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Gym

Hi,
I’ve recently started the gym and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been told that it’s good to have rest days and stuff. I’m trying to build muscle but I’m also doing cardio as that can be a form of building muscle, right? Anyway my question is can I do cardio every single day but not weightlifting if I want to build up muscle. By cardio I mean rowing machines, bike machines treadmill etc
Reply 1
I’m sure you can depending on your health. Just remember to take rests and drink plenty of water. Just maybe don’t work over 2 hours. Even that is a bit much for a beginner.
Reply 2
You should decide if your main goal is to build muscle or have great cardio endurance. Cardio might build a little bit of muscle in a completely untrained individual (everything builds muscle for a newbie) but once you have some training history behind you, too much cardio is counterproductive. Muscle is energetically costly for your body to maintain. If you're cycling for over an hour every day your body won't build large muscles as that's a waste of energy. Look at professional cyclists. They're usually small and skinny. Same as long distance runners. You should always do some cardio and rest days are good time to do it as it helps blood flow and recovery. Just don't overdo it. 30 minutes a couple of times a week is enough if your goal is to build muscle.
Reply 3
Original post by Kyri
You should decide if your main goal is to build muscle or have great cardio endurance. Cardio might build a little bit of muscle in a completely untrained individual (everything builds muscle for a newbie) but once you have some training history behind you, too much cardio is counterproductive. Muscle is energetically costly for your body to maintain. If you're cycling for over an hour every day your body won't build large muscles as that's a waste of energy. Look at professional cyclists. They're usually small and skinny. Same as long distance runners. You should always do some cardio and rest days are good time to do it as it helps blood flow and recovery. Just don't overdo it. 30 minutes a couple of times a week is enough if your goal is to build muscle.


What for cardio? I was trying 45 mins cardio and 45 mins weights and stuff is that bad
Reply 4
Original post by mattlcfc
What for cardio? I was trying 45 mins cardio and 45 mins weights and stuff is that bad


Yes, I meant for cardio. If you're doing 45 minutes weights and 45 minutes cardio every day, you can still build muscle (as long as you eat enough to offset all that cardio) but it won't be optimal compared to traditional weight lifting.

If you really enjoy cardio style workouts but like the endurance aspect of cardio, you could try circuit training. Pick 3 or 4 exercises which work different muscle groups and go through them with minimal rest in between. You'll build muscle (as long as you eat enough) because your muscles will feel way more tension than a treadmill could give, and your heart will get conditioning due to lack of rest. Or just lift the traditional way and keep cardio to 30 minutes a couple of times a week.
Original post by mattlcfc
Hi,
I’ve recently started the gym and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been told that it’s good to have rest days and stuff. I’m trying to build muscle but I’m also doing cardio as that can be a form of building muscle, right? Anyway my question is can I do cardio every single day but not weightlifting if I want to build up muscle. By cardio I mean rowing machines, bike machines treadmill etc


Want to build muscle?
Lift heavy and eat a-lot.

If you're <20 then I wouldn't worry about Macros per say, but I'd just focus on eating a balanced diet in a slight surplus amount.
You can do Cardio everyday, but that won't build muscle. It will probably make you more toned by losing fat and muscle.
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Reply 7
How long would you suggest for weight lifting and should I scrap cardio? Stuff like the rowing machine feels like it is testing my arms tho
Reply 8
And surely stuff like cycling machines build up muscle?
Reply 9
Original post by Bulletzone
Want to build muscle?
Lift heavy and eat a-lot.

If you're <20 then I wouldn't worry about Macros per say, but I'd just focus on eating a balanced diet in a slight surplus amount.
You can do Cardio everyday, but that won't build muscle. It will probably make you more toned by losing fat and muscle.


Wouldn’t stuff like cycling machines and rowing machines build muscle
Reply 10
How often would you say going
Original post by mattlcfc
Wouldn’t stuff like cycling machines and rowing machines build muscle


Yes, it will. The issue you'd have is that because of the nature of the workout, you're working a lot of muscles a little bit, as opposed to one muscle enough for it to grow noticeably larger. This, combined with using an enormous amount of energy, means that if you only do cardio, you will lose weight.

The long and short of it is - do both; more weight training if you want to get buff, more cardio if you want to lose weight.
Reply 12
Thanks for all your help guys

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