Does Cardio Inhibit Muscle Growth?

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
00:13 What is Cardio?
01:13 Cardio for Hypertrophy?
02:33 Concurrent Training
08:08 Indirect Effects
09:36 Minimising the Interference Effect
11:28 Practical Recommendations

STUDIES

ONLINE COACHING & CONSULTING

BOOKS & TRAINING TEMPLATES

SOCIAL MEDIA

[iranjackheelson]

Yes, cardio does induce systemic fatigue but that also mean systemic improvement over a longer run. I notice the absolute best lifting days are where I do cardio earlier in the day, give my body +6hrs to recover from fatigue, fuel myself with quality food. Then I go to the gym in the evening, I'm in beast mode, whereas without the cardio, I just don't get the blood pumping as efficiently and I'm not nearly as energetic.

[wonhyeukjung]

Awesome analysis. Thank you very much for the extensive publication review and interpretation.
As a lifter who have been debating about this issue for a while, here is my 2 cents about the matter.

1. Cardio+Lifting (i.e. concurrent training) will be ALWAYS superior when it comes to fat burning. If your goal is also to lose weight to become leaner, there is no doubt that you should do concurrent training.
2. The matter is difficult to make definitive conclusions upon when it comes to hypertrophy, because as depicted in the video, it is hard to define cardio exactly and it is hard to know whether the decreased volume/intensity due to the resources spent on cardio is causing inefficient hypertrophy or else. But the hypertrophy loss can be minimized by simply scheduling cardio after the heavy lifts and especially spacing out lower body heavy lifts from an intense cardio session.
3. Benefits from running, swimming, cycling is absolutely clear and even if your goal is exclusively hypertrophy, light cardio sessions should be in the program to reap the benefits. In the long run, stronger heart and endurance will always help in incorporating more volume into your heavy lifts, which will directly lead to better results for hypertrophy.

[jamo]

This is good to hear. I train for hypertrophy 5 days a week and have just recently started incorporating 2x 5km runs per week, I do these in the morning first thing and then train in the evening on those days but never hit legs on the same day. Im hoping that this will not only improve my cardiovascilor fitness but also not effect my muscle building potenitial. Its also worth noting that I eat extra calories to allow for the runs as well.

[AnarchoPeter]

Great video! Such an undervalued channel, I wish you'll get more attention in the future ;)

[johnyliltoe]

What I'd really like to know about some of these studies is diet. Muscle repair takes energy, hence when in a building phase you want a caloric surplus for your body to optimally repair damaged muscle fibers. If you are eating just enough, or less than, to encourage optimal muscle growth during hypertrophy training then add in aerobic exercise you are now taking away from the calories your body wants in order to make those repairs.

However, in some of the more positive studies, it may be that the calories burned in aerobic exercise were being burned from an excess over and above what was required for muscle repair, so the aerobic exercise simply added to the strain on those muscles encouraging growