Victor Forge
There is a common misconception in the fitness community that cardio workouts inhibit muscle growth. However, when done correctly, cardio can be an excellent way to improve your health, increase fat loss, and even promote muscle growth. The key is to integrate cardio into your training regimen in a way that enhances your overall fitness without compromising your muscle gains. This involves paying attention to factors such as the timing, duration, and intensity of your cardio sessions, as well as ensuring proper nutrition and weightlifting routines.
Does Cardio Deplete Muscle?
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Does cardio burn muscle tissue? | No, cardio does not burn muscle tissue as long as you're consuming an adequate amount of calories and protein. |
| How to do cardio correctly? | It is important to separate cardio and lifting workouts. Cardio should be done after weightlifting, not before. |
| How to improve cardiovascular fitness? | Conditioning is the tool to improve cardiovascular fitness. It takes a systematic approach to priming, working, and pushing all energy systems. |
| How to gain muscle with cardio? | To gain muscle with cardio, you need to improve your anaerobic and aerobic systems. |
| Anaerobic alactic system | Provides massive energy spurts in short periods of time (about 20 seconds) to increase maximal strength, speed, and/or power. |
| Anaerobic lactic system | Provides energy for activities lasting up to a minute. It doesn't require oxygen but produces lactic acid. |
| Aerobic system | Provides energy for longer bouts of activity by breaking down carbs, amino acids, and fatty acids. |
| Common mistakes | Doing lots of cardio with an improper diet and training can lead to muscle loss. |
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What You'll Learn
Cardio and weightlifting can be combined without muscle loss
Firstly, it is important to understand the different energy systems and how they relate to your cardiovascular fitness and efficiency. There are three basic energy systems: anaerobic alactic, anaerobic lactic, and aerobic. The anaerobic alactic system provides massive energy spurts in short periods, increasing strength, speed, and power. It does not use oxygen or create lactic acid. The anaerobic lactic system provides energy for activities lasting up to a minute without requiring oxygen but produces lactic acid. The aerobic system provides energy for longer activities by breaking down carbs, amino acids, and fatty acids.
Conditioning is a tool to improve your cardiovascular system and can be done without losing muscle. It involves taking a systematic approach to priming, working, and pushing all your energy systems, which improves your overall cardiovascular fitness.
When combining cardio and weightlifting, it is recommended to do your cardio after your weightlifting session. Research has shown that performing cardio before lifting weights can decrease workout performance. Additionally, separating cardio and lifting workouts may be more optimal for muscle growth. For example, performing a moderate-intensity cycling session 24 hours after a biceps workout can lead to increased muscle hypertrophy.
It is also important to consume an adequate amount of calories and protein when engaging in cardio and weightlifting. Extreme calorie restriction, whether through diet or excessive cardio, can lead to muscle loss, especially if not combined with proper weightlifting.
Finally, the type of cardio you choose matters. For example, sprinting can build muscle mass, while long-distance cardio training can waste muscle. HIIT exercises, in particular, have been shown to have less or no negative effect on resistance training-induced muscle adaptations.
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Caloric deficit and cardio can lead to muscle loss
Therefore, it is important to integrate cardio into your training regimen correctly. One way to do this is to separate cardio and lifting workouts. Another way is to do cardio after your weights workout, rather than before. Additionally, a good circuit for promoting fat loss and muscle gain is an 8-second bike sprint with a 12-second recovery for 20 minutes, done 3 times a week.
While cardio can be done without losing muscle, caloric deficit can lead to muscle loss if not done properly. Resistance training has been shown to have a muscle-sparing effect. In a study of 249 people, researchers found that resistance training preserved muscle mass while still promoting fat loss. Therefore, if you focus on resistance training and adequate energy and protein intake, you can mitigate muscle loss. However, if you don't prioritize resistance training and cut your calories drastically, you may lose muscle along with fat.
In conclusion, caloric deficit and cardio can lead to muscle loss, but this can be avoided by integrating them correctly into your training regimen. By focusing on resistance training, adequate energy and protein intake, and doing cardio at the right time, you can promote muscle growth while still achieving your fat loss goals.
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Cardio can improve muscle quality
Cardio has a bad reputation for depleting muscle, but when done correctly, it can improve muscle quality and enhance your training without stripping away any hard-earned muscle.
The ability for a muscle to generate force by contracting is defined as "muscle quality". Cardio and aerobic activity improve muscle quality and protect against losing muscle innervation capability. It also helps to maintain strength in both younger and older populations. A long-term study compared sedentary participants with aerobically trained participants in three different age categories: 20-39, 40-64, and 65-86 years. The study found that isometric grip and knee extensor strength increased significantly more in the trained group over time. This suggests that aerobic activity can prevent strength loss and increase muscle protein synthesis and hypertrophy.
