How to do cardio for muscle growth?

You can build muscle mass not only by training with barbells and dumbbells. Learn how to use cardio exercises to effectively increase muscle volume.

Supporters of power loads often do not like cardio exercises, they believe that this kind of training interferes with muscle building. Proper cardio will not only not interfere, but also help to create a beautiful muscular body, it is designed to enhance the effect of strength training.

Security forces imagine cardio as a monotonous ride on an exercise bike or an equally boring run on the track, when the only opportunity to diversify the training is music or watching movies. In fact, everyone needs cardio, because such exercises strengthen the cardiovascular system, adapt the body to loads, and help to become more resilient. If you correctly combine work with weights and cardio loads in your program, for example, running and recovery training, the effect will be greatly enhanced.

If you are in good physical shape, you can build a decent amount of muscle mass.
During training, the muscle fibers are destroyed, and then, during rest, they are restored, become stronger and thicker.

This mechanism is supported by proper nutrition, cardio loads can also provide a support role. In order to understand how cardio will help you gain muscle mass, you need to study the principle of action of aerobic and anaerobic systems.

The human body consists of three energy systems, each of them has its own time interval for activation – 20 seconds, a minute, or more than a minute. Each of the systems has its own goals and tasks for working in the body, each physical effort is characterized by working in a particular energy system. You need to understand the volume of training, as well as the rest schedule.

If you are aiming to increase your muscle mass, you should have no more than three workouts per week to strengthen your body. If you practice low-intensity cardio and do it less often, it will not help to increase your muscles. The most practical combination is three cardio sessions a week, two of which will be very intense, for example, include a sprint.

In order to believe in the effectiveness of cardio, you should look at the bodies of professional sprinters, they differ in beautiful muscle relief, which was earned through high-intensity cardio training. In addition, high-intensity cardio improves the ability to recover after exercise. You can add a sprint to each strength training session, and place it immediately after the warm-up. Alternate running with maximum acceleration for 5-10 seconds and running at a measured pace for 30-60 seconds. After such a load, you should rest for a few minutes, and then you can move on to the main power part of the program.

If you are bored with the sprint, connect an exercise bike, work on the same principle – maximum acceleration for 8-10 seconds, then-calm riding for 12-15 seconds, devote 20 minutes to this training. Do not forget that one workout should be at a low intensity, it is necessary for recovery. This can be a walk or a measured bike ride for half an hour.