Physiological and Molecular Responses to Concurrent Training in Endurance-Trained Athletes

Eddens, Lee John (2019) Physiological and Molecular Responses to Concurrent Training in Endurance-Trained Athletes. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

Concurrent training describes the combination of both endurance and strength stimuli within a coherent paradigm. An attenuation in strength, power, and hypertrophy can result from this model of training, in comparison to that resulting from strength only; a phenomenon termed an ‘interference effect’. Rather than adopt a myopic view of the concurrent training paradigm, whereby the addition of an endurance stimulus is fatal to strength-based training outcomes, it is of interest to better understand the response to a concurrent exercise stimulus and elucidate the response to manipulating training variables. Given this, the objectives of this thesis were to investigate and draw conclusions on the short-term response to a strenuous concurrent stimulus (Chapter 4), in addition to the effect of manipulating the programme variables of exercise sequence (Chapter 5) and endurance exercise intensity (Chapters 6 and 7) on strength and endurance-related outcomes.

The findings of this thesis indicate concurrent training stimuli to provide a relatively modest level of muscle damage, potentially owing to the order of the two exercise modes, with this programme variable of intra-session exercise sequence affecting improvements in lower-body dynamic strength during a concurrent training programme. Further, the data do not support the premise of a molecular interference effect amongst an endurance-trained phenotype, nor a role for the variable of endurance exercise intensity to modify the molecular response to concurrent stimuli, regardless of training status, or performance outcomes following a short-term concurrent training programme.

With regards to practical applications, while an endurance-resistance exercise order might limit muscle damage, the alternate sequence is beneficial for lower-body strength development. Individuals limited by time, such that they must train concurrently with minimal relief between modes of exercise, should adopt a resistance-endurance exercise order to promote strength adaptation across a training programme. Finally, providing it is work- and duration-matched, endurance exercise intensity can be manipulated without detriment to strength performance, amongst endurance trained athletes.

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