But cardio will never not be good for you! It's what I look forward to when I go to the gym. Overdoing it with cardio will bring your gym gains to a dead halt. Just make up for it with eating. You should be fine. Thanks for the great questions! Cookies help us deliver our Services. My question is: to what extent does cardio kill your gains? If you do a bunch of anaerobic cardio then immediately jump into a strength building exercise, you'll likely see less output in the second exercise -- even if the cardio exercise wasn't directly working the muscles being worked in the strength exercise. The recent meta-analysis I linked to in my first post on this subject essentially said that you can absolutely get stronger while doing some aerobic training. The unfortunate part about the cardio-kill-gains myth is that including the right amount of low to moderate intensity cardio in your training program can help with building muscle. Some bodybuilders cling to this notion so tenaciously that they think climbing two flights of stairs can shrink a 270-pound man into a 120-pound weakling. Find the timestamps for each question in the pinned comment. Cardiovascular training can improve your recovery between sets and workouts, and won’t interfere with strength or muscle gains if you do it correctly. Oh look it's athlean-X. MikeTheBear - 2007-12-27 11:51 AM Cardio won't necessarily kill muscle gains but it will slow your gains down. 1; 2; Page 1 of 2. Increased recovery abilities 4. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. For example, long distance running affects muscle construction significantly, but a few 40-60 minutes cardio … Cardio Doesn't Kill Gains (and You Should Be Doing It) Tanner Baze. Reddit; Twitter; Cardio can be scary for any guy or gal looking to build serious muscle. All cardio burns calories. Shares. Since you're just walking I doubt it would negatively influence your workout that much but I would drop it to 10 mins. As long as you eat back the cals you're fine. Cardio does have the potential to kill your gains, especially if your training program looks like the one Hickson had his subjects doing back in the day. I play a sport to almost a top university level 3+ times a week for 2 hours each time and I just make up for it by giving myself a cheat meal with lots of calories on those days. It does if you don't account for it when calculating your calories. eat at a calorie surplus and you will gain. If you can't do that then work out in the morning and do cardio in the evening. One of the most common mistakes is doing cardio at the wrong time. So as long as I eat tons of calories (as i do), it should be fine? Cardiovascular exercise (or a conditioning workout) can be an excellent way to improve health, speed up fat loss, build muscle, and speed up recovery. No Cardio will not kill your gains. Moderate cardio like jogging, running on the treadmill will kill your gains. It also depends on the type of cardio. A minimum of three sessions per week (up to perhaps a maximum of 5) of reasonable duration (20-30 minutes minimum up to perhaps 40 minutes maximum) at a low to moderate intensity (70% of maximum heart rate or less) should achieve the benefits I talked about above without causing any of the problems that I also discussed. I run twice a week and have had no problem with gains. Cardio is good but if you do it up to a certain limit. For example if your TDEE was 2000 and you ate 2500 calories because you want to bulk, then you did cardio and burned 200-300 calories off. You’re trying a whole lot but it’s not working? However, the right amount of cardio and in the right order can increase your gains. However, there are three common gain-killing cardio mistakes that you need to avoid: Mistake #1: Doing Cardio At The Wrong Time . there are 5 major mistakes that will make it much harder for you to gain and even preserve muscle mass.. A lot of people say that cardio kills gains because it burns off excess calories and a lot of people say that cardio is also vital for your health. When does cardio kill muscle and strength gains? When you lift often, some cardio is helpful to keep your heart healthy and strong. The title of the video was more than likely intentionally misleading; the thesis being advanced here isn't so much that cardio kills gains, but that cardio-type exercises being done shortly before resistance-type exercises are likely to hinder progress by virtue of the cardio-type exercises diverting blood-flow to where we want the blood-flow to be during resistance. Sprint intervals will preserve muscle and may actually help you to put on muscle. But gaining mass requires a caloric surplus, and cardio does burn a lot of calories. - Cardio increases energy expenditure, which is good if your goal is weight loss - Cardio is good for staying fit from an endurance perspective - Cardio can be fun for some people (definitely not everyone!) He had another video with title something like 12x3 reps kills your gains, and the actual video was about doing slow negatives. Will Cardio Kill Your Muscle Gains? If no then your fine. SO SICK OF HEARING THIS BS!! Low intensity cardio should be prioritized over interval training for the most part. [2,3] Rowing, running, or biking are all great ways to add cardio to your workouts without inhibiting muscle growth. Are you the kind of person who works out hard at the gym, eats healthy, tracks their macros but still can’t seem to get the results you desire? It is actually beneficial to do cardio while in a gaining phase. Is cardio “good” or “bad”? January 9, 2014 . Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Are you tired after walking for 20 mins? http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/cardio-and-mass-gains.html/, "Summing Up So summing up, under most circumstances, I think keeping a reasonable amount of moderate intensity cardio in the training program, even when the goal is explicitly mass gaining can be beneficial for most trainees (the major exception being the extreme hardgainer types). You just fixed any loss that 100-200 cals worth of cardio would do to your gains. You’ll also reap the benefits that cardio has to offer, including: 1. For years now, we’ve been peddled the idea that “cardio kills your gains.” Meaning, too much running, swimming, and cycling will literally cause your muscle to waste away! Part 1 of my million subscribers Q&A. Decreased risk of diabetes Here’s the thing: Heavy lifting creates small tears in the muscles. "cardio kills gains" Fittit please help me asses the validity of this statement. I personally don't eat the extra cals so I can indulge more on the weekends when I'm sedentary (short female here). Cardio can kill gains in three situations: when it cancels out your caloric surplus. We've all seen the people who go to the gym, hop on the elliptical for 45 minutes, never change their routine, and never change their appearance. Share Tweet Flip. Most of those have not shown any evidence that moderate cardio kills weight training gains. So, does cardio “burn muscle” and “kill gains”? Endurance training shuts down muscle and strength gains completely only when it comes in enormous quantities. AthleanX posted a video yesterday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1qYhkL468o) that said cardio kills gains by diverting blood flow to muscles that aren't being used during your workout. It's mostly bullshit. So essentially an extra glass of milk would just solve it for him right? I run cross country every day plus I go to the gym every day - are they interfering with each other significantly? Enjoy! And some of these studies have shown that the benefits of resistance training can be enhanced with 2-3 days of cardio each week. Here's What Science Says. Is this going to hurt my progress (atm I'm struggling to meet my calorie goals). The u/CardioKillsYourGains community on Reddit. Coach. The only issue is that you're taking 20 minutes that you could put to more productive use. Don't overcomplicate stuff. Press J to jump to the feed. I'm not of those people. Does Cardio Kill Your Gains? I'm getting the feeling now that it might just be an excuse for some people not to do cardio. Cookies help us deliver our Services. The title implies one thing but the actual content says something else. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Most of this fear stems from a decades-old study that has since been mostly debunked. Performing “cardio” too frequently, too intensely, or for too long can certainly prevent you from gaining muscle from your strength training workouts. In fact, some of the mistakes that I’m about to go over can definitely lead to the catabolism or the breakdown of muscle mass ultimately slowing your progress.. Walking for 20mins definitely does not kill gains. Eat an extra 100-200 calories. I like to walk on the treadmill for 20 min at about 3mph prior to my workout to get in the zone and warm up. Tom Venuto. For the OP though, I don't think walking on the treadmill before your workout is the same thing as doing more intense anaerobic activity like in the vid, then jumping directly into strength work 10 seconds later. But is cardio really so bad? If you eat 300 mire calories then you're back to normal. JUST ANOTHER FITNESS MYTH!! So is that it, it's bad? Studies show how important the aerobic system is in improving anaerobic performance (6,8,9,10). If you are on a cut and are eating in a caloric deficit, then cardio can help keep your energy expenditure high, meaning your energy intake, or calories, can be higher as well. AthleanX posted a video yesterday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1qYhkL468o) that said cardio kills gains by diverting blood flow to muscles that aren't being used during your workout. 0. ", New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Like DiscoJew said, this is not true. As your goal is to lose fat while retaining or ideally building muscle. Fitness and weight-loss coach Dave Smith told the Huffington Post that because cardio is not the most effective fat-blasting workout, you'll have to keep doing more and more if you want to see weight loss. Strength Training. Provided it’s done on different days than your strength training, some cardio can help promote muscle growth. Try 5-10 minutes of cardio and then add in some extra volume to your workouts. I've read that you should never do cardio before working out and it's best to do cardio on non workout days. Cardio will only kill your gains if you don't eat to compensate for the increased expenditure. The cons, including hampered recovery and systematic overtraining only really become an issue when too much volume or too high of an intensity is performed. Yesterday, I just googled "Bret Contreras Cardio" and found a bunch