Research

Mixed

Concurrent resistance and aerobic exercise (CE) stimulates both myofibrillar and mitochondrial protein synthesis rates in sedentary middle-aged men without causing molecular interference compared to isolated resistance or aerobic exercise.

If you are sedentary and middle-aged, you can combine resistance and aerobic exercise in the same workout session without worrying that the cardio will negate the muscle-building benefits of the weights. This study shows that doing both together stimulates muscle protein synthesis just as effectively as doing weights alone, and mitochondrial synthesis just as effectively as doing cardio alone. You do not need to split these activities into separate days to see acute benefits.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
These data suggest that CE-induced acute stimulation of myofibrillar and mitochondrial FSR, protein signaling, and mRNA expression are equivalent to either isolate mode (RE or AE). These results occurred without an interference effect on muscle protein subfractional synthesis rates, protein signaling, or mRNA expression.
Cheyne E. Donges et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2012

Why this rating

Randomized crossover design with direct measurement of protein synthesis via stable isotopes, though sample size is small (n=8).

Source

Concurrent resistance and aerobic exercise stimulates both myofibrillar and mitochondrial protein synthesis in sedentary middle-aged men

Cheyne E. Donges et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2012

DOI 10.1152/japplphysiol.00166.2012

crossover · n=8Cited 112×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →