Does Cardio Kill Features & Destroy Muscle Progress? Legion

At one level or one other, most gymgoers surprise: Does cardio kill positive aspects?

Right here’s the way it normally goes: You’re coaching arduous, consuming nicely, and getting sufficient sleep to realize muscle. However to remain match, you’re feeling you also needs to do some cardio, even when it’s only for an hour or two every week.

The fear is that whereas cardio is nice to your well being, it may also diminish your muscle and energy positive aspects.

However is that actually true?

Does cardio make you lose muscle mass?

Or have the “muscle-burning results” of cardio been exaggerated by on-line health “gurus?”

On this article, you’ll be taught the reply. You’ll additionally uncover the errors folks make that may improve your odds of cardio burning muscle, how you can mix cardio and weightlifting appropriately, and extra. 

Does Cardio “Destroy” Features?

When folks ask, “Does cardio lose muscle mass?”, what they actually imply is “Does cardio break down the contractile proteins that make up your muscle tissue?”

And the reply is it may well should you do virtually the whole lot flawed along with your food plan and coaching.

In different phrases, cardio gained’t hamper your positive aspects should you eat and practice correctly. In actual fact, it should possible enhance your well being and health in quite a few methods. 

Let’s focus on the six commonest errors folks make that improve the chances cardio burns muscle.

Mistake #1: Doing cardio as an alternative of lifting weights.

Though many individuals blame cardio train for burning muscle, a scarcity of weightlifting is extra typically the issue.

Health influencers typically make deceptive comparisons between marathon runners, who’re usually very lean, and sprinters, who’re normally muscular. They counsel that doing plenty of slow-paced, steady-state cardio will make you skinny, whereas specializing in weightlifting with out a lot cardio will make you appear like a bodybuilder. 

This line of reasoning is the way you get photos like these: 

After all, this argument ignores a number of info: 

1. Many endurance athletes don’t carry weight, or in the event that they do, they practice with gentle weights and sometimes.
2. High-level endurance athletes practice far more intensely than the common particular person making an attempt to remain match. For instance, champion marathoners run as much as 160 miles per week—over 20 miles day by day!
3. These athletes typically have an unhealthy obsession with preserving their weight as little as attainable to enhance efficiency, which might embody considerably limiting their calorie consumption.
4. Sprinters typically practice with heavy weights and will use steroids to enhance their efficiency, which isn’t frequent for endurance athletes.

Principally, the one factor these comparability photos show is that operating marathons, severely proscribing your calorie consumption, and never lifting weights is a recipe for staying small. 

However what if an endurance athlete begins consuming extra and lifting weights?

After retiring from elite-level marathoning, Ryan Corridor did simply that. Right here’s how his physique modified:

The lesson? 

Doing plenty of cardio on the expense of correct weightlifting can burn muscle, however that is a straightforward mistake to keep away from, supplied you carry weights and eat sufficient energy and protein.

Mistake #2: Doing cardio as a part of a crash food plan.

Many individuals who do plenty of cardio additionally observe a crash food plan to shed pounds as quick as attainable. 

And this works extraordinarily nicely. 

The issue is, this additionally results in vital muscle loss, which implies these folks wind up trying skinny fats.

And when this occurs, they blame cardio.

The reality is, any type of excessive calorie restriction—whether or not from consuming much less, doing plenty of cardio, or each—results in muscle loss, particularly should you’re not lifting weights.

However the reckless calorie restriction is at fault—not cardio

Mistake #3: Working an excessive amount of.

Does operating burn muscle? 

Kind of. 

Working causes extra muscle harm than different types of cardio, like biking, rowing, and rucking, which interferes with muscle achieve in two methods: 

1. It considerably will increase muscle protein breakdown throughout and after runs, making it more durable to your physique to construct new muscle proteins.
2. It causes disproportionately extra fatigue than other forms of train, which might intrude along with your energy coaching exercises. 

Nonetheless, this doesn’t imply operating will at all times hinder your muscle-building efforts.

To keep away from any points, merely restrict your operating to not more than 2-to-3 hours of operating per week, and ensure you do your operating and lower-body weightlifting on separate days. 

Mistake #4: Doing an excessive amount of whole cardio.

Your physique has a restricted capability to recuperate from coaching, and should you’re already lifting weights 3-to-5 occasions weekly, piling on a number of hours of cardio could be an excessive amount of.

Once more, nonetheless, the difficulty isn’t cardio itself however how a lot you do.

Analysis exhibits that as long as you’re following a correct food plan and energy coaching program, you may achieve muscle simply as successfully doing a number of hours of cardio per week as you may when solely lifting weights.

To make sure you don’t do an excessive amount of cardio, listed here are some pointers that work for most individuals:

• Restrict the time you spend doing cardio to not more than half the time you spend weightlifting. As an example, should you carry weights for 4 hours per week, don’t do greater than 2 hours of cardio.
• Hold most of your cardio exercises to 45 minutes or much less.
• Don’t do multiple HIIT cardio exercise per week.

