Is cardio necessary for mass gain?

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2014-08-23

Everyone knows that cardio exercises are necessary for weight loss. Many also believe that they are not needed at all for gaining muscle mass. Is that true? Personally, I don't think so.

I am convinced that moderate cardio in small doses contributes to muscle gain. Now, I will try to prove this.

1. Everyone knows that aerobics (aerobic or cardio exercise) contributes to increasing metabolism. The higher your metabolism, the quicker and better your muscles will recover. And the better they recover, the quicker they will grow. There is a direct correlation between muscle growth and metabolism rate.

2. Accelerating metabolism also contributes to gaining lean mass without fat. This is also a direct relationship. The higher a person’s metabolism, the less subcutaneous fat they have (all other conditions being equal). Fat simply doesn't have time to accumulate, as it is constantly being used for the body's needs.

3. Cardio exercises (that’s why they are called that) train the heart. This not only strengthens the heart but also develops overall and strength endurance. And strength endurance can indeed be quite useful in strength training. Additionally, the load on the heart increases with muscle growth. Therefore, strengthening it will benefit you for a lifetime.

How much cardio should you do?

Now, that’s a good and very appropriate question. If you overdo it, instead of gaining muscle, you might end up burning it. Physiology and practice show us (or rather, they show me, and I’m telling you) that the total volume of aerobics per week should not exceed 60 minutes when it comes to gaining weight. Personally, I recommend doing cardio twice a week for 15-20 minutes, and this should be on days free from your main training.

Why is it undesirable to do more for mass gain? It’s quite simple. Aerobics is a very energy-consuming activity. For instance, running for 60 minutes at a weight of 100 kg would cost you about 900-1000 kcal. That’s quite a large energy expenditure. Instead of growing your muscles, your body will be busy slowly and laboriously replenishing muscle glycogen stores. Until it does this, it cannot increase muscle size.

Now, a slow run for 15 minutes will only cost you around 200 kcal (at the same weight). But this also expends energy! – you might say. Yes, but the increased metabolic rate will soon outweigh these losses. And ultimately, the body will reach a muscle growth state more quickly (in the long run) compared to if we were just lounging on the couch.

It doesn’t matter what type of aerobics you use. It can be running, using a treadmill, cycling, etc. You can even jump rope. The key is to maintain an average heart rate of about 130-150 beats per minute.

Conclusion

You can safely gain mass without aerobic workouts. That is a fact. However, if you also incorporate them (within reasonable limits), you can grow muscles a bit faster and more effectively than usual. So don’t be lazy and occasionally go for a short run for 15-20 minutes. Good luck!