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Does doing cardio make you loose muscle and or strength?

Does doing cardio make you loose muscle and or strength?

  • Yes

    Votes: 5 38.5%

  • No

    Votes: 6 46.2%

  • Don't know

    Votes: 2 15.4%
  • Total voters
    13
Would depend on calorie intake and size of deficit... Generally speaking I would say no... But excessive cardio would be a Yes...
 
Depends on the type of cardio, duration, intensity. Thats why I love interval training for my conditioning days (which is only once a week at the moment). When I used to do 10km jogs I did not put on any muscle, only lose it.
 
That's a pretty broad question Shrek, many factors come into play, how much cardio, how often, how much food, how much and how often is weight lifted etc.
Is traditional cardio needed at all?
 
Jungman said:
Depends on the type of cardio, duration, intensity. Thats why I love interval training for my conditioning days (which is only once a week at the moment). When I used to do 10km jogs I did not put on any muscle, only lose it.
Click to expand...
Was it the cardio or was it that you didn't eat enough...
 
Darkoz said:
That's a pretty broad questtraditionarek, many factors come into play, how much cardio, how often, how much food, how much and how often is weight lifted etc.Is traditional cardio needed at all?
Click to expand...
Hmmmmm for health and welfare yes... but define traditional?....
 
Look at the top guys doing crossfit. Fair chance they are shit loads stronger than you are. So I wouldn't stress about cardio being a problem when getting strong.
 
Bazza20 said:
Look at the top guys doing crossfit. Fair chance they are shit loads stronger u are. So I wouldn't stress about scaio being a problem when getting strong.
Click to expand...
Fair chance they are chemically assisted... also comparing to elite atheletes who are top of the genetic pool is prolly not a good example....
 
nazzysmith said:
Hmmmmm for health and welfare yes... but define traditional?....
Click to expand...
By traditional nazzy I mean the usual stuff like running, bike riding, jumping rope etc.
Seems to me that you can get a very good conditioning workout by incorporating it into your lifting workout, certainly can get the heart pumping while killing two birds with one stone.

I don't see the need for separate cardio unless someone wants to do it just for recreation, of course a powerlifting type workout will never get the heart pumping enough to benefit.
 
Last edited:
nazzysmith said:
Fair chance they are chemically assisted... also comparing to elite atheletes who are top of the genetic pool is prolly not a good example....
Click to expand...

It shows its possible. Plenty do it.

Unless you are doing marathon cardio and trying to maintain bodyweight at 60 something kg. Don't stress about cardio effecting strength.

I remember reading old stuff about Russian Olympic weightlifters and they used 20-30min jogs as a recovery session.
 
Bazza20 said:
It shows its possible. Plenty do it.

Unless you are doing marathon cardio and trying to maintain bodyweight at 60 something kg. Don't stress about cardio effecting strength.

I remember reading old stuff about Russian Olympic weightlifters and they used 20-30min jogs as a recovery session.
Click to expand...

Agreed...


And if you are losing strength then eat more or do less cardio...

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk
 
I reckon it can even help, say, if you have a slow metabolism. Allows you to eat more without getting fat. I do a quick walk every now and then and I have a busy job now, I maintain on 4000 calories. I think I'm doing better than when I was on 3000 even though the excess calories is probably the same.
 
Yep. I hate cardio more than anyone but I do feel it can help lifting. It allows you to work out harder rather than getting out of breath lying down to bench.
 
Before I stuffed up my hip just over a year ago, i was doing cardio (running and KBs) along with strength training and I was consistently making progress on both strength and LBM gains.
If anything, my cardio fitness was an asset in the gym.
I wasn't doing any funky HIIT protocols or anything. I wasn't doing heaps of it, just a 2-3 times per week for 30-45 mins. Occasional longer runs but they were just for fun.

If I stalled on progress, it was always diet. I just upped my kcals/macros and on I went.
 
chocchillimango said:
Before I stuffed up my hip just over a year ago, i was doing cardio (running and KBs) along with strength training and I was consistently making progress on both strength and LBM gains. If anything, my cardio fitness was an asset in the gym. I wasn't doing any funky HIIT protocols or anything. I wasn't doing heaps of it, just a 2-3 times per week for 30-45 mins. Occasional longer runs but they were just for fun.If I stalled on progress, it was always diet. I just upped my kcals/macros and on I went.
Click to expand...
I like u so much right now... Especially the bit on how it was fun and u ate more to compensate...
 
I've made consistent strength gains with weights while doing 3hrs of HIIT per week.

It's repeated long distance (several hours in duration) cardio that kills muscle/strength gains. Never seen a chicken legged sprinter or a heavily muscled long distance runner.
 
pretty much ^ that. I did cardio to start with, tried doing Tabata, found it excruciatingly boring, stopped it, then realised that I was still getting puffed like a fat fuck despite getting stronger. I now do stair / hill runs 3x a week, as being heavy still, regular jogging on footpaths or roads is hard on the knees and I fucking hate it.

Can't notice any difference to my training thus far, but I'd probably eat more if things started going backwards.
 
nazzysmith said:
I like u so much right now... Especially the bit on how it was fun and u ate more to compensate...
Click to expand...

Hell, even I love me so much now that I'm like that :p

Serious note - cardio isn't a destroyer of gains. Plenty of athletes in the cardio game (sprinters, crossfitters, skiers, etc) who have some serious muscle and strength.
 
Since stopping cardio last 5 months,

Recovery better
Gains are better
Vascularity better
Boner better
Not so lethargic

Only time ill ever use it
Again is when im struggling to lose weight on low volume training or for sports specificity i.e when i fight muay thai
Or if
You play footy,
If you dont like cardio make your last few pump sets super sets or tri sets or quad sets little rest
Worked a treat for me take or leave the advice
 
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