Integrating Cardiovascular Training

Most of good bodybuilding programs integrate cardiovascular training.  Cardio work has benefits:
*As the name implies, it trains your cardiovascular system.
*It burns calories.
*If done in moderation, it should not interfere with building strength and muscle.

Most well-designed fitness programs include both resistance training and cardio work.  I’d recommend you do 2-3, 30-45 minute cardio sessions per week (unless you are skinny and really struggling to build mass).  Here are some suggestions for integrating cardio work:

1. Do your cardio on days you don’t lift.  I think this is the ideal scenario—you’ll burn some extra calories on non-lifting days.

2. Fasted cardio (in the mornings, before breakfast).  This one is controversial, but here’s the idea: doing cardio first thing in the morning (before breakfast) forces you to tap into fat resources more quickly since your body doesn’t have any fuel (food) in it.  Here’s why it’s controversial—the same conditions which make it good for fat burning could put you at risk for burning muscle.

I’ve seen this debated back and forth.  Here’s my opinion: I think fasted cardio is beneficial if the intensity is kept low and the sessions aren’t too long.  Sessions of 30-40 minutes of low-moderate intensity (enough to get the blood pumping but not enough to have you gasping for breath) probably won’t hurt muscle gains for most trainees.  The exception would be those (ectomorphs) who are naturally lean and struggle to put on mass (but these people should be doing minimal cardio work anyway).

There’s a supplement that can help with fasted cardio—yohimbine.  I’ll talk about it in my next article.

3. Cardio after weight training.  I’m not crazy about this one, but it may be one of the only options if your time in the gym is limited.  The advantage is you’d start your cardio after already lowering your blood sugar (through weight training).  Like fasted cardio, this could cause you to tap into fat resources more quickly.  But I’d much rather drink a protein shake and rest my muscles after weight training. 

4. Cardio before weight training.  This is my least favorite approach.  Lyle McDonald has argued that a light session (20 minutes, low-moderate intensity) would act like more of an extended warm-up.  I won’t argue with that—Lyle knows his stuff.  But I would rather go straight to my main lift for the day. 

Final Thoughts:

Your individual goals and training environment should dictate the way you design your program. 

For example:  I train in a tropical climate (the Philippines) without air conditioning.  I drink lots of water, but an hour is about my limit for the gym—after that I feel completely exhausted.  This is one reason I don’t try to do cardio on the same days I lift. 

In the same way, you’ll have to assess your own priorities (muscle gain vs fat loss) and see what works best for you. 

Note: for the pursposes of this article, I'm primarily using "cardio" to refer to steady, aerobic-type training (such as one would do on a treadmill, stationary bike, etc).