Where does one draw the line? How do you determine just how much cardio is too much when one is looking specifically for lean muscle tissue gains (no adipose)? If someone is doing 45 min. of cardio 6x/week, aren’t they limiting muscle gains? This is an individual thing but I think there are several factors that are involved here.
A few of my thoughts:
Additional calories would be needed.
Strength while weight training may be impaired thus slowing progress/gains.
Recovery times could potentially take longer.
Anyone have any input here? What other factors would be involved?
Good and difficult question. I’ve recently been struggling with this, because I love running. I did four marathons before I really got into weight training (I lifted while training for the last two, but not for size gains). Now I try to run four or five miles six days a week (my dog would be very angry with me at this point if we didn’t have our daily run). I’ve recently been trying to bulk, and I have found it difficult, but not impossible, to put on muscle. I do eat a ton (using Massive Eating guidelines and calculations) and I’m using ABBH for my lifting. I will say that I’ve seen more upper body than lower body gains. Also, the last two weeks, I’ve had to miss several days of running due to a strained/pulled oblique muscle (doesn’t hurt when I lift), and I seem to have put on weight more easily.
As far as recovery, I was running seven miles a day prior to my bulk, so the reduction in miles may have made my recovery times easier.
I think the other factor, though, is muscle fiber recruitment. To do endurance sports, you need to recruit more slow-twitch muscle fibers, which I think has to interfere with size gains from lifting, which uses more fast-twitch muscle fibers.
I may be completely off-base in that assessment, but for now, I guess I’m experimenting through trial and error with the balance of my love of running and my desire for more muscle.
Cardio speeds up recovery times. It doesn’t slow them because it gets blood and nutrients flowing to the muscles.
How much is too much? I think thats really an individual thing. How much do you want to avoid fat gain? If you’re main goal is muscle, i’d stick to one session per week. Many people can get away with more though without sacrificing muscle gains. I know Waterbury does cardio every second day.
So make up your mind, what are you goals? Then adjust your cardio accordingly if you’re someone that builds muscle better without.