Cardio Tips Mistakes that make Cardio burn muscle
No two differ on the benefits of cardio for general health it strengthens the immune system and improves heart health, also helps in burning more calories improving metabolism in the body, and stimulating it to use the stored fat.
Contrary to what most trainees think, cardio can be beneficial for building muscles if done right. But the question arises whether cardio burn muscle or not?
The answer is not black or white, but rather a large gray part that we invite you to familiarize with in this article.
Is cardio burn muscle ?
A statistical study in 2012 showed that incorrectly combining cardio and iron exercises reduces muscle growth by approximately 31% and weakens strength by 18%.
With such data, it may seem logical to stop performing the cardio to maximize muscle growth, but it is not so simple to come up with such a conclusion.
It cannot be said that cardio burns or builds muscles without going into details. But what can be said with confidence is that there are some behaviors that can make cardio burn muscle instead of fat.
The first mistake:
Cardio performed at the wrong time
The timing of your cardio performance is what separates you from getting good or bad muscle building results.
Some trainees tend to start with the difficult task , and in our case start with cardio and then resistance exercises (iron exercises), this mentality may be feasible, but when it comes to bodybuilding and fitness it is completely wrong.
The main goal of weightlifting is to build muscle, and therefore you must invest your maximum energy in performing resistance exercises and what remains can be invested in the cardio, not the other way around, otherwise you will lose your ability to perform iron exercises properly and thus obtain few muscle gains and limited strength and make the cardio a weapon against you instead of Make it serve you
In a study conducted in 2016 I showed that the trainees who practiced 20 minutes of cardio exercises before the resistance exercises decreased their training performance significantly. The results of the study showed that the athletic performance of cardio practitioners before iron exercises was 9.1-18.6% less than those who did not exercise cardio before iron.
If you do cardio exercises just before the iron exercises, your strength will likely suffer as a result, and you will not make much progress in lifting weights over time, but worse, it will make the cardio burn muscle effectively.
One study, conducted by researchers at the University of Sao Paulo, divided ten men into three groups to try to understand how cardio affects the performance of resistance exercises:
The first group carried out four groups of squats for the largest possible number of repetitions with 80% of the maximum single count (1RM).
The second group performed 30 minutes of HIIT with cycling, followed by a short period of squeak.
The third group spent 30 minutes of HIIT exercises while running, followed by the same period of squashes.
Researchers found that the first group increased more weights more often, which is not surprising.
This study does not tell us much about muscle hypertrophy, however, since increased strength is the primary driver of muscle growth, the first group is likely to achieve more muscle gains compared to the rest of the groups.
Best times for a cardio performance
If you are going to do moderate to high-strength cardio exercises, it is better to perform them on a different day than the iron day, but if the cardio is light in intensity, there is nothing wrong if it is practiced after the iron exercises.
Never do cardio just before the iron exercises, because you will not benefit from your training session for resistance exercises, your energy will be low and you will lose a lot of muscle gains.
In the event that you were unable to do cardio after the iron exercises or made them on two different days, you can perform the cardio at least 8 hours before the iron exercises
The second Mistake : the wrong cardio performance
When most bodybuilders and gymnasts hear cardio, the first thing they think about is running.
Indeed, running is one of the best cardio exercises to ensure better health for the individual, but for the bodybuilder it may not be the perfect choice.
Running is a stressful type of cardio, which causes great damage to the lower part of the body, which makes the body invest its resources in recovering from cardio instead of recovering from iron exercises, especially leg exercises.
The best types of cardio for bodybuilding and fitness players
Walking
Bike riding
Elliptical Exercise Machine
The third mistake: Too much cardio
I know you are trying to challenge yourself in the gym and always trying to make progress in your level of training, but body chemistry is not concerned with your level of motivation.
More cardio means more calories burned, but this does not necessarily mean more fat burning, as an advanced level of body dryness can be achieved without performing any cardio exercise, as the whole thing depends mainly on the diet.
On the other hand, a lot of cardio can be accompanied by a lot of feeling hungry and therefore more food and calories consumed.
This does not mean that the cardio is bad and should be stopped, but the idea is that more does not always mean the best.
What is the ideal amount of cardio practice ?
There is no perfect amount for everyone, but with time and accumulation of experience you will be able to find the right amount for you personally to take advantage of the benefits of cardio and achieve maximum muscle growth at the same time.
What you have to consider in order to reach the right amount for you is to monitor your recovery speed, so that if the cardio does not affect your performance in resistance exercises, you can think about increasing the amount of cardio.
If you find yourself tired and have energy to perform resistance training after including the cardio in your training plan, you should consider reducing the amount of the cardio.
In general, start with less than 2-3 servings per week, as the duration of one serving is 20-30 minutes of low-intensity cardio
summary
You can make cardio burn muscle and you can also make it build and improve your athletic performance, it all depends on your flexibility and your experience in making the right decision at the right time.
Most of the time, keep the cardio low to moderate intensity, at least 6 hours before training or at least two hours after training. For best results, practice both cardio and iron on different days
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