Should You Do Cardio While Bulking? | Hardgainer Edition
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Description
Should you do cardio while bulking – Are you confused as to whether or not you should do cardio while bulking? In this video I go over the pros and cons to performing cardio while bulking as well as some guidelines you can follow.
3 Reasons Why You Should Do Cardio While Bulking (for non-skinny guys)
For most people, cardio can be a good thing when you are bulking up and gaining muscle, but why? What does aerobic exercise do to get us to the end goal? The following are some real scientific reasons why you should do cardio while bulking or building muscle.
1. It Conditions Your Metabolism
Cardiovascular exercise like running, jump roping, and the elliptical prepare your body to be able to handle strenuous activity levels for longer periods of time. If when in the gym you are doing nothing but adding more and more weight when you lift, you probably won’t be able to do too many repetitions before you get tired. You also aren’t conditioning your body to be able to handle more work. While it’s true to some degree that more weight and fewer reps equate to more bulk, you aren’t going to accomplish anything if you don’t have at least a little endurance to get through a workout.
2. Cardio When Bulking Can Improve Recovery
Our bodies need to rest and repair themselves properly after one workout to be prepared for the next one. If you don’t properly recover from one lifting session to the next, you are setting yourself up for burnout or injury far before reaching your muscle gain goals. Cardio when bulking can serve as active recovery in which you are resting from your normal activity, but still moving. Cardio when bulking, like jogging, increases blood flow, getting nutrients to where they need to go (your muscles) more quickly.
3. Cardio When Bulking Improves Heart Health
Regardless of your fitness goals, cardio when building muscle is good for your heart. “Cardio” means heart. Your heart is a muscle, and the more you condition it, the higher it performs and the better shape it’s in. When your heart undergoes repetitious strenuous activity through cardio exercise, it is learning to do less work under the same pressure. That’s why people who are in better shape have lower resting heart rates—their hearts don’t have to work as hard to do the same amount of work. Having a conditioned heart can not only benefit your workouts but your overall health, making you less prone to heart disease and other cardiac problems.
How To Include Cardio While Bulking
While cardio when bulking can be helpful, don’t overdo it. If you start to train for performance and are adding duration or speed, it will lead to fat loss and take away from bulking up. It can also take away from the benefits of your weightlifting if you are doing both workouts in the same day. To sensibly add cardio, add a few ½ hour sessions of easy aerobic activity each week. Jog, swim or jump rope moderately. After doing cardio consistently in conjunction with your weightlifting routine for a few weeks, you should see that you are able to better handle more weight, and more reps, and are ultimately building more muscle.
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