Endurance Exercise may stimulate cells more than Strength Training

● According to a recent study, aerobic exercise may cause advantageous alterations in some of your cells.
● This impact can enhance cellular health, which may reduce the likelihood of developing chronic diseases.
● Strength training doesn’t provide this cellular boost, but scientists say it does have other benefits that are helpful in a fitness routine.

Thirty individuals were randomly assigned to three exercise groups: resistance training, endurance training, or a control group that did not engage in any exercise. Skeletal muscle biopsies and blood samples were taken before and after the session, and researchers discovered that only those in the endurance group had increased mitochondrial activity. The other two groups did not.

According to Dr. Von Walden, mitochondria are the cells’ energy sources. According to him, your chances of having good metabolic health increase with your mitochondrial activity. Good cholesterol levels, normal blood pressure, and stable blood sugar levels are the results of this.

More Advantages of Endurance

Research frequently emphasises the many additional benefits of endurance exercise in addition to giving our cells more fuel. These benefits include greater heart and lung function, improved blood flow, higher oxygen consumption, and more. Additionally, endurance training can increase metabolism, reduce cancer risk, and lengthen life.

The American Heart Association (AHA) claims that endurance exercise doesn’t have to be performed daily in order to get these advantages. If you’ve been inactive, the AHA advises beginning your fitness routine gradually and starting with just 10 to 15 minutes per session with activities like walking, jogging, swimming, and biking.

Increasing Strength

Despite the fact that the most recent study did not discover a cellular boost from strength training, this does not imply that this form of exercise is not beneficial. This form of exercise, also known as resistance training, has been shown to provide advantages like better muscle mass, increased strength, less lower back discomfort, higher bone density, and decreased risk of falls. Even better blood sugar control may be made possible by it.

Because muscle mass typically declines with age but body fat percentage is more likely to rise in a sedentary lifestyle, strength training becomes increasingly crucial as you get older.

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
According to a 2018 study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, having more muscle also has positive effects on other aspects of metabolism. After spending less than an hour lifting weights once a week, participants in that study who conducted strength training had a noticeably lower risk of heart attack or stroke.

The idea is to lift anything that puts more strain on your muscles, even if it means lugging hefty shopping bags.

Blend It Up

The best technique, according to Kate Ayoub, DPT, a doctor of physical therapy and health coach at Own Your Movement, is to engage in both endurance and resistance training in some capacity each week. This is just another reason to prioritise staying active. You can lengthen life expectancy in addition to enhancing metabolic health.