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Cardio-oh? Oh no…no no no. A short(ish) lecture on muscle tissue.

In short, cardio will never steal your gains and cannot be achieved by lifting weights faster because it uses different energy systems, different macronutrients, and different types of muscle tissue. If anyone tells you differently they don’t know how the body works. Tell them I said that.  And here’s why:

 

I’ve touched on cardio many times before as it is a passionate subject of mine.  It is necessary, no mater who you are, your goals, or what you think you need.  Your heart, lungs, and vascular system need cardio to be considered healthy.  I hear things frequently about “I was told I can’t gain muscle if I do cardio”, ”if I want cardio I’ll just lift weights faster”,  and many other myths about the use and necessity of our cardiovascular system.  So, allow me to talk nerdy to you:

According to the ACSM- The American College of Sports Medicine- which is the absolute gold standard of fitness in America, we require 90-150 minutes of mixed intensity cardio, or 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity cardio weekly.  This helps us to be heart healthy, breathe better, have better endurance, weight management, all that.  This, couple with 2-3 days a week of resistance training, proper nutrition, and range of motion training (flexibility) fills in what are the five areas the ACSM says we need to achieve for optimal health and fitness- Muscular Endurance, Muscular Strength, Cardiorespiratory Endurance, Body Composition (NOT BMI), and Range of Motion.  If we do not work on all of these together then we are letting one area drag us down.  Now, resistance training set ups rely heavily on your goals- power, growth, endurance, whatever.  Cardio is the same for most populations. 

Cardio works a different type of muscle fiber- we call it a type 1 fiber or oxidative fibers.  They are longer and more lean, more red in color, have more mitochondria, and are worked best by our oxidative energy systems- aerobic glycolysis and aerobic lipolysis.  This means that we have to work at a steady pace and move from our anaerobic systems into our aerobics systems to work them. The body responds by increasing heart rate to increase nutrient delivery, and eventually we reach an elevated plateau phase where we are supplying our muscles properly and maintaining intensity.  We have to challenge this system, therefore we need to stay in this elevated phase for a little while.  If you are severely deconditioned, start with maybe 5-10 minutes a day then move on from there.  We need to build up to those numbers I mentioned earlier for optimal health and wellness.

Our muscles that grow larger are our type 2 muscles- type 2a and 2x.  These are shorter, thicker, more powerful, but tire out more easily.  These are the ones that we want to focus on when we are lifting, focus on blood flow to the muscle for recovery and growth, and these are worked mostly in the first two energy systems- anaerobic glycolysis and the PCr system.  So you see where I am going here. These are not used nearly as much in aerobic or cardio exercises, and really have nothing to do with them.  If you are eating properly to feed your nutritional needs for cardio (fats and carbs) and proteins for your weight training recovery the affect that cardio would have on your growth is little to none.  Not to mention if you don’t do cardio you’re leaving out an entire system of muscles, and putting yourself at risk for heart and vascular events like heart attack and stroke. 

Cardio is: Running, Jogging, BRISK walking, swimming, many sports, cycling, aerobics, etc.

Cardio is NOT: Your 10k steps, lifting weights faster, a casual warm up walk on the treadmill before you go lift weights faster, walking your dog, steps taken at work, Tennis (you start and stop too frequently).

Cardio Does:  Increase energy, increases mitochondria and metabolic processes, reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer, et al, help with weight management.

Cardio DOES NOT: Steal your gains, bro.

Also, dirty bulk doesn’t have to be a thing, but that’s a topic for a different day.

Be well, and even if you hate it do your damn cardio.