Cardio vs Strength Is a Myth and the Science Proves It - Alyssa Olenick

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (0:00)
Walking isn't enough.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:01)
People, wait, doc, they were so offended.

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (0:05)
I actually know because I was sent it like a million times.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:08)
I'm hearing you say walking is not enough.

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (0:11)
It's not enough for bone, it's not enough for muscle growth.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:13)
As a geriatrician, we would see those individuals that all they did was walk.

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (0:17)
Yes.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:17)
Yes, walking is important, but is not going to maintain its strength and those bigger muscle fibers.

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (0:24)
Yeah, all movement is good, and it's going to be net productive for any health measure. Just moving around more is a net positive thing. But if we want specific adaptations to muscle, bone, cardiovascular system adaptations, you do need enough of a stressor and a stimulus to drive that adaptation to actually get those benefits.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:41)
Everybody knows, it's not enough.

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (0:43)
Walking should become a baseline, not a physiological stressor for that exercise adaptation, right? I'm sure you've heard the new term is power penia, and we start to lose power. Have you not heard of this? Okay. So we start to lose power faster than we lose strength as we age. That's like your ability to catch yourself when you fall, or get up out of a chair quickly.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:58)
Do you think that's because people are not training power?

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (1:02)
Well, no one trains unless you're an athlete, and you're 20, you should not do it.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (1:04)
Exactly. So I want to touch on this plyometric component. Do you think that everyone should be doing some kind of plyometric?

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (1:11)
So the two things that Bowen responds to very well is...

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (1:23)
Friends, I wanted to personally let you know that our next four-week, forever strong Foundations Challenge begins in July. This is back because you asked for it. This challenge is built around the same evidence-based, principled nutrition and training you've come to expect from us, along with, I'm very excited, updated content designed to help you build and preserve the one-organ system, that one system that matters most for longevity, which is skeletal muscle.
We'll also be hosting live events throughout the challenge, including conversations with me, members of my nutrition team and trusted fitness professionals, who will help answer your questions and support your progress. What excites me most is not just the information, it's the community. Every challenge brings together people who are committed to taking ownership of their health, raising their standards and investing in their future. Now, I look forward to working alongside you as we continue to build a stronger, healthier, and more resilient community because man, it is up to you and let's get to work. Have you ever been confused about training? Should you do cardio? Should you do strength training? But cardio blunts your strength training gains? Listen, this is just one example of the information that spreads and confuses people. Dr. Alyssa Olenick is a PhD that focuses on exercise metabolism and sex differences. She did her postdoc in menopause and metabolism. Also, she's personally run 17 ultra-marathons while maintaining competitive weightlifting.
All right. So this girl is on a mission to help women train more efficiently, and with less confusion. She's going to show us the science behind what is true when it comes to the differences between men and women in training, and even more importantly, what do we do with it? Do people call you Dr. Olenick?

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (3:35)
Usually, I think they either get called Dr. Alyssa Olenick or just Alyssa.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (3:40)
Or Doc.

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (3:40)
Or Doc-less. Yeah. Usually people default to Doc-less because my handle. So any of them work though.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (3:46)
As long as they're not swear words, I'm in.

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (3:47)
That's kind of like, honestly, as long as someone's like, call me that bitch, then I'm like, fine. I'm honestly fine with it.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (3:52)
You had me at hello.

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (3:53)
Yeah.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (3:54)
One of the things that I didn't want to do in this episode talking about fitness is in the landscape of social media and YouTube, it's all about debunking things. And quite frankly, as you and I were chatting previously, when you're in the world of debunking, it detracts from the science and then what to do.

**Dr. Alyssa Olenick** (4:12)
Yes.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (4:13)
You have been training for a very long time in a variety of sport and just training modalities, endurance, ultra endurance, which is crazy. My husband just ran his first 50