Article: Is Walking Or Running Better?
- Thread starter The Press
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weedprotein
New member
Is running good for the muscles?
fueledpassion
Well-known member
Depends. If you are eating enough and making sure you load up on BCAA's, your muscles will be fine. In fact, running will generate more mitochondria in your muscle cells, futher expanding your capacity for fat burning and energy manufacturing ability. So yes, running has its benefits related to being lean and extending endurance to muscles, which in turn could lead to better workouts in the gym and thus more gains in muscle mass.
However, if you run long distance but at lower intensities - much like marathoners and triatholoners, you tend to deplete not only carb stores, but also amino acid levels. In doing this, you inadvertently reduce your muscle mass. That's why BCAA's are beneficial for athletes to take year round. They are anti-catabolic more or less. Understanding the three energy systems - aerobic, anaerobic & phosphagen systems and how they correspond to certain types of workout intensities is key to understanding how to avoid losing muscle mass or to expedite fat-burning.
Sprinting requires anaerobic and possibly phosphagen (creatine) pathways to generate enough energy to carry it out. During the actual sprint, there is too much intensity involved for aerobic pathways to even work - and so they dont.
Walking/Jogging requires aerobic pathways, and possibly to a smaller degree the anaerobic pathway (if intensity gets high enough). Aerobic pathways focus on fatty acid breakdown for energy, thus, we dub them as "fat burning" activities. For fat to be used as energy, there must be oxygen in play. If the activity is too high intensity such as sprinting or weight-lifting - you'll be using anaerobic and phosphagen pathways to produce energy..or in other words, glucose (aka carbs) and creatine.
Ever wonder why you naturally hold your breath when lifting weights? This is because oxygen is not required for the lift, thus, you are using glucose and creatine to produce energy.
Understanding this is key because when carbs and creatine are absent during high-intensity training, the body will resort to breaking down amino acids within the muscle cell and converting them to glucose. BCAA's are the easiest to break down and always go first. This is why supplementing with BCAA's is essential, especially under carb-restricted diets.
However, if you run long distance but at lower intensities - much like marathoners and triatholoners, you tend to deplete not only carb stores, but also amino acid levels. In doing this, you inadvertently reduce your muscle mass. That's why BCAA's are beneficial for athletes to take year round. They are anti-catabolic more or less. Understanding the three energy systems - aerobic, anaerobic & phosphagen systems and how they correspond to certain types of workout intensities is key to understanding how to avoid losing muscle mass or to expedite fat-burning.
Sprinting requires anaerobic and possibly phosphagen (creatine) pathways to generate enough energy to carry it out. During the actual sprint, there is too much intensity involved for aerobic pathways to even work - and so they dont.
Walking/Jogging requires aerobic pathways, and possibly to a smaller degree the anaerobic pathway (if intensity gets high enough). Aerobic pathways focus on fatty acid breakdown for energy, thus, we dub them as "fat burning" activities. For fat to be used as energy, there must be oxygen in play. If the activity is too high intensity such as sprinting or weight-lifting - you'll be using anaerobic and phosphagen pathways to produce energy..or in other words, glucose (aka carbs) and creatine.
Ever wonder why you naturally hold your breath when lifting weights? This is because oxygen is not required for the lift, thus, you are using glucose and creatine to produce energy.
Understanding this is key because when carbs and creatine are absent during high-intensity training, the body will resort to breaking down amino acids within the muscle cell and converting them to glucose. BCAA's are the easiest to break down and always go first. This is why supplementing with BCAA's is essential, especially under carb-restricted diets.
fueledpassion
Well-known member
Something else to consider is that your body does not choose to use one pathyway at a time. It uses all of these pathways simultaneous and on lieu of one another to produce steady, sustainable energy. Typically under high intensity training, your body uses glucose (from carbs and amino acids) and creatine simultaneously and during the rest period it uses fatty acids and shuttles oxygen, glucose, creatine and BCAA's back into the cells.