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Either strength or endurance - make your choice

21.8.2019

Translation: machine translated

Strength training reduces your endurance muscles. This is the finding of a research group at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. Should I cancel my fitness subscription now?

"Why strength training is important for runners." Or: "The five most important strength exercises for endurance athletes." I've read something like this every day on the usual platforms in recent years. All wrong? Maybe, if I can believe the research group led by Professor Christoph Handschin from the Biozentrum at the University of Basel.

Strength or endurance

In general, we distinguish between two different types of muscles, depending on the types of fibres that make them up: On the one hand, there are the slowly contracting, endurance fibres. These are mainly formed during endurance sports. In marathon runners, it is primarily these endurance muscles that are trained. The second type of muscle, which consists of rapidly contracting fibres, has been much less well studied to date. These muscles increase in volume during strength training and generate greater strength in comparison.

What happens in the muscle when you train it

The messenger substance "Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor", BDNF for short, reduces endurance muscles during strength training. Professor Handschin and his team have investigated the messenger substance from the myokine group in more detail. They were able to show that it is produced by the muscle and how it affects muscles and synapses. The results were published in the scientific journal PNAS.

BDNF therefore not only causes the strength muscles to increase, but in turn also ensures that the endurance muscles are broken down and thus reduced.

Handschin and his team have now investigated a hormone-like messenger substance from the myokine family in mice. Myokines are released by the muscle when it contracts. According to Handschin, the newly identified BDNF is produced by the muscle itself and not only acts on it. At the same time, it also transforms the neuromuscular synapses, i.e. the connections between nerve cells and muscles.

BDNF transforms endurance muscles into strength muscles

This remodelling of the neuromuscular synapses during strength training means that the body builds up more strength muscles. However, the increase in strength muscles comes at the expense of endurance muscles. "More precisely, the release of BDNF converts endurance muscles into strength muscles," Handschin is quoted as saying on the University of Basel website. This means that BDNF is a factor that can be shown to be produced by the muscle itself and has an influence on the shape of the muscle fibres.

The new findings on the messenger substance BNDF provide a possible explanation for the reduced endurance muscles as a result of strength training. This correlation is already taken into account in the training plans of high-performance athletes. Especially as sports such as rowing, which focus on strength and endurance, have to take muscle remodelling into account during training.

I'm still not cancelling my plan at the gym. Because as Oscar Wilde is supposed to have said: "Everything known is false."

I know it's a feat of strength and requires perseverance. Nevertheless, click through to my author profile and press "Follow author". Your BDNF will thank you.

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Patrick Bardelli

Senior Editor

Patrick.Bardelli@digitecgalaxus.ch

From radio journalist to product tester and storyteller, jogger to gravel bike novice and fitness enthusiast with barbells and dumbbells. I'm excited to see where the journey'll take me next.

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