Cardio For Weight Loss Vs Muscle Building
When it comes to cardio there always seems to be a lot of confusion around it.
How much should I do?
Is HIIT or steady state better?
Should I be doing the stairs, sprints, or running?
Maybe you’ve heard things like
“Fasted cardio will eat into your muscles”
“Low-intensity cardio will make you look like a marathon runner”
“Cardio after lifting will KILL your gains”
So let’s start diving into things
(Man I hate running, so you’ll never see me choosing that option lol )
But on that subject, while running is a great form of exercise it’s certainly not something you HAVE to do.
Honestly, I try to have people pick something else since running is a hard skill to master just like lifting.
I often hear about people complaining about their knees, hips, ankles and backs from running but they don’t understand why.
Basically if your form and gait aren’t perfect, your joints are going to take a pounding.
So again if you want to run that’s great but there are so many other options to choose from.
So who is cardio for?
Isn’t cardio for people who just want to lose weight?
Well why it might seem like the only people who should be doing cardio are people who are trying to lose weight that’s actually not true. Everyone should be doing some form of cardio or conditioning work but it just depends on how much based off your goals.
Cardio/ conditioning work has so many benefits but the main one being that it’s going to keep your heart healthy.
Cardio isn’t going to rob you of your gains, a lot of that is bro science. The key is to figure out how to do the least amount of volume possible while still improving performance.
Most people hate the word cardio and that’s half the reason most people avoid it like the plague. So instead we’re going to refer to cardio as Zone 2.
What is Zone 2?
Zone 2 is when we can achieve a heart rate of 65-70% of our max heart rate.
(220 – your age = max heart rate) (max heart rate x .65-.7= desired target range)
It’s going to be steady state cardio, so think lower intensity and slow
I know this might seem backwards as you’re probably thinking we need to be going all out when doing cardio because you’re trying to push hard and burn the most calories. But in fact going at 100% on cardio could actually be impeding recovery and performance.
By keeping intensity low there’s less of a chance it’ll have a negative effect on performance. You want Zone 2 work to be easy so that it enhances or improves your performance in the weight room.
Zone 2 work helps improve overall heart efficiency and cardiac output.
“When working in the 65-70% zone, you’re allowing for maximal amounts of blood to saturate the left ventricle of your heart”.
So what does this all mean?
With more blood being pumped with each heartbeat, the heart doesn’t have to work so hard. Stroke volume increases and resting heart rate decreases.
Another benefit of working in Zone 2 is that it improves adaptations to general work capacity. This means you’ll have the ability to produce more work over time and help offset fatigue.
I personally notice a difference in my own performance when I incorporate Zone 2 work into my training. I have a higher quality of performance, higher density of work and faster recovery rate.
Stronger heart = better endurance = better blood flow = more efficient muscles = better utilization of fat and glucose for fuel.
(If you made it this far, here’s the secret sauce)
Now for the answers you’ve been waiting for!!!
If you’re building muscle, you don’t need to overcomplicate things.
Go for an easy 20-40min, 2-3x a week, is more than enough. This way you don’t sacrifice performance or muscle growth.
Keep in mind you can do anything you want for cardio, it can be the stairs, rower, a jog, elliptical, what ever you want.
The purpose of doing cardio when trying to get bigger and stronger is to help keep you lean, improve insulin sensitivity, and allow you to eat more calories.
You just want to be careful with Medium – high intensity cardio as it can elevate cortisol levels leading to loss in size and strength. Could also lead to potential injuries if it starts to affect your recovery.
Cardio for weight loss
But if you’re looking to drop some weight you can do cardio upwards to 5x a week.
It certainly doesn’t have to just be Zone 2, you can add 1 or 2 bouts of HIIT but I wouldn’t do anymore than that as true HIIT can be very demanding on the body.
If you’re doing this right you don’t need much for HIIT.
Doing 4-8 bouts of (30,45,60 sec) hard is all you should need with a 2-3min recovery time.
Examples could be things like hill sprints, sled pushing sprints, assault bike, bike sprints, rowing, ect.
You don’t have to just stick to one thing either if you didn’t want to.
For example you could do the rower for 30sec and then go right into sled pushing for 30sec, then taking a 2-3min rest and repeating it for the desired amount of rounds.
Things to avoid
Fasted interval training and moderate intensity. Taking a nice long walk with an empty stomach first thing in the morning is fine but doing intense intervals fasted or moderate intensity is not. The reason why is you don’t want to promote even more cortisol release because it will work against you for fat mobilization.
You’re also putting your muscle at risk.
Intense post lifting cardio- If you plan to do some hard intense cardio that’s a great thing to do for losing fat, slowing down again and decreasing the risk of metabolic disorders but doing it right after your lift may actually hurt your muscle growth. So doing a 20—30min low intensity bout is fine doing something like HIIT is going to be better on an off day or away from your workout.
If you’re someone who wants to build more muscle you should avoid
-fasted intervals
-fasted moderate cardio
-long or high intensity intervals
-intense post lifting cardio
If you want to build more muscle
-walking or slow Zone 2 cardio
-Sprints with long rests
The most important thing is to choose something you enjoy and won’t absolutely hate where it’s sucking out your soul to do it.