What is the role of cardio in muscle building?

Any old time stalwart, when asked, will tell you that cardio is a waste of time. However, this is not true.

There are two important roles played by cardio in muscle building.

1) Muscle building cardio warm-up.

The best way to warm up before lifting weights is a five-minute light cardio session. In addition to increasing your body’s core temperature, it also warms up your arms and legs so that they are ready to take on the onslaught of pumping iron without being prone to injury.

Running, spot jogging, using a stair climber or elliptical trainer, or cycling are some of the forms of cardio that you can do. Cardio prepares your body for the weight training session by raising your heart rate, ensuring that adequate blood is pumped throughout your entire body.

2) Muscle building cardio for definition.

Cardio only plays a role during the warm up session of your exercise, and not otherwise, if your goal is only to increase strength and build muscle volume. However, a combination of high intensity cardio and weight training is required if you want to get ripped muscles and six pack abs.

I’ve seen this so many times in gyms around the country. People start going to a gym because they want to get the ripped physique of their favorite movie star. While they pump iron for months and get bigger and stronger, the definition that they are looking for continues to elude them. You need to include muscle building cardio in your workout if you want well-defined muscles. So would you choose muscle building cardio that comprises of a long, leisurely run through that park or 45-minutes on the treadmill every alternate day?

None of them.

High intensity, low interval cardio is the only one form of muscle building cardio that can get you serious definition with a ripped look and washboard abs.

That’s right; running on the treadmill for hours is not what you need to do. Muscle building cardio, just like weight training, needs to be brutally intense and short for it to be truly effective.

Now that we know the type of cardio that you need to do, let’s move on to how often and when.

A high intensity cardio soon after a weight training session can help to burn maximum fat, as shown by studies. Not having to schedule time for exercises on your off days is another advantage of doing cardio just after your weight training session.

In fact, by adding some standalone muscle building cardio on your off days, you can even maximize your fat loss. It is a good idea to start slow if you’ve previously never done high intensity muscle building cardio. Slow does not mean you reduce the intensity; it means that you need to reduce the number of days in a week that you do this.

Trust me, high intensity muscle building cardio is not the easiest of things to do. Your muscles will burn, your eyes will water, and it will leave you panting for breath. But be persistent, and you will eventually start to see the muscles beneath as the fat dissolves.

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