Doing Cardio While Building Muscle- Part
1
There is
much debate and controversy on the subject of doing cardio
while building muscle. Once and for all I am going to set the
record straight. So without further adieu, here's the real deal
on doing cardio while trying to gain size and strength...
If you are a beginner who also happens to
be a ripped ectomorph who has to fight for every ounce he gains
(e.g. a classic hardgainer), I suggest that you lay off cardio
almost entirely for at least 8-12 weeks. Get your training and
diet down and pack on some size. In that time you should be
able to gain at least 15lbs of muscle if not 20+. After you
have done that you can add in some cardio. I would start with
three weekly sessions of twenty minutes of moderate intensity
cardio; no intervals. Use a bike to limit the amount of
eccentric stress or pounding on the joints. And remember there
are actually things known as real bikes that go outside, not
just stationary bikes that people park themselves on to watch
Oprah. Although, if you choose that route, get one with a well
padded seat that will not lead to the death of your sex
life.
If you are beyond the beginner level you should always be doing
some kind of cardio on a regular basis, be it intervals,
moderate intensity steady state, or low intensity, long
duration steady state. Again, don't limit yourself to machines
indoors; get outside and drag a sled, run sprints, jump rope or
play a sport. That's a lot more fun anyway. I think everyone
should be doing something like this at least three days per
week for at least 30 minutes. It's healthy and prevents a host
of health problems, not to mention that it keeps you in shape
and looking good.
Contrary to what many people believe, cardio can actually be of
great benefit to those looking to get bigger and stronger. Not
only does it improve the cardiovascular system and thus improve
the quality of your weight training workouts but it allows you
to eat more muscle building calories while staying lean. To
pack on 20-30 pounds of muscle you have to eat an inordinate
amount of food. Doing some cardio will help ensure that you
don't get fat from all the excessive eating.
The bottom line is that everyone but absolute beginners should
be doing some kind of cardio type activity at least three times
per week for thirty minutes. This will not inhibit size or
strength gains in the least but may actually enhance them. You
should vary your activities and intensities as much as
possible. You can do cardio immediately after you train,
although I prefer to do it on non weight training days or later
in the day after training because I am usually too spent after
lifting to give it my all on the cardio. Doing it on off days
is usually a better option anyway because it serves as an
active recovery activity and also gets you burning some
calories on those days.
Doing Cardio While Building
Muscle- Part 2
By Jason
Ferruggia
The purpose of doing cardio when trying to get
bigger and stronger is to keep you lean, improve your
insulin sensitivity and allow you to eat more calories.
What kind of cardio will have the least negative effect
on your size and strength gains? That's a no brainer;
walking. The great thing about walking is it will not
impede your progress in the least, the bad thing is that
you have to walk for a bare minimum of 45 minutes to
really burn a decent amount of calories and you will not
elevate your metabolism much after walking. That is the
great thing about interval training; it elevates your
metabolism dramatically for long after you have finished
your workout.
With that being said, I would still choose a good fast paced
hour long walk on the beach over sitting on a stationary bike
inside while pounding away on some brutal intervals. I despise
intervals on a bike with a passion. My ass goes numb, my balls
go numb and I get a splitting headache. Not to mention that I
am bored to tears within three minutes. Plus, I think we all do
more than enough sitting and the last thing I want to do is sit
some more while I'm supposedly "working out;" my hip flexors
are tight enough already, thanks.
If you love to ride a bike then that is fine and you should do
what you love. But for God's sake, go outside and do it. People
will actually get in their cars and drive ten minutes across
town to walk inside a gym and sit on a stationary bike and ride
it for twenty minutes and then drive home. Why not just ride
your bike across town? I don't get it.
So we have established that low intensity, long duration cardio
(walking) is the best option for those who are concerned with
any losses in size and strength whatsoever. This method was a
favorite of many great bodybuilders such as Dorian Yates.
Another option here, is to just go for a long slow/low
intensity bike ride. Either one works great; but again I warn
you to protect your nuts, aka get a good seat.
Next on the list is medium/moderate/high intensity steady state
cardio. This kind of cardio is a little tricky because it can
elevate cortisol and lead to losses in size and strength. To
prevent this you need to be sure to limit the time spent doing
this to 30 minutes, max. Two days a week should be safe and
three days would probably be ok for most people as well. It's
when you get into the 4-7 day per week, 45-60 minute marathon
sessions that you see people at the gym doing (whose bodies
never change in the least from one year to the next)all the
time, that you get into trouble. If you limit your use of this
method you should be ok.
Lastly, we have intervals which we will cover in part
3.
Doing Cardio
While Building Muscle- Part 3
By Jason Ferruggia
Intervals
The
good- intervals allow you to burn a lot of calories in a
short amount of time and keep your metabolism elevated long
after you finish doing them.
The bad- if you are training legs two or even three
times per week, you can not do intervals more than once a week
without overtraining. Let me rephrase that; you can but
eventually it will lead to overtraining or at the very least
slow down your strength gains. You can negate this slightly by
keeping your leg training volume extremely low and doing your
intervals on the same day as your weight training. You can't do
five to eight sets of legs two or three days a week and 30
minutes of intervals on top of it. That's a dead end road.
You also have to remember to do your intervals on your training
days and not on off days like you might do with other forms of
cardio because that will lead to overtraining much quicker.
The ugly- if you choose sprinting as your form of interval
training you could get hurt; it's an ugly truth that has to be
faced. The thing that will lead to even more injuries is
following faulty interval protocol advice. Normally it is
recommended to do 30-60 second intervals when they are being
performed on a stationary bike. A lot of people take these
recommendations and apply them to sprinting. This is a huge
mistage! Nobody can sprint for 30-60 seconds. Ok, not nobody;
but most average people can't do it. World class athletes can
sprint for that long, but not everyone else.
Don't believe me?
Go try it. Warm up thoroughly and try to sprint for 60 seconds
straight. Let me know what happens. We have all seen the
Olympics and how winded guys are after sprinting the 100 which
happens to last all of ten seconds. Most of us have seen guys
run the 40 and not be able to catch their breath for at least a
few minutes afterwards. And that takes five seconds or less.
Not only is sprinting for 30-60 seconds impossible for most
people but it also greatly increases the risk of injury.
When you keep your sprint distances and times very short, you
decrease the risk for injury because you never hit top speed
and instead spend most of your time in the acceleration phase.
This phase has the least potential for injury. For that reason,
most people should be running 20-50 yard sprints. This keeps
you at top speed for a very short period of time; usually
little enough time to maintain form and not suffer an injury.
When you run at top speed for too long the chance for a break
down in form and thus an injury is greatly increased.
I would never recommend that a non athlete ever try to sprint
for 30-60 seconds straight and you should never take that
advice from anyone. It is faulty and dangerous. To further
reduce your injury while sprinting, use adequate rest periods
between sets. Also, running with a sled slows you down enough
to avoid top speeds and makes sprinting much safer.
Bottom Line- Intervals are a great tool for getting
ripped, however when your main goal is to get big and strong
and just keep fat gain to a minimum, they should be used
sparingly if at all. I would recommend sprints above intervals
on a bike and even then I wouldn't do them in true interval
fashion but more of a traditional speed workout with short
sprints and adequate rest periods. This will still elevate your
metabolism greatly and keep you lean. Just look at the
physiques of Olympic sprinters for proof of this; that his how
they train. Sprint, rest... no intervals.
Jason Ferruggia
is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his
ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly
possible. He is the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness
Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to
muscle building. For more great muscle building information,
please visit Muscle Gaining
Secrets.
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