Does Cardio Kill Gains & Destroy Muscle Growth? Legion

At one level or one other, most gymgoers surprise: Does cardio kill good points?

Right here’s the way it often goes: You’re coaching exhausting, consuming nicely, and getting sufficient sleep to achieve muscle. However to remain match, you’re feeling you must also do some cardio, even when it’s only for an hour or two every week.

The fear is that whereas cardio is sweet on your well being, it may additionally diminish your muscle and power good points.

However is that basically true?

Does cardio make you lose muscle mass?

Or have the “muscle-burning results” of cardio been exaggerated by on-line health “gurus?”

On this article, you’ll study the reply. You’ll additionally uncover the errors folks make that may improve your odds of cardio burning muscle, find out how to mix cardio and weightlifting accurately, and extra. 

Does Cardio “Destroy” Features?

Mistake #1: Doing cardio as a substitute of lifting weights.

1. Many endurance athletes don’t carry weight, or in the event that they do, they prepare with mild weights and often.
2. Prime-level endurance athletes prepare rather more intensely than the typical particular person attempting to remain match. For instance, champion marathoners run as much as 160 miles per week—over 20 miles each day!
3. These athletes usually have an unhealthy obsession with holding their weight as little as doable to enhance efficiency, which may embrace considerably limiting their calorie consumption.
4. Sprinters usually prepare with heavy weights and should use steroids to improve their efficiency, which isn’t widespread for endurance athletes.

Principally, the one factor these comparability photos show is that operating marathons, severely limiting your calorie consumption, and never lifting weights is a recipe for staying small. 

However what if an endurance athlete begins consuming extra and lifting weights?

After retiring from elite-level marathoning, Ryan Corridor did simply that. Right here’s how his physique modified:

The lesson? 

Doing a number of cardio on the expense of correct weightlifting can burn muscle, however that is a straightforward mistake to keep away from, offered you carry weights and eat sufficient energy and protein.

Mistake #2: Doing cardio as a part of a crash food regimen.

Many individuals who do a number of cardio additionally comply with a crash diet to shed some pounds as quick as doable. 

And this works extraordinarily nicely. 

The issue is, this additionally results in important muscle loss, which suggests these folks wind up trying skinny fat.

And when this occurs, they blame cardio.

The reality is, any type of extreme calorie restriction—whether or not from consuming much less, doing a number of cardio, or each—results in muscle loss, particularly should you’re not lifting weights.

However the reckless calorie restriction is at fault—not cardio

Mistake #3: Operating an excessive amount of.

Operating causes extra muscle injury than different types of cardio, like biking, rowing, and rucking, which interferes with muscle acquire in two methods: 

1. It considerably will increase muscle protein breakdown throughout and after runs, making it tougher on your physique to construct new muscle proteins.
2. It causes disproportionately extra fatigue than different kinds of train, which may intervene along with your power coaching exercises. 

Nonetheless, this doesn’t imply operating will all the time hinder your muscle-building efforts.

To avoid any points, merely restrict your operating to not more than 2-to-3 hours of operating per week, and ensure you do your operating and lower-body weightlifting on separate days. 

Mistake #4: Doing an excessive amount of complete cardio.

Research reveals that as long as you’re following a correct food regimen and strength training program, you may acquire muscle simply as successfully doing a couple of hours of cardio per week as you may when solely lifting weights.

To make sure you don’t do an excessive amount of cardio, listed here are some tips that work for most individuals:

• Restrict the time you spend doing cardio to not more than half the time you spend weightlifting. For example, should you carry weights for 4 hours per week, don’t do greater than 2 hours of cardio.
• Hold most of your cardio exercises to 45 minutes or much less.
• Don’t do a couple of HIIT cardio exercise per week.

Mistake #5: Doing an excessive amount of cardio at one time.

Research means that to keep away from the unfavorable results of cardio on muscle progress, it’s finest to maintain most of your cardio exercises shorter than an hour. Going past an hour doesn’t imply you’ll routinely begin dropping muscle, however it does improve the possibility of negatively affecting muscle progress.

Additional assist for this comes from studies of pure bodybuilders, who usually do a number of 30-to-40-minute cardio exercises per week with out dropping important muscle.

Thus, as long as you retain most of your cardio exercises beneath an hour, you don’t want to fret about burning muscle. 

Mistake #6: Doing exhausting cardio instantly earlier than, throughout, or after lifting weights.

Some folks run for half-hour earlier than or after lifting weights, or combine in cardio with weightlifting, like in CrossFit or circuit coaching. 

Nonetheless, these approaches are usually not perfect for maximizing muscle progress.

Doing cardio instantly and even a number of hours earlier than lifting weights makes it difficult to carry out at your finest within the health club, which often ends in much less muscle progress over time. 

Doing cardio instantly after lifting weights is much less detrimental, however may interfere with muscle progress by dampening a number of the “muscle-building” alerts from power coaching. 

Thus, it’s usually higher to keep away from cardio instantly after lifting weights to permit your physique to totally profit from the power coaching.

That mentioned, if the one time you are able to do cardio is true after lifting, don’t sweat it. So long as your post-lifting cardio exercises are pretty brief and low-intensity, they shouldn’t get in the best way of muscle constructing. 

It’s additionally price noting that not all types of cardio have the identical impression. Strolling 10-to-20 minutes to the health club received’t damage your good points. Doing an intense 30-minute HIIT exercise after which clomping from the treadmill to the squat rack will.

The Proper Method to Mix Cardio and Power Coaching

[Read More: Concurrent Training: The Right Way to Combine Cardio and Strength Training]

Does Cardio Kill Features?: FAQs

FAQ #1: Does fasted cardio burn muscle?

Whereas fasted cardio increases fats burning throughout your exercise, it causes two issues: 

1. You burn less fat throughout the remainder of the day, which suggests you lose the identical quantity of complete physique fats over a 24-hour interval as you do after fed cardio.
2. Your threat of muscle loss rises.

The primary motive fasted cardio could cause muscle loss is that it rapidly depletes muscle glycogen ranges, prompting your physique to interrupt down protein (muscle) for vitality. 

Nonetheless, you usually must do a good quantity of cardio—not less than 60 minutes or extra—to deplete glycogen ranges. So, the chance of muscle loss from a brief, ~30-minute fasted cardio session is low.

To study extra concerning the professionals and cons of fasted cardio, take a look at this text: 

What Is Fasted Cardio and Can It Help You Lose Weight?

FAQ #2: Does high-intensity cardio burn muscle? 

Whereas some folks declare that high-intensity cardio is much less more likely to burn muscle, the evidence for that is inconsistent.

There’s motive to imagine high-intensity cardio is barely extra more likely to intervene with muscle progress than low-intensity cardio. It is because it usually results in extra muscle damage and fatigue, which may negatively impression your power coaching and muscle good points over time.

Thus, you would possibly need to lean in the direction of low-intensity cardio more often than not should you’re specializing in constructing muscle.

FAQ #3: How can I do cardio with out dropping muscle?

• Restrict the time you spend doing cardio to not more than half the time you spend weightlifting. For example, should you carry weights for 4 hours per week, don’t do greater than 2 hours of cardio.
• Hold most of your cardio exercises to 30-to-45 minutes.
• Don’t do a couple of HIIT cardio exercise per week.