase muscle size, strength, etc.).  If we remove or attenuate some of the acute stressors, we may also be minimizing the acute physiological stimulus needed to elicit said adaptations over time. 

There are several publications that suggest not only to high-dose multivitamins NOT improve performance, they may actually hinder certain training adaptations (1).  Initially, a lot of the research suggested that certain antioxidants (i.e. Vitamin C, E and CO-Q10) may hinder endurance performance in aerobically trained athletes when consumed at relatively high doses for several weeks. Recent evidence suggests that this maladaptation may actually occur with resistance training outcomes as well with evidence supporting the idea that antioxidants blunt a lot of the cell-signaling required to elicit muscle growth. Below is a direct quote from such a publication:

A significant number of both healthy and sick individuals are taking antioxidant supplements in the belief that these will improve their health and prevent or ameliorate diseases (1). Moreover, a large proportion of athletes, including elite athletes, take vitamin supplements, often large doses, seeking beneficial effects on performance (16). The complete lack of any positive effect of antioxidant supplementation on physiological and biochemical outcomes consistently found in human and animal studies raises questions about the validity of using oral antioxidant supplementation in both health and disease. The vast majority of experimental evidence clearly advises against this supplementation. Thus, we unreservedly confirm the conclusions derived from our previous research (4, 14) and disagree with Higashida et al. In our opinion, antioxidant supplements are, at the least, useless."

Now, keep in mind this is only one publication but you may be asking yourself: "Wait a minute, I thought you guys believe in vitamin supplementation and often recommend people to take vitamins?!" The answer to your question would be yes, we do believe that vitamins and antioxidants are important for long-term health. My opinion on the matter is that if you are not adequately consuming enough vitamins and anti-oxidants in your diet than supplementing with a multivitamin is probably a good idea. Is more better? Will it make you bigger, faster stronger? Probably not. How much is too much? Unfortunately we don't really have the answer as it is likely different for everyone based upon, body size, age activity level etc. More research is definitely needed in this area. For the time being, there are certain blood tests that can be done to assess your levels for certain vitamins and minerals from which you could then conclude whether or not you are deficient in certain areas.

References:
1. Gomez-Cabrera, M. C., Ristow, M., & Viña, J. (2012). Antioxidant supplements in exercise: worse than useless?. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, 302(4), E476-E477.

Mobility Monday: Hip Demands of the Upright Torso

By: Joel Luedke

It is always good to have an assessment tool to see where you are at and how far you have come along with your work.  This is a great one to see how well you are able to move through your hips in order to keep an upright torso when squatting.  We want to be able to maintain an upright torso as much as possible when we squat.  It will not only help save your back but it also will show how much you are able to move through your hips.  We have world record holder squatter Andy Askow in this VIDEO who echoes this same point. 

Start with this simple test and see where you are at and start fixing it all below.

Things it Helps:
-Squat Form
-Tight Hips
-Painful knees (when squatting)

Here is a video to start getting after it and and fixing it.

Training for Kids

By: Joel Luedke

I've spent quite a bit of time this past couple of weeks working some youth camps in a variety of sports.  They have ranged from football, wrestling, basketball and gymnastics.  Ages have ranged from 5-6 year olds up to entering high school and through most of them there is a glaring lack of body control.  Now, I was always told you can't spell 'fundamentals' without 'fun' and while it finally makes sense to me now it most definitely did not back then.

What this post is geared to is how you can start training kids at a young age without putting them through intensive weight sessions that could potentially stunt their growth (thats not a real thing but a old tale that won't die).  There are so many things they can do to help them learn body control and have fun at the same time.  We list some ideas below:

1. Body Weight Exercises

The gymnasts that I have been around seem to have the best body control (and for good reason) and it is a great place for people to start out.  You could replace or substitute in martial arts for gymnastics and get a lot of the same benefits.  Getting kids out early running and jumping and figuring out how to use their body is huge.  All those basic skills will transfer over to sports that the young athletes might venture into and the rate of injury will decrease dramatically.  This is a great place to start and one I personally wish I had more interest in as a kid.

2. Put the FUN back into Fundamentals

It is not a lot of fun to learn how to run, jump, stop, cut and change direction so we have to make it that way.  Put a game to it and use the game as teachable moments.  When they are learning how to play the game and need to move faster and more efficient to win...BOOM there is your chance to throw in information about the best way to perform movements and motions that they will need.

This translates all the way up to the college level as I know a coach likes to use a good old game of tag to assess the ability of players.  Yep, as simple as that, tag.  You can see acceleration, declaration, cutting, rotation, change of direction and best of all planning and decision making.  Try these to make it fun.

3. Start Teaching Movements Young

There is nothing wrong with teaching full squats and mobility to a young athlete as long as you don't load them up too early in their career.  Make it a game.  A great story of a top USA weightlifting coach was his son would do a snatch move with a PVC pipe and then load it up and go around the house in his power wheel before coming back to hit another snatch.  He thought it was a great time and he was able to keep full motion well into his teenage years (its amazing how quickly you can lose it).  Again all the motion and movement will help transfer to the field and the sport of the kids choosing and as shown in the second video a whole lot of fun for the kid when they hit a PR.

And for more entertainment, finish on this one.

Mobility Monday: Compression Tack and Floss for the Knee

Happy 4th of July everyone.  We hope it has been safe and relaxing thus far.  Odd are you areprobably doing quite a bit of sitting (hopefully on a comfortable chair or a boat, I really hope it is a boat) but as we have seen in many posts before that can wreak havoc on your body.  Your knees can take the brunt of this havoc and this is a video to help out with that using VooDoo Floss bands. 

They seems a little crazy but wow are they effective.  This is a great video to help clean up your knee for any type of chronic knee pain you may have.  Check it out.

What it Helps:
-Any knee pain
-Tight quads (especially distal)
-Squat form