Yes, it can.
What is “aerobic” endurance?
Most people, even exercise professionals, will name the output of the heart and the lungs and the markers like the heart rate under different conditions and the VO2max.
Sure, you need it, but “cardio” is only one of the two equally vital endurance components. The other is your tissues’ ability to extract and use the oxygen your lungs and heart deliver.
These so-called peripheral adaptations include development of the capillary network to the working muscles and beefing up your mitochondria, the body’s aerobic power plants. (If you paid attention, the mitochondria are where the word “aerobic” belongs.)
A+A was developed specifically for promoting these peripheral adaptations. But under certain conditions it can easily double up to promote the central adaptations (“cardio”) as well. But it takes more than simply raising the heart rate any way you can. |
| | Sven Rieger, StrongFirst Certified Team Leader (front) teaching a Kettlebell 101 workshop in Germany |
| When your heart adapts to exercise in a healthy manner, its stroke volume, the amount of blood pumping out with each contraction, increases. This adaptation is the result of literally stretching the heart with incoming blood. This is called preload and it takes place during cyclical endurance exercise like running.
In contrast, when the heart strains to pump blood through vessels squeezed by muscle tension, as in strength training, it is dealing with afterload. Instead of getting stretched, the heart becomes thick with muscle, but its stroke volume does not increase. Not a healthy adaptation; it is similar to what happens to the hearts of people with high blood pressure.
The last thing we want to do is scare you away from lifting weights; there is no evidence that it is harmful to a healthy heart when done properly.
What we are after is getting you to quit “metcons” and programming your lifting in such a way that your heart experiences a lot more preload than afterload. It is not simple, but it can be done with precise exercise, load, work, and rest selections. We will discuss them in future issues of this newsletter dedicated to A+A.
Meanwhile, no combination of weights, sets, reps, and rest periods will do you any good if your exercise technique is not up to standard. Learn the skills at StrongFirst Workshops.
The most experienced instructors certified by StrongFirst are teaching 4-hour workshops in many locations around the world. Kettlebell, barbell, or bodyweight—take your pick. |
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