Mistake #5: Doing an excessive amount of cardio at one time.

The overall quantity of cardio you do every week isn’t the one issue that may impression muscle development; the size of every cardio session issues, too.

Analysis means that to keep away from the detrimental results of cardio on muscle development, it’s finest to maintain most of your cardio exercises shorter than an hour. Going past an hour doesn’t imply you’ll routinely begin shedding muscle, nevertheless it does improve the possibility of negatively affecting muscle development.

Additional help for this comes from research of pure bodybuilders, who typically do a number of 30-to-40-minute cardio exercises per week with out shedding vital muscle.

Thus, as long as you retain most of your cardio exercises below an hour, you don’t want to fret about burning muscle. 

Mistake #6: Doing exhausting cardio instantly earlier than, throughout, or after lifting weights.

A typical mistake when combining weightlifting and cardio is to do each in the identical exercise.

Some folks run for half-hour earlier than or after lifting weights, or combine in cardio with weightlifting, like in CrossFit or circuit coaching. 

Nonetheless, these approaches will not be preferrred for maximizing muscle development.

Doing cardio instantly and even a number of hours earlier than lifting weights makes it tough to carry out at your finest within the fitness center, which normally ends in much less muscle development over time. 

Doing cardio instantly after lifting weights is much less detrimental, however may also intrude with muscle development by dampening among the “muscle-building” indicators from energy coaching. 

Thus, it’s usually higher to keep away from cardio instantly after lifting weights to permit your physique to totally profit from the energy coaching.

That stated, if the one time you are able to do cardio is correct after lifting, don’t sweat it. So long as your post-lifting cardio exercises are pretty quick and low-intensity, they shouldn’t get in the best way of muscle constructing. 

It’s additionally value noting that not all types of cardio have the identical impression. Strolling 10-to-20 minutes to the fitness center gained’t damage your positive aspects. Doing an intense 30-minute HIIT exercise after which clomping from the treadmill to the squat rack will.

The Proper Method to Mix Cardio and Power Coaching

So, does cardio burn muscle? 

No. 

In case you do cardio incorrectly, it may well sluggish your fee of muscle development, nevertheless it gained’t make you lose muscle should you sidestep the most typical blunders.

Right here’s how to try this:

1. Prioritize low-impact types of cardio like biking, rowing, and rucking.
2. Restrict the amount and length of your cardio exercises to not more than 30-to-45 minutes per cardio exercise and two-to-three hours of whole cardio per week.
3. Do cardio and weightlifting on separate days. If that isn’t attainable, carry weights first and attempt to separate the 2 exercises by at the least 6 hours.

[Read More: Concurrent Training: The Right Way to Combine Cardio and Strength Training]

Does Cardio Kill Features?: FAQs

FAQ #1: Does fasted cardio burn muscle?

“Fasted cardio” is cardio performed after your physique has absolutely digested your final meal (normally 5-to-6 hours after consuming). 

Whereas fasted cardio will increase fats burning throughout your exercise, it causes two issues: 

1. You burn much less fats throughout the remainder of the day, which implies you lose the identical quantity of whole physique fats over a 24-hour interval as you do after fed cardio.
2. Your threat of muscle loss rises.

The principle motive fasted cardio could cause muscle loss is that it shortly depletes muscle glycogen ranges, prompting your physique to interrupt down protein (muscle) for vitality. 

Nonetheless, you usually must do a good quantity of cardio—at the least 60 minutes or extra—to deplete glycogen ranges. So, the danger of muscle loss from a brief, ~30-minute fasted cardio session is low.

To be taught extra concerning the execs and cons of fasted cardio, try this text: 

What Is Fasted Cardio and Can It Assist You Lose Weight?

FAQ #2: Does high-intensity cardio burn muscle? 

No, high-intensity cardio doesn’t burn muscle any greater than conventional cardio does, so long as you keep away from the errors above.

Whereas some folks declare that high-intensity cardio is much less prone to burn muscle, the proof for that is inconsistent.

There’s motive to consider high-intensity cardio is barely extra prone to intrude with muscle development than low-intensity cardio. It is because it typically results in extra muscle harm and fatigue, which might negatively impression your energy coaching and muscle positive aspects over time.

Thus, you would possibly wish to lean in direction of low-intensity cardio more often than not should you’re specializing in constructing muscle.

FAQ #3: How can I do cardio with out shedding muscle?

The easiest way to mix cardio and weightlifting with out shedding muscle is to observe these pointers:

• Restrict the time you spend doing cardio to not more than half the time you spend weightlifting. As an example, should you carry weights for 4 hours per week, don’t do greater than 2 hours of cardio.
• Hold most of your cardio exercises to 30-to-45 minutes.
• Don’t do multiple HIIT cardio exercise per week.