Many folks wonder whether they should do cardio when trying to build muscle...after all, cardio consists of fat loss exercises used to burn calories and we want to increase our calories when we build muscle not decrease them, right?
In this article I'm going to go over some important points so you can decide for yourself whether cardio should become a bigger factor in your workouts or not.
What Is Your Body Type?
The key to understanding what your cardio needs are and whether you should include it in your muscle building routines, is in identifying your body type. Each body type will respond differently to cardio and affect how you build muscle.
Are you an:
- ectomorph - naturally skinny, finds it difficult to gain any kind of muscle or weight
- endomorph - gains weight and fat easily
- mesomorph - gains muscle quickly but is able to burn fat quickly too.
Depending on which body type you are you will need to approach your cardio differently.
Ectomorphs can probably get away with very little to no cardio when trying to build muscle, while endomorphs and mesomorphs will need to make it a part of their workout routines, since endomorphs will no doubt find that the increase in calories needed for gaining muscle may often create new fat deposits.
What Is Your Priority At This Stage?
Importantly, it is necessary to assess what your current goals are at this stage and what you want to achieve in your workouts.
If your goal is to "bulk up" and you're not too concerned about a little fat gain, since you can burn it off later, then you may want to eliminate or significantly reduce your cardio training until you reach the "cutting" stage.
If you're after a small increase in muscle but more concerned with additional body fat gains, then performing some cardio in your sessions will keep you on track.
For skinny guys and girls I would recommend that you focus on bulking and gaining muscle first (reduce your cardio) and then look to "cut" later. It is easier to focus on one goal at a time than try to do everything at once. Plus the additional muscle gains make will increase your metabolism and make the cutting easier later on anyway.
What Too Much Cardio Can Do
Lack of sufficient rest can prevent your body building muscle tissue,and this can obviously be aggravated by performing a lot of cardio in your workouts, particularly on your "off" days - when you're not lifting weights.
Too much cardio will also eat into your calorie allowance, meaning you have to be ultra careful about how much cardio you do and how this may be affecting your calorie needs.
If your goal is to burn excess body fat while building muscle, the best results from your cardio will be when it is performed at high intensity - incidentally, this can also lead to additional muscle gains.
How Much Cardio Should You Do?
Studies have shown that as little as 15-20 minutes can be enough to burn excess body fat. Ectomorphs can probably get away with less than that.
As mentioned earlier though, the key to success is in the intensity of the cardio that you perform. Make sure you include it into your weight training workouts to avoid having to train on your rest days - it can make a great warm-up before lifting.
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