Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?
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Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?Hi
I joined the gym about a month and a half ago and have been playing around with different routines to figure out what I like best.
Originally I was doing 20 minutes on the running machine (which was about 3.2k) followed by weight machines. I then decided I wanted to run for longer, so I then ran 5k followed by weights. But I found that too much and couldn't fit in everything I wanted to do.
So my current routine which I like is having a cardio day and a weights day. On the cardio day I do a 5 minute warm up followed by running 5k (in about 30 mins), followed by a 5 minute warm down. Then on the weights day I do a 5 minute cardio warm up followed by weights. I'm only on day 3 of this but I much prefer it to combining the both, I plan to have one rest day a week.
My aim is to gain more muscle, I don't feel that I need to lose any fat. I'm 5ft 10 and 127 lbs so my bmi actually says I'm underweight.
So my question is, I'm not sure whether I need to do that much cardio, would it be better to do one day cardio, 2 days weights?
On my weights day I ended up spending 2 hours there which I feel is too long so I'll have to split this up either way.
Thanks
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?The problem with cardio is that you burn calories whilst doing it. When trying to gain weight and build muscle you need to take in more calories than you burn. So if you do cardio and not eating extra food to make up for the calories you burnt whilst doing cardio it can make it even harder for you to gain weight and build muscle. You may find it easier to not do any cardio at all
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?>cardio
>to gain muscle
Does not compute.
Cardio's great for cardiovascular fitness and health, I wouldn't neglect it, and if you enjoy it, don't stop, but it burns calories and does not aid in muscle growth; some would go as far as to argue it hinders muscle growth, due to increase of stress hormones and that it burns calories. It's neither here nor there though. You can always make up for the calories burnt by eating more, but seeing as you're 5'10 and 127lbs, I'm going to guess appetite isn't your strong point.
The important thing is though, you're only 127lbs; if you want to gain any significant amount of muscle, I would recommend getting on a decent beginners FREE-WEIGHTS routine and eating a lot (think 500kcal net surplus, so maybe around 3000-3500kcal total per day for you). Weights machines are naff and neglect your most important muscle - your brain! (cerebellum specifically), cos you don't have to balance the weight or coordinate your movements. Freeweight compound movements also recruit more muscle fibres.
Nothing wrong with 2 hour sessions, but that sounds fairly knackering - work to your limits but not beyond - stimulate, don't obliterate. 5 mins cardio warmup before a decent full-body weights routine sounds fine. Some people combine cardio and resistance, but personally I believe if you're doing either intensely enough, you shouldn't have the energy to do both.
You should read the stickies, they're informative. Best of luck
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?Haha that's a good point.(Original post by HFerguson)
>cardio
>to gain muscle
Does not compute.
Cardio's great for cardiovascular fitness and health, I wouldn't neglect it, and if you enjoy it, don't stop, but it burns calories and does not aid in muscle growth; some would go as far as to argue it hinders muscle growth, due to increase of stress hormones and that it burns calories. It's neither here nor there though. You can always make up for the calories burnt by eating more, but seeing as you're 5'10 and 127lbs, I'm going to guess appetite isn't your strong point.
The important thing is though, you're only 127lbs; if you want to gain any significant amount of muscle, I would recommend getting on a decent beginners FREE-WEIGHTS routine and eating a lot (think 500kcal net surplus, so maybe around 3000-3500kcal total per day for you). Weights machines are naff and neglect your most important muscle - your brain! (cerebellum specifically), cos you don't have to balance the weight or coordinate your movements. Freeweight compound movements also recruit more muscle fibres.
Nothing wrong with 2 hour sessions, but that sounds fairly knackering - work to your limits but not beyond - stimulate, don't obliterate. 5 mins cardio warmup before a decent full-body weights routine sounds fine. Some people combine cardio and resistance, but personally I believe if you're doing either intensely enough, you shouldn't have the energy to do both.
You should read the stickies, they're informative. Best of luck
Right now I plan on doing cardio one day, then weights for 2. See how that goes for a few weeks
The free weights section of the gym scares me tbh
But I'm going to slowly venture there to try things out.
Thanks for the advice
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?As mentioned above doing cardio is good especially if you so sport but if your body fat percentage is quite low then you risk not gaining muscle or even losing muscle. Your focus should be on bulking up atm.
how is your weights workout 2 hours? You should divide it into day 1-chest,shoulders, triceps day 2-cardio day 3-back and biceps day 4-rest day 5 legs and abs day 6 cardio day 7- rest
Also since you have been going to the gym for over a month now you should start moving from machines to barbell and dumbell exercises for the reasons mentioned by Ian80..for example instead of doing the machine chest press do a bench press for your chest. Bench presses, squats and deadlifts are very effective exercises for gaining muscle. Don't be intimated if the other guys are bigger than you. Everyone started somewhere. -
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?Bloody hell are you for real. You chat so much crap aye.(Original post by TheCurlyHairedDude)
You can gain muscle and do cardio at the same time, it's very hard though.
And you can build muscle doing Cardio, not sure what these dudes are on about lmao -
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?Goes on treadmill(Original post by TheCurlyHairedDude)
You can gain muscle and do cardio at the same time, it's very hard though.
And you can build muscle doing Cardio, not sure what these dudes are on about lmao
???????
