Resistance training is currently the most effective intervention to counteract age-related muscle loss, also known as sarcopenia. However, there are large differences in muscle growth between older individuals during training protocols.
This variation may be in part explained by differences in muscle capillarization (how many small blood vessels can supply muscle tissue with nutrients). Aerobic training is an effective intervention to increase muscle capillarization. Therefore, it could be speculated that performing an aerobic training protocol to increase muscle capillarization (aerobic preconditioning), will improve muscle growth during a subsequent training protocol.
We investigated whether 8 weeks aerobic preconditioning enhances muscle growth during a subsequent 12 weeks resistance training protocol.
We divided healthy older males and females into two groups:
- Aerobic preconditioning (8 weeks aerobic training) followed by 12 weeks resistance training
- Control (8 weeks without exercise) followed by 12 weeks resistance training
The aerobic preconditioning involved aerobic exercise (cycling and elliptical) three times a week for 45 min.
Key findings:
- The 8 weeks of aerobic preconditioning successfully increased muscle capillarization by ~25%.
- However, this did not result in greater muscle hypertrophy during the subsequent 12 weeks of resistance exercise training.
A possible explanation for this finding is that the aerobic preconditioning already caused significant muscle hypertrophy (more than expected) in these older adults. This may have attenuated further muscle growth during the subsequent resistance training period.
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