However, it is important to integrate cardio into your training correctly. A common mistake is doing cardio at the wrong time. If you decide to do cardio during the same workout as your lifting, it is recommended to do your cardio after your weights workout, rather than before. A 2016 paper showed that participants who performed a 20-minute cardio session prior to lifting weights experienced a significant decrease in their performance. Additionally, if your cardio session is of moderate to high intensity (i.e. longer than 30 minutes), it is best to perform your cardio and workout sessions separately. A 2017 study found that untrained lifters who performed a 30-minute moderate-intensity cycling session 24 hours after a biceps workout had an almost two-fold increase in muscle hypertrophy.
It is also important to eat a proper diet when doing cardio to avoid muscle loss. Cardio won't hamper your gains if you eat and train properly. Fasted cardio, for example, can make it more difficult to replace lost protein since muscle protein breakdown is likely greater when performed in a fasted state. Additionally, extreme calorie restriction, whether from eating less, doing lots of cardio, or both, can lead to muscle loss, especially if you're not lifting weights.
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Cardio before or after weightlifting?
Cardio and weightlifting are both essential components of a well-rounded fitness routine. However, the order in which you perform them can depend on various factors, including your fitness goals, fitness level, and time availability.
If your primary goal is to build muscle strength, it is generally recommended to prioritize weightlifting before cardio. The primary fuel source for weightlifting is stored sugar in the muscles, called glycogen. Starting your workout with a fresh supply of energy allows you to lift weights with optimal form and sufficiently load your muscles to stimulate growth. Additionally, performing cardio exercises before weightlifting can pre-fatigue your muscles, increasing the risk of injury during weightlifting.
On the other hand, if your main focus is to increase endurance or improve cardiovascular health, doing cardio before weightlifting is the preferred option. Cardio exercises help ready your body for the challenges of weight training and lay the foundation for improved endurance. However, it is important to note that doing cardio before weightlifting may negatively impact your weightlifting performance, especially if the cardio session is moderate to high intensity and performed within the same workout. In such cases, it may be better to separate the cardio and weightlifting sessions by at least 24 hours to optimize muscle growth.
Ultimately, the decision to do cardio before or after weightlifting is a personal one. It is essential to experiment with different approaches and find what works best for your body and goals. For beginners, it is crucial to focus on consistency and gradually adapt your routine based on your experiences and preferences.
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HIIT cardio and muscle growth
Cardio training is often associated with fat loss, but it can also be beneficial for muscle growth. However, it is important to integrate it correctly into your training programme. When done improperly, cardio can negatively impact muscle growth. For example, a 2012 meta-analysis showed that combining cardio and lifting impairs muscle growth by around 31%. Similarly, a 2016 study found that participants who performed a 20-minute cardio session before lifting weights experienced a significant decrease in their performance.
To build muscle, you must work out hard enough to put your muscles under enough stress for an adaptive reaction to take place. The intensity level required is not met by the majority of cardio exercises. However, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) does meet this intensity threshold and can therefore be an effective way to build muscle. HIIT involves doing repeat rounds of short bursts of intense work followed by brief rest periods.
To build muscle with HIIT, it is recommended to pair the concept of HIIT with resistance training. This allows you to get the fat-burning and cardio-enhancing benefits of HIIT, as well as its muscle-building potential. For example, a good circuit is an 8-second bike sprint followed by a 12-second recovery, repeated for 20 minutes, 3 times a week. This has been proven to promote fat loss and muscle gain.
HIIT workouts create metabolic stress on the muscles. This stress can stimulate the release of anabolic hormones, including those responsible for growth, which helps to support muscle gain and repair. HIIT workouts also typically burn a significant amount of calories during and after the session, which can be helpful for those who want to lose fat and build muscle, as it creates a calorie deficit that allows for more food and nutrients to be eaten, fuelling muscle growth.
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Frequently asked questions
Cardio does not deplete muscle tissue as long as you are consuming an adequate amount of calories and protein. However, doing cardio at the wrong time or in the wrong way can negatively impact your gains.
If you are doing cardio and lifting weights in the same workout, do your cardio after your weights workout.
Doing lots of cardio at the expense of weightlifting can burn muscle. This is why it is important to combine cardio and weightlifting correctly.
If you are doing moderate to high-intensity cardio for more than 30 minutes, it is best to perform your cardio and weightlifting sessions separately.
A good circuit is an 8-second bike sprint, a 12-second recovery for 20 minutes, 3 times a week. This has been proven to promote fat loss and muscle gain.
