Here is all the information you need to know about cardio!
And if you dont want to read, you can just check out this video!
Do you want to do cardio, but you are too afraid of losing muscle?
Do you have no idea how to add it to your routine?
Well, you came to the right place!
In this article, i will talk about how much cardio you should be doing per week, when to do it, the best exercises, and what to do so you dont lose your muscle while doing cardio!
How long?
I recommend 150 minutes of cardio of moderate intensity per week.
It doesnt really matter how you decide to spread this time over the week, but i would NOT reccomend doing all the 150 minutes at once, split it into atleast 2 sessions minimum.
When?
Definitely dont do cardio before you go train with weights, as it would negatively impact your lifting.
Doing it after your weight training is better, but definitely not ideal.
I would reccomend you to seperate your cardio from lifting weights completely.
Either do cardio on an off day, or if you for example lift weights in the morning, then do your cardio in the evening.
So that there is atleast 6 hours between your cardio and your lifting session.
Which exercises?
There are 3 things that you should keep in mind when selecting your exercises.
The first is, that you should find exercises that are low impact and easy to recover from.
Second one is that you should do more than just one type of a cardio exercise per week, to prevent injuries from overuse and it will also make your cardio more fun!
And the last thing, that is probably the most important, is that you should do the cardio that you enjoy, otherwise you wont be able to stick to it for a longer time.
You dont need any crazy exercises, you can just walk if thats something you enjoy.
You can use a treadmill, elliptical or just go for a walk normally, and you can even spice it up a little bit by adding a slight incline!
Other alternatives are for example swimming and cycling, but remember, you are not supposed to go balls to the wall, its called moderate intensity for a reason.
HIIT vs LISS cardio
High intensity interval training vs low intensity steady state.
People are always arguing about what type of cardio is better, if its HIIT or LISS cardio.
They both have their pros and cons, but i would say that if you are not an athlete that needs to focus on their speed, or if you are just really short on time – there is no reason to do HIIT cardio.
HIIT cardio can be really hard to recover from both physically and mentally and people usually dont like doing hard stuff – which means that you will probably quit after a while.
On the other side, LISS cardio is easier to stick to, and probably more enjoyable for most of the people.
What to do to minimize muscle loss
This is the fear of every single gym goer, will i lose muscle if i do cardio?
The answer is pretty simple, no.
If you follow the rules im going to tell you right now.
Rule number 1 is to NOT do excessive amounts of cardio.
The rule number 2, is to always re-feed after your cardio session – so your body doesnt go catabolic. By re-feeding after your cardio session, you will prevent your muscles from breaking down.
And one last thing..if you are already really active, maybe you have a really active job, or you play some sport that is really cardio heavy, you dont need to add any more cardio on top of that, that would be just unnecessary.
But if you are sitting all day at school or at work, you should definitely start doing some cardio, this will help you to gain more muscle in the long run, because you will be able to move more weight without gassing out mid set.
Conclusion
If you are still unsure about something, remember this, do something that you enjoy and what is sustainable for you in the long run, because thats really what matters here.
Cardio should be something that you stick to for your whole life, not just a tool for weight loss.
So dont be like those people who suddenly get motivated to do cardio..they start waking up at 4 am and going for a run – just to fail misserably and never return to doing any cardio ever again..