Categorized | Muscle Building

Can you do cardio while building muscle?

In your workout, if i did muscle building exercises then i went and did some HIIT on cardio for keeping my stout down. Would i build muscle by any chance?

Your body can only store a small amount of glycogen in your muscles for energy. The rest runs in your blood stream. This glycogen is used as energy when you exercise.

When you train your muscles, you use up the glycogen that is stored in your muscles, but also the one that runs in your blood stream. That’s why it is very vital to replenish this glycogen soon after you train by drinking or eating carbs.

If you throw in a cardio session immediately after you do your muscle building workout, you won’t have enough glycogen in your body to fuel your cardio workout. Your body has to get energy from somewhere so it will do one of the 2 following things:
1. It converts muscle into energy, or
2. It converts body stout you’ve got stored into energy

Since the process of converting body stout is harder for your body than converting muscle, and since stout is considered vital to your existence (that’s the way the human body functions), your body will opt to convert muscle into energy. In essence, you will be "eating your own muscle"; the one that you worked hard to gain.

If your cardio workout is very intense, your body will have to make energy quickly, so it will convert more muscle into energy. If your cardio workout has a low intensity, your body has more time to be able to convert body stout into energy for you to use.

If you feel you’ve got enough energy left after your muscle building workout, then you can do cardio. But if you feel tired and weak, my advice would be to skip the cardio or do some low intensity activity if you really want to do cardio.

Hope this helps.

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4 Responses to “Can you do cardio while building muscle?”

  1. SmittyRules says:

    Yea you can as long as you keep your heart rate elevated and what I mean by this is it has to be high intensity cardio, walking or slow intensity will burn more stout though
    References :

  2. stoove says:

    yes of course. Just make sure to eat a right balance of carbs and protein afterward
    References :

  3. Chang says:

    Your body can only store a small amount of glycogen in your muscles for energy. The rest runs in your blood stream. This glycogen is used as energy when you exercise.

    When you train your muscles, you use up the glycogen that is stored in your muscles, but also the one that runs in your blood stream. That’s why it is very vital to replenish this glycogen soon after you train by drinking or eating carbs.

    If you throw in a cardio session immediately after you do your muscle building workout, you won’t have enough glycogen in your body to fuel your cardio workout. Your body has to get energy from somewhere so it will do one of the 2 following things:
    1. It converts muscle into energy, or
    2. It converts body stout you’ve got stored into energy

    Since the process of converting body stout is harder for your body than converting muscle, and since stout is considered vital to your existence (that’s the way the human body functions), your body will opt to convert muscle into energy. In essence, you will be "eating your own muscle"; the one that you worked hard to gain.

    If your cardio workout is very intense, your body will have to make energy quickly, so it will convert more muscle into energy. If your cardio workout has a low intensity, your body has more time to be able to convert body stout into energy for you to use.

    If you feel you’ve got enough energy left after your muscle building workout, then you can do cardio. But if you feel tired and weak, my advice would be to skip the cardio or do some low intensity activity if you really want to do cardio.

    Hope this helps.
    References :
    Experience.

  4. Toning Girl says:

    Yes, as long as you don’t do loads of the HIIT.

    15-20 mins per session, 3-4 times per week is more than enough.

    Too much of it – you’ll have the danger of stripping off your precious muscle (which you’ve been painstakingly building)……

    Perhaps this guide on the danger of over-cardio could help you out: http://www.perfect-body-toning.com/excessive-cardio.html
    References :

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