Cardio and Muscle Building Workouts

Cardio is a taboo subject for anyone out there who wants to build muscle. Very often, men who want to add some muscle mass fear that by performing any sort of cardio, whether it be running, swimming or cycling, they are going to end up looking scrawny and weak.

Such people often make reference to long-distance runners in the Olympics, who tend to look skinny with their bones being clearly visible. The fear is that all the weight-lifting world will not overcome the detrimental effects of a cardio session.

But let’s face it: the fear of cardio while on a muscle-building phase is unfounded. Cardio can be actually help you to build muscle! There, I said it.

I hope you are still with me and have not fallen off your chair. You might be asking yourself how on earth cardio can help you to lose some muscle, when you look around you and see that all endurance/cardio athletes tend to be on the skinny side.

For starters, cardio can relax you and give you a motivational boost. After hard weight-lifting session, there is nothing like running for a few minutes at a moderate pace to feel refreshed and energetic. The idea here is to go at a moderate pace, not to kill yourself running. If you have done a hard session of squats on leg day, don’t expect to be able to run much afterwards. Just run for the sake of relaxation and your own well-being.

Cardio can also help you keep fat levels low while building muscle. When men build muscle, they tend to gain some fat along the way because caloric overconsumption is required for muscle gain. But cardio can help you to gain muscle while keeping fat gains at a minimum by burning some extra calories and revving up your metabolism.

Cardio can also increase your appetite, which will help you to build more muscle. Skinny guys with high metabolisms tend to have trouble eating large quantities of food, and that’s why they have such a hard time building muscle. But by doing cardio on a mass-gaining phase, those who have trouble eating a lot, which will feel quite ready to consume lots of calories that will in turn build them more muscle.

Try this if you want: after a hard session of resistance training, do some laps in the swimming pool. I don’t know what it is about swimming, but I often feel very hungry after doing it. If you do this correctly, you will be eating everything in your field of vision!

The final benefit of doing cardio while building muscle is often overlooked. Cardio can help you to maintain your conditioning, which will help you to lift heavier weights for a longer time.

Have you ever found out that you run out of breath while lifting weights? This is due to poor conditioning. But if you do cardio, your conditioning will improve, and you will be able to lift for a longer time without running out of air.

As a final word of caution, don’t overdo cardio either while building muscle. Although cardio is good for building muscle, if you do too much of it, you can actually ruin your muscle-gaining efforts.

A good rule of thumb is to perform 20 minutes of cardio 2-3 times a week while on a bulking phase, and regulate according to one’s energy levels and progress.