Does Cardio While Bulking Kill Gains?
Cardio has been under the spotlight in the past 5 years. Repeatedly studies have been "proving" that cardio is bad for you, while other scientific studies claim the direct opposite.
My intention is to clear up some of the most common myths & misconceptions in relation to cardio & gaining weight.
I hope to succeed in not polarizing or illustrating a black and white perspective, as my aim is to objectively talk about cardio training.
Before we even get started it is important to know that there are very different types of cardio. HIIT training & a marathon can both belong to cardio, although the time under tension and intensity differ a lot.
So Does Cardio Kill Gains?
In the intro section, I have already scratched the aspect that there are various types of cardio. Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to the question unless you define the exact type of cardio that you are going to do.
So it depends on the type of cardio that you are planning to do. Some types will even help you with gaining muscle, while other forms have nearly no effect or even negative effects on gaining muscle.
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What Works Best?
Low intensity & steady-state cardio has been shown to come with disadvantages if you are trying to lose weight while gaining muscle.
There have been studies that low-intensity cardio doesn't release a hormone called T3 which in fact helps to burn fat! Read the study yourself if you are interested.
Unfortunately for the running enthusiasts, there have been more and more hints towards cardio having a negative influence on gaining muscle.
There have been studies by the American Journal Of Physiology, that steady-state cardio makes your muscles absorb less glucose right after training.
Honestly, I could only find one trustworthy study providing these results, but it might still be true.
Unfortunately, science has never been focused too much on the human body, as most scientific research tends to go towards other issues.
Therefore you should focus on higher intensity when doing cardio while bulking. Try to have comparably short training sessions! Now we are moving closer towards HIIT training territory. Still, there are other methods than HIIT that still help you or at least don't get in the way of gaining muscle mass.
As an easy-to-follow guideline, you shouldn't do cardio sessions whereas you don't stop moving for longer than 30 minutes if you are seriously focused on muscle growth.
But overall HIIT is going to be the superior training method when it comes to fat loss while gaining muscle.
HIIT VS Cardio (Or "Traditional Cardio")
It is arguable, but HIIT training can be considered as cardiovascular training, as it has similar effects on your body as traditional cardio.
But there are a couple of advantages that make HIIT standout, justifying its crazy popularity.
HIIT training increases testosterone level in male athletes
When doing HIIT interval training you are going to be in the anaerobic phase. In that phase, your body is going to use a system to produce ATP (Energy for your muscles) which produces Lactic Acid.
Lactic Acid has been considered as a simple by-product for decades, but just recently it has been shown to increase testosterone levels. Furthermore increased testosterone levels are going to lead to increased muscle growth.
Skim through the study behind it for more information.
It takes little time
When doing HIIT workouts you usually never go above 30 minutes, while burning a quite high amount of calories. So even though you might think you didn't consume as many calories as with a long cardio session you need to eat enough to gain muscle.
The Most Significant Disadvantage:
High Impact
HIIT resistance training usually comes with high intensity. Jumping & explosive motions are common, which is going to be a lot of impact on your tendons & joints.
Therefore we recommend starting with less intense & slower forms of HIIT in advance to avoid injuries.
Furthermore, the impact on your heart is higher, which can be a problem if you had problems around that area in advance.
If you want to step up your HIIT & cardio game, I recommend you to read my review of a workout program called "anabolic running". It is going to help you to gain a more structured approach in your training & provides additional knowledge which is key to progress.
Other Factors:
Besides the type of cardiovescular training there is another factor that is quite obvious, yet neglected frequently.
Caloric Intake!
Extended & long cardio workouts tend to consume a lot of energy, while a strength training for hypertrophy is going to be less calory consuming.
Therefore, you have to eat a lot if you plan on doing any type of cardio while bulking/building muscle!
So in reality cardio generally doesn't lead to muscle loss, but it can "kill" your muscles if you neglect your caloric intake. This is a common misconception that leads people to miss out on cardio sessions, although you can always compensate by eating more.
Can Cardio And Strength Training Coexist?
Yes, they definitely can!
Even slower forms of cardio can be done while gaining weight, although it might slow down your progress a tiny bit. But unless you run marathons on a frequent basis the difference is not going to be as big as you might think!
More importantly, you should focus on eating more to gain weight when doing cardio on a frequent basis.
If you want to take it a step further you still shouldn't miss out on cardio. If you want to gain weight quickly you should do HIIT training at least 1-3 times per week. Especially for male athletes, the increased testosterone levels are going to be beneficial!
In case this article made you curious about HIIT workouts, you can read my article about structuring & creating HIIT workouts that take less than 30 minutes!
Feel free to leave a comment below if there are any questions left. Please share this article if you found it helpful as it helps me to provide better value for readers like you!
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