Pros/Cons of doing endurance strength work only

[SkitsyKitsy]

My current situation is I feel I am at least 2 weight classes heavier than I ought to be, and my maximal strength doesn't seem to have a lot of trouble throughout a roll but endurance strength needs to be worked on.

I'm wondering what the pros and cons would be of taking up a strictly endurance strength program rather than splitting between maximal strength and endurance strength. I'd still continue to alternate HIIT with steady state for my cardio work though.

Thanks.

I found that increasing overall work capacity through increasing strength directly helps immensely. After running a basic strength program, I dropped roughly forty pounds and started rolling more frequently, and all up I noticed a huge improvement in both cardio and muscular endurance for grappling.

Not saying the other suggestions aren't great, but definitely don't look past dropping weight and increasing relative strength more on a simple linear strength program if you can do so readily. Made worlds of difference to me. Very noticeable because I never considered myself to have any endurance, muscular or otherwise.

 

[These Two Hands]

I found that increasing overall work capacity through increasing strength directly helps immensely. After running a basic strength program, I dropped roughly forty pounds and started rolling more frequently, and all up I noticed a huge improvement in both cardio and muscular endurance for grappling.

Not saying the other suggestions aren't great, but definitely don't look past dropping weight and increasing relative strength more on a simple linear strength program if you can do so readily. Made worlds of difference to me. Very noticeable because I never considered myself to have any endurance, muscular or otherwise.

What kind of program man?

 

[SkitsyKitsy]

If you haven't tried Starting Strength or Greyskull, you should take a look into them, and stick with them for several months at least. They're very simple but fantastic for building a strength base. Not specifically for "endurance", but they'll build up your overall strength and correct most weaknesses.

 

[SkitsyKitsy]

Should probably point out that trying to run a strength program while also trying to lose body fat is a bad idea in general. But you could run a program and then cut down with a moderate calorie deficit.

 

[JauntyAngle]

Should probably point out that trying to run a strength program while also trying to lose body fat is a bad idea in general. But you could run a program and then cut down with a moderate calorie deficit.

Strongly disagree.

If strength is at all important to you as an athlete, you need to be working on it, to some extent, pretty much all the time. There will be times when, for whatever reason, you will want to lose weight. In these times, your progress with your strength work will decrease. It might stop, it might not- it's possible to make some gains while losing weight through improved technique, inter-muscular coordination and neural efficiency. Your strength might decrease. But even if it decreases, you should still train strength because without the training the decrease will be even greater.

The one thing you probably shouldn't do is go balls-to-the-wall with your strength training and assign tonnes of time to it. Realistically, that's just going to give a poor return on on your training investment. You need to be thinking more along the lines of maintenance, and assign the total amount of time out of your total training schedule based on that. If you do plan to have a period of intense strength development, with a matching time commitment, you should save it for a period where (probably moderate) weight gain is possible.

 

[SkitsyKitsy]

Strongly disagree.

If strength is at all important to you as an athlete, you need to be working on it, to some extent, pretty much all the time. There will be times when, for whatever reason, you will want to lose weight. In these times, your progress with your strength work will decrease. It might stop, it might not- it's possible to make some gains while losing weight through improved technique, inter-muscular coordination and neural efficiency. Your strength might decrease. But even if it decreases, you should still train strength because without the training the decrease will be even greater.

The one thing you probably shouldn't do is go balls-to-the-wall with your strength training and assign tonnes of time to it. Realistically, that's just going to give a poor return on on your training investment. You need to be thinking more along the lines of maintenance, and assign the total amount of time out of your total training schedule based on that. If you do plan to have a period of intense strength development, with a matching time commitment, you should save it for a period where (probably moderate) weight gain is possible.

I don't disagree there, and I didn't mean anyone should totally cease working on their strength whenever they need to lose some body fat, but I'd usually not recommend trying to do both to someone that wants to see quick progress (outside of beginner gains).

I still lift and try to progress while cutting, but I wouldn't expect to set any PRs when I'm at a steep calorie deficit. As you said, it can still happen though. I just tend to recommend most people focus on building their strength and muscle before thinking about significant weightloss over a longer period.

 

[JRT6]

IMO you can run a high rep program and not lose absolute strength within reason by doing a low rep day every four weeks.

 

[selfcritical]

I don't disagree there, and I didn't mean anyone should totally cease working on their strength whenever they need to lose some body fat, but I'd usually not recommend trying to do both to someone that wants to see quick progress (outside of beginner gains).

I still lift and try to progress while cutting, but I wouldn't expect to set any PRs when I'm at a steep calorie deficit. As you said, it can still happen though. I just tend to recommend most people focus on building their strength and muscle before thinking about significant weightloss over a longer period.

In particular, hypertrophy work while cutting can greatly increase muscle sparing. Which is probably a big part of the whole point if you're trying to change body composition.