Builds muscle
Nah mate -
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?(Original post by McG1)
going on a treadmill may gain very slight muscle in the legs but im pretty sure this guy wants to build serious muscle all over especially in the chest and arms
(Original post by Ian80)
My aim is to gain more muscle, I don't feel that I need to lose any fat. I'm 5ft 10 and 127 lbs so my bmi actually says I'm underweight.
you both need to start eating a lot more than you currently do. -
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?So you think absolutely no cardio at all? Believe me I would love that because I hate running that 5k but I feel like I should be doing some cardio.(Original post by Jonnyy)
Pretty much been said already but
-Disregard cardio completely
-Eat more (gain half a pound a week)
-Free weights >
-Take a multi
-Lift heavy
Well that 2 hours was more of a tester I guess, where I basically tried everything(Original post by McG1)
As mentioned above doing cardio is good especially if you so sport but if your body fat percentage is quite low then you risk not gaining muscle or even losing muscle. Your focus should be on bulking up atm.
how is your weights workout 2 hours? You should divide it into day 1-chest,shoulders, triceps day 2-cardio day 3-back and biceps day 4-rest day 5 legs and abs day 6 cardio day 7- rest
Also since you have been going to the gym for over a month now you should start moving from machines to barbell and dumbell exercises for the reasons mentioned by Ian80..for example instead of doing the machine chest press do a bench press for your chest. Bench presses, squats and deadlifts are very effective exercises for gaining muscle. Don't be intimated if the other guys are bigger than you. Everyone started somewhere.
How long should a weights workout be then roughly? I think maybe I am targeting too much, I did legs, shoulders, abs and back today. And I did a little biceps and triceps in the free weights bit.
Yeah, it was more that I didn't really know what I was doing so I would rather figure it out when there's less people around to see me look like an idiot lol.
I feel like I eat enough though. I eat when I'm hungry. I don't really like eating for the sake of it. And as I said, I don't think I'm overly skinny.(Original post by ceris)
you both need to start eating a lot more than you currently do. -
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?(Original post by Ian80)
I feel like I eat enough though. I don't think I'm overly skinny.
You don't, and you are(Original post by Ian80)
I'm 5ft 10 and 127 lbs
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?(Original post by Ian80)
I feel like I eat enough though. I eat when I'm hungry. I don't really like eating for the sake of it. And as I said, I don't think I'm overly skinny.
Look when I started out I was so hungry (in the metaphoric sense) to improve my physique I was forcing myself to eat to make sure I was getting the calories and nutrients I needed. Same applies for everyone who wanted to transform the way they looked and succeeded. They didn't sit around making excuses like "I don't like eating for the sake of it" and "my diet is fine, I eat enough", they took the advice that was given to them and acted upon it.
At 5'10 127lbs you are underweight, never mind skinny. Now if you are happy with that then good for you, but don't come here asking for advice on how to "build muscle" and then shunning everyone's suggestions to eat more.
Here's an article that might interest you: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...till_beginners
I doubt you are shooting for a bodybuilder/fitness model kind of physique but the principle still stands.Last edited by ceris; 02-08-2012 at 23:31. -
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?Well that's fine and dandy, but judging from your bodyweight, you are going to build an EXTREMELY minimal amount of muscle with your current food intake.(Original post by Ian80)
I feel like I eat enough though. I eat when I'm hungry. I don't really like eating for the sake of it. And as I said, I don't think I'm overly skinny.
Building muscle is 80% diet.
I'd estimate you need to be eating about 1000 more calories a day than you currently are. Personally, if i were you, i'd be aiming for ~3500 calories a day, with a solid beginners routine (Which involves minimal use of machines )
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?Pretty hard to get an accurate reading of BF%.(Original post by Ian80)
I did my body fat percentage which was about 12% which isn't too bad?
We are the same hight but I weight like 17kg more, and I'm not fat at all. -
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Re: Do you need much cardio to gain muscle?Thanks for the advice and the article which I'm slowly making my way through(Original post by ceris)
Look when I started out I was so hungry (in the metaphoric sense) to improve my physique I was forcing myself to eat to make sure I was getting the calories and nutrients I needed. Same applies for everyone who wanted to transform the way they looked and succeeded. They didn't sit around making excuses like "I don't like eating for the sake of it" and "my diet is fine, I eat enough", they took the advice that was given to them and acted upon it.
At 5'10 127lbs you are underweight, never mind skinny. Now if you are happy with that then good for you, but don't come here asking for advice on how to "build muscle" and then shunning everyone's suggestions to eat more.
Here's an article that might interest you: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...till_beginners
I doubt you are shooting for a bodybuilder/fitness model kind of physique but the principle still stands.
I think I need a better routine for the gym, and I will look into eating more
I think I'll start by trying to work out how much calories I am eating every day, because atm I literally do not have a clue but with missing out breakfast (I know, I know, bad) I can't imagine it's anywhere close to that(Original post by jmlkey)
Well that's fine and dandy, but judging from your bodyweight, you are going to build an EXTREMELY minimal amount of muscle with your current food intake.
Building muscle is 80% diet.
I'd estimate you need to be eating about 1000 more calories a day than you currently are. Personally, if i were you, i'd be aiming for ~3500 calories a day, with a solid beginners routine (Which involves minimal use of machines )
Yeah I know, I tried 2 methods of doing the BF% and got different values so doesn't appear to be hugely accurate(Original post by Danny.)
Pretty hard to get an accurate reading of BF%.
We are the same hight but I weight like 17kg more, and I'm not fat at all.
