Can strength training enhance cardiopulmonary function

The answer is yes, but the controversy over the specific training model and the academic and fitness circles has not completely disappeared.

Two years ago, I took a student who was doing back-end development. When he first came to see me, he had to hold on to the handrails to catch his breath for a long time when he climbed the third floor. At first, he was asked to do low-intensity aerobics according to the conventional method. However, after running for three weeks, his knees became emotional and he couldn't do running or jumping exercises due to the old synovitis. Later, I adjusted the plan for him and changed the regular differentiated training to a cycle of leg push and pull compound movements. I used about 60% of his 1RM weight and did each movement 12 to 15 times. The interval between sets was strictly 45 seconds. During the training, he was not allowed to hold his mobile phone and browse for half a day. After practicing like this for more than two months, his step test score in the physical test last week went from the edge of passing when he first arrived to good. His resting heart rate also dropped from the original 78 to 62. He usually works overtime until early in the morning and does not feel as flustered and out of breath as before.

For a long time, both ordinary fitness enthusiasts and some researchers have assumed that only steady-state aerobic exercise can improve cardiopulmonary function. They believe that strength training is dominated by anaerobic energy supply and has nothing to do with the cardiopulmonary system. This statement is actually not wrong. If you practice the traditional bodybuilding-style heavy weight and low-rep model, only do 3 to 6 times per group, and rest for three to five minutes between groups to wait for the heart rate to completely drop before practicing the next group. It is indeed difficult to bring enough stimulation to the heart and lungs. Several of my friends who are professional bodybuilders have arm circumferences that are as thick as ordinary people's calves. Last time we ran three kilometers together, they were more out of breath than novices. This is the reason.

You can think of the cardiopulmonary system as the power supply system at home. Steady-state aerobic allows it to maintain a stable medium-load output for a long time, which trains its ability to last for a long time; while high-volume short-interval strength training is equivalent to putting instantaneous high loads on it from time to time, which trains its ability to regulate stress and peak energy supply. The training emphasis of the two is different, but they can actually improve the performance of the entire system. In the past two years, the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) exercise guidelines have officially included this type of strength training into the recommended exercise categories to improve cardiopulmonary health. This is not a wild conclusion.

If you have bad knees and can’t stand running and jumping, or you really hate monotonous aerobics, you can try shortening the intervals of your strength training sets to thirty or forty seconds, and occasionally add a few sets of exercise cycles. You don’t need to spend extra time on the treadmill, and your cardiorespiratory capacity can slowly improve. It is actually very cost-effective.