Funny thing.
Turns out there is a lot of benefit to cardio vascular systems by weight lifting (or mashing) but it is quite a different positive effect.
The massive spikes in heart rate and pressure, then the sudden fall off. This develops flexibility in the veins and arteries... Also develops heart rate recovery. The rate that the pulse declines after use.
New studies show that the recovery rate is one of the most important indicators for negative events. Basically,. the faster your pulse recovers the less likely are heart attacks and strokes. The correlation was the stronger then any other suspected data point, such as resting heart rate...
So yes there is a positive benefit to mashing...
But on the one hand mashing seriously restricts how fast and far you can go...
On the other hand if you watch people who use bicycles for daily transport in say, china... You'll see they run at very low cadence and keep it up all day...
Cycling is an activity, it doesn't have "intentions"...
But if I would strongly suggest that everyone develop both types of cardiac capabilities. Both what we think of traditional aerobic capabilities and those cardiac capabilities developed by what is currently thought of as anaerobic activities... They are both associated with lower risk of negative effects and even better, it looks like the positive effects are independent. So they both improve health and it may be a case that 1+1>2...
Last edited by Null66; 03-04-14 at 08:02 PM.