As aerobic exercise (AE) may interfere with adaptations to resistance exercise (RE), this study explored acute and chronic responses to consecutive AE (∼45 min cycling) and RE (4 × 7 maximal knee extensions) vs. RE only. Ten men performed acute unilateral AE + RE interspersed by 15 min recovery. The contralateral leg was subjected to RE. This exercise paradigm was then implemented in a 5-wk training program. Protein phosphorylation, gene expression, and glycogen content were assessed in biopsies obtained from the vastus lateralis muscle of both legs immediately before and 3 h after acute RE. Quadriceps muscle size and in vivo torque were measured, and muscle samples were analyzed for citrate synthase activity and glycogen concentration, before and after training. Acute AE reduced glycogen content (32%; P < 0.05) and increased (P < 0.05) phosphorylation of AMPK (1.5-fold) and rpS6 (1.3-fold). Phosphorylation of p70S6K and 4E-BP1 remained unchanged. Myostatin gene expression was downregulated after acute AE + RE but not RE. Muscle size showed greater (P < 0.05) increase after AE + RE (6%) than RE (3%) training. Citrate synthase activity (18%) and endurance performance (22%) increased (P < 0.05) after AE + RE but not RE. While training increased (P < 0.05) in vivo muscle strength in both legs, normalized and concentric torque increased after RE only. Thus AE activates AMPK, reduces glycogen stores, and impairs the progression of concentric force, yet muscle hypertrophic responses to chronic RE training appear not to be compromised.
Keywords: aerobic exercise; gene expression; human skeletal muscle signaling; muscle strength and power.