A strength athlete doesn’t need cardio: is it true?

Author: Mikhail Ziborov - author of the site makefitness.pro.
2026-05-24

You go to the gym. Strength training is your thing. You enjoy the results it gives you and the feeling it creates. And you don’t like getting out of breath on a run (after all, for many people, running, swimming, etc. are boring). And it’s true: strength training is more comfortable for the respiratory system and relatively beneficial for the cardiovascular system (we are not considering CrossFit here, where both strength and cardio are involved).

So why would a strength athlete need cardio training? Let me explain. In short, it is necessary for the normal functioning of your heart.

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Cardio is needed for strength athletes — reason №1

When we work with iron, we really do train the heart muscle: the walls of the heart become thicker; they grow just like your biceps. But the problem is that the volume of the heart (its chambers) either does not increase or even decreases due to the growth of the heart muscle itself. And because the walls become thicker, the volume of blood being ejected and pumped either remains unchanged or even decreases.

That is, the heart has to beat more often and work harder to supply your body with blood. You trained to be healthy, but instead you get heart problems.

This phenomenon is called athletic heart. It turns out that strength training makes the heart strong, but less spacious. And it begins to strain just to do its job. This is comparable to the pressure you feel in your head when you perform barbell squats with maximal weight: it feels like your head is about to burst. A strength athlete’s heart feels something similar.

But cardio loads allow the heart to hold more blood. Accordingly, it can push a larger volume of it in one beat. This happens because regular cardio loads the heart muscle and seems to stretch the heart chambers from the inside. Because of this, more blood fits into the chambers.

With strength training, the volume of blood pumped is either the same as before or even less. With cardio, the volume of blood is greater.

Thus, the heart does not need to make frequent and powerful beats in order to supply the body’s tissues with blood.

The heart is especially strained (and unjustifiably so) when a strength athlete has a substantial amount of muscle mass. Imagine what volume of blood it needs to pump to supply every cell with the necessary nutrients.

Cardio helps by increasing the elasticity of the heart walls, allowing them to relax, stretch, and fill properly. Therefore, regular cardio loads can lower high blood pressure.

Lack of cardio for a strength athlete is like not servicing a car engine: you buy new rims, tires, and take care of the paintwork. But what is the point if the car does not move because the engine is broken?

In this article, I described which supplements are necessary to support the heart in an athlete.

Cardio is necessary for strength athletes — reason №2

For example, because of aerobic exercise (cardio), the number of capillaries in the body increases: you will recover more easily and faster, your muscles will tolerate any load more easily, and your joints will be better nourished. In other words, your overall well-being will improve.

In addition, cardio triggers mitochondrial biogenesis. That means your body develops more energy stations: you simply have more energy for everyday life and the training process.

But all of the above does not mean that strength training is harmful and cardio is beneficial. It is the other way around: one does not work well without the other, or at least not fully. These two types of physical activity complement each other perfectly. Imagine that your heart becomes both thicker thanks to strength training and larger thanks to cardio. Perfect.

That is why the heart, like any other muscle, needs to be developed from different angles.

Also, it would be great if you were a “universal soldier”: able to run and lift a heavy barbell. And now imagine that you are a huge bodybuilder who starts gasping for air after 1 minute of running. Not great.

And what cardio workout should you choose? Anything at all, as long as you enjoy it. Running, walking, cycling, climbing the stairs in your building, swimming, football. The main thing is that you like it and that it allows you to train consistently, not just from time to time. And as for a training program for home or the gym, we can help you make it the best one for you personally.

Also, take a look at the sports nutrition we offer: without exaggeration, it is top-quality.