of articles with and without Bret that say crazy cardio can ruin your gains, and it really isn't needed to lose fat (I'm also trying to lose a significant amount of weight while doing Gorgeous Glutes). CARDIO DOES NOT KILL GAINS!! The most important determining factor for the effect of cardio on gains is your daily caloric intake. It's true that muscle adaptations differ greatly in response to aerobic training versus resistance exercise. Optimal body composition 5. https://bit.ly/2uYUsfh Join the PictureFit Discord https://discord.gg/picturefit Cardio, yuck! Cycling is better at running for this purpose, and duration is a key factor. Mistake 5: Overdoing Cardio to Stay Lean. It probably burns somewhere between 100 and 200 calories. Also, if it is true, why? Reddit gives you the best of the internet in one place. For example if your TDEE was 2000 and you ate 2500 calories because you want to bulk, then you did cardio and burned 200-300 calories off. You see cardio might have an immediate interference effect limiting your gains, but it might also be a necessary evil for your gains as well. Pick your program here - http://athleanx.com/x/my-workoutsSubscribe to this channel here - http://bit.ly/2b0coMWDoes cardio training kill your gains? A lot of people these days like to say you don't need cardio at all, and that simply setting foot on a treadmill or trail is going to cost you gains and leave you skinny-fat. Make your warmups progressively challenging and specific to the workouts. Glad someone actually watched the video before responding. Peachtree City, Georgia, United States. This is an important question to answer because it’s putting the muscles in catabolic conditions from the outset. Potential pros include improved recovery, improved work capacity, better calorie partitioning, improved appetite (sometimes), perhaps staying leaner and an easier time shifting back into dieting when the mass gaining phase is over. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1qYhkL468o. Just compare the physique of a marathon runner and a sprinter. It does so in a number of ways. I've heard that phrase many times, but I've never been sure how true it is. Share Tweet. Different types are cardio targets different energy stores on the body whether that'd be muscle or fat. Naturally, what you should look to do is perform cardio after an exercise, or a good deal of time before resistance, and--provided you're looking to bulk--, substitute any lost calories. The same authors showed that strength and hypertrop… Lebert EQualizer Giveaway! I don't think walking for 20 minutes burns a significant amount of calories. A lot of people say that cardio kills gains because it burns off excess calories and a lot of people say that cardio is also vital for your health. Especially for someone that is trying to be a body builder but still loves to do mud runs and spartan races. Improved cardiovascular health 2. Sadly, most that choose cardio as their method for staying healthy or getting fit consistently surpass this point. Your surplus is now 200 so your gains are affected. I'm sorry but how is athlean-x talking out of his ass? The answer: only if you do it the wrong way. After all, the idea that cardio kills gains has been circulating the weight room for years. If you eat 300 mire calories then you're back to … Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, (lb)150-231-240 (kg)70-99-105-110 (6'3:191cm). Hours and hours of cardio burn muscle and can kill your gains. Athlean-X pits these clickbait titles all the times. Many lifters are terrified of cardio. AthleanX posted a video yesterday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1qYhkL468o) that said cardio kills gains by diverting blood flow to muscles that aren't being used during your workout. I’m going to share with you 3 surprising things that are killing your gains. Cardio or cardiovascular exercise gets a bad wrap when it comes to building muscle and performance. However, there is a downside to doing cardio because it is supposed to counteract strength and muscle gains. Light cardio is just fine. That guys talks out of his ass so much it's hilarious. The other issue is that chronically doing too much cardio can lead to actually losing muscle. I think the vid made sense. Just don't be running marathons if you want to be putting on mass . Significantly, the thesis is not "Cardio is bad", or "Cardio in all forms hinders gains", or "You oughtn't perform Cardio". Like everything else it comes down to your diet, New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, Discussion of physical fitness/exercise goals and how they can be achieved, Press J to jump to the feed. No. Not enough to hinder gains anyway. So, is it bad to do cardio if you’re trying to build muscle? Improved respiratory health 3. I've also read of some science that seems to indicate that doing cardio after lifting can help the body better synthesize new muscle fibers. The oxygen requirement during exercise is a determining factor in … However, the question remains: If you have to do aerobic work and then train directly after, can you still get jacked? Your surplus is now 200 so your gains are affected. So keep training as you are trying to building muscle. In fact doing some cardio (preferably Conditioning since it has more carryover) will actually help. 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