I plead guilty to not being a body builder. I agree that resistance training should be incorporated into a fitness regime with running or swimming or cycling. I lift weights and do alot of running. However, most people who do resistance training for fitness are not body builders. And you are correct that most people who are extreme body builders don't care that they look like freaks. Just like the folks who tatoo their entire face and head and have a few hundred body piercings. Not most peoples cup of tea, but whatever floats your boat.
Lean body mass matters. Doctors are just now waking up to its importance, mostly because of a few studies in the past year shining light on how stupid BMI is, and the so-called 'paradoxical' finding that in many respects the 'overweight' according to BMI do better long-term in a variety of aspects than do either the 'normal' or 'obese' categories. Not so paradoxical when we really look and see that, especially in men, the overweigth differ from the normal weight not in terms of body fat but in terms of lean body mass.
In addition to boosting metabolism, higher lean body mass is associated with better cancer survival, decreased dementia, and better heart health.
And then there's the purely functional aspect. Structural and motion integrity is a combination of passive (joints) and active (muscles) function.
Whether it's the importance of a strong and active vastus medialis for patellar tracking, gluteal muscles in back health, hamstrings for hip health, the trapezius in lower cervical angle and stress, or the upper back muscles in shoulder and neck health, our muscles are vitally important for long-term health and function. Ever take a look at how we're setting as far as cervical, lumbar, and shoulder health? It's not pretty and only getting worse. Some of it of course is just being too fat. Some of it comes from simply sitting too much. But a lot of it is a failure to maintain healthy levels of muscle free of imbalances.
And I'm sick and tired of the myth that weight training doesn't improve cardiovascular fitness. You're right weight-lifting is NOT an aerobic activity. It's anaerobic. But in the process of anaerobic activity, we incur an oxygen debt. That oxygen debt is paid back...by the heart. The more you lift, and the higher the frequency of your lifting in a session, the more work your heart has to do to keep up.
In a typical deadlift session, I'll lift 150kg 1 meter 40 times in about 5 minutes. For those of us who are physically challenged, that's about 60 Calories (60 kcal). My total workout is an hour long or longer, and I move right from deadlifting to the next exercise. Which means my heart has to be capable of providing enough oxygen to burn 60 calories in 5 minutes. Which isn't much different from swimming.
As for blood pressure, as a chronic adaptation to weight training you develop more calories and your arteries and veins actually expand. Reducing SVR. Every time you weight lift, provided you're bringing enough intensity to the table, you get a suppression of sympathetic tone for up to 24h afterward (natural alpha and beta blockade much?) and on a more short term basis, all of those metabolites result in a vasodilation in your skeletal muscle.
Don't get me wrong, steady state cardio is good in its own right. But it doesn't improve your cardiovacsular fitness as much as HIIT even when done for much shorter amounts of time. All that impact (for you runners) is TERRIBLE for your joints. And once a workout session goes longer than 45 minutes or so, you basically become a cortisol factory. Not to mention that steady-state cardio has limited post-exercise oxygen consumption, and doesn't even hold a candle to weight-lifting, let alone HIIT. As far as BMR, lifting weights causes an increase, HIIT can cause an increase, but steady-state cardio for long periods of time (>30 min) actually leads to a LOWER BMR. Which isn't particularly good for weight loss. It also doesn't improve insulin sensitivity nearly as much as either lifting weights (with intensity, not the garbage routines that MDs use in their studies) or HIIT.
If you love running, do your thing. But don't pretend it's the greatest thing ever for fat loss and fitness. I'm a powerlifter myself. I love it. It's what I do. But I don't tell the people I train to only powerlift. That's stupid. No, an approach blending HIIT and moderate weight training is the best. The right thing is usually moderation, in all things, including exercise.
I do no cardio (not saying that's a good thing). I get 3000-4000 calories a day. Not going to lie, I do get some vegies and fruits in my diet, more than most, but a LOT of it is junk food. I don't go a single day without eating some form of junk food or another. My heart rate is in the 50s, my BP is in the 110s, over high 70s, my HDL is 50+ and my LDL is less than 100. And my joints feel better than ever. I should add that metabolic syndrome is the norm in my family, not the exception.
So umm, yeah don't know what else to say except put down the friggin kool aid.
