Aerobic conditioning increases muscle mass gains?

Can endurance training support muscle mass gains with resistance training?

The smallest blood vessels (capillaries) in muscle tissue are responsible for the delivery of oxygen, nutrients, and growth factors. It has been shown that older adults with a low number of muscle capillaries have impaired muscle mass gains during resistance training.

Therefore, it could be speculated that resistance training-induced muscle mass gains can be improved by first increasing muscle capillarization, for example with endurance training.

This study investigated the effect of aerobic conditioning (to improve muscle capillarization) on muscle mass gains during a subsequent resistance training program. Young males and females performed cycling training for 6 weeks with only one leg, whereafter both legs performed 10 weeks of resistance training.

Resistance-training induced muscle mass gains appeared to be larger in the leg that underwent aerobic preconditioning. While looking promising, the data did not allow strong statistical conclusions to be made.

This study provides more support for the notion that capillarization may play an important role in muscle mass gains. However, it’s still too early to draw strong conclusions or recommend practical applications.

Study:
Aaron Thomas et al. Short-term aerobic conditioning prior to resistance training augments muscle hypertrophy and satellite cell content in healthy young men and women. Faseb J, 2022

Go to the next infographic in the resistance training series:
Aerobic preconditioning to optimize muscle growth?