On the left, 2008 Olympic marathon gold medallist Sammy Warinju. On the right, 2008 Olympic weightlifting silver medallist in the men's 232 lbs weight class, Dmitry Klokov. Who do you think has the stronger legs?
This one is for all my family, friends, acquaintances, and enemies who adhere to the belief that they do not need to do weightlifting for their legs, because they run, bike, or spend time on the elliptical. If you spend time in the gym/weight room with the goal of getting strong, big, powerful, building endurance, or all of the above, you need to lift weights, or at least engage in some kind of resistance training, for EVERY part of your body. Period.
Running, biking, going on the elliptical, or doing some other kind of long duration aerobic work alone will not give you big, strong, or powerful legs, nor will it give you the other various benefits that resistance training will. Sprint training, however, is a good compliment to these things, but it works better when combined with weightlifting. Something you can get from aerobic work on these machines is local muscular endurance, so if that is your goal, than doing these things without weightlifting is fine, especially for endurance athletes. Running, biking, or ellipcitcal-ing will not give you any of the other same adaptations as other types of resistance training. Here's why, in a nutshell:
1. Long duration aerobic work does not elicit the right kind of muscle contractions to build size or strength.
2. Long duration aerobic training does not stimulate the type of muscle tissue that gets you big or strong as a result of resistance training.
3.Long duration aerobic training does not put the same stress on the body that resistance training does, and thus will not result in the same benefits.
Those are the main reasons that the treadmill, bike, etc will not give you the same results as resistance training. I gave that short list because the scientific explanations behind those reasons are lengthy. If you want a more in depth explanation as to why you need to suck it up and do squats, keep reading.
1. Lack of Eccentric Muscle Contractions.
An eccentric muscle contraction is one where the muscle contracts while actually getting longer, such as the phase of a bicep curl where you lower the dumbbell from your shoulder back down to arm's length. Eccentric contractions are important because it is the eccentric portion of a movement in which the main stress is put on the muscle that will cause it to get bigger (and to a lesser degree, stronger). When on an elliptical or cycling machine, there is no eccentric phase to the movement - in other words, there is no type of contraction that results in bigger or stronger muscles. When running, there are eccentric contractions (they happen every time your foot hits the ground). However, they are through a very short range of motion, they don't last the same length of time, and they do not bring forth as much force as eccentric contractions induced from resistance training do.
2. Lack of stimulation to type II muscle fibers.
We have two main types of muscle tissue in our body that cause movement - type I and type II muscle fibers. Type I fibers cannot produce a lot of force and resist fatigure very well, so they are our main endurance muscle fibers. Type I fibers also do not get much bigger, no matter what kind of training you do. Sammy Warinju up top is chock full of type I muscles. Type II muscles, on the other hand, fatigue quite easily, but can generate a ton of force. They are the "fast twitch" muscles in our body, and they can grow considerably in size due to resistance training. Dmitry Klokov is made up of mostly type II fibers. Unless you are doing some kind of sprint training that requires short bouts of high force generation, no amount of time on the treadmill, elliptical, or bike is going to stimulate the type II muscle fibers in your legs. As a result, no amount of time on the treadmill, elliptical, or bike will give you the size, strength, or power results you might be seeking during your time at the gym.
3. Lack of necessary stress to the body.
When I say "stress", I mean positive stress from exercise that is actually healthy for the body to endure. Any weight bearing activity will cause adaptations to the body such as increased bone density, increased muscle strength, and enhanced tendon/ligament health. However, the degree to which these adaptations takes place depends on such things as the loads put on the tissues/joints, or the range of motion through which they move.
Any movement we do on aerobic training machines rarely moves our hips, knees, or ankles through the same range of motion that many weightlifting exercises can. Even if you do crank up the "incline" on the elliptical and you have to lift your knees really high, the force that our muscles must generate and that our joints and bones must sustain will still not be as high as when doing something like a squat or deadlift.
So yes, I'm saying the fact that a squat or deadlift stresses the body more than running or cycling is a GOOD thing! When these exercises are done with proper technique, the stress on the body leads to our muscles, joints, and bones re-building themselves to be even stronger than they were before - not to mention stronger and healthier than aerobic machines can ever make them!
I'm not saying nobody should ever do cardio. Trust me, I'm not one of "those guys". Cardiovascular training is very important, and lots of people enjoy aerobic machines and should use them as much as they want to. Just don't expect your legs to be as big, strong, or healthy as they possibly can be if cardio machines are the only training you ever do for your legs!
I almost forgot - resistance training results in LIFELONG health of the lower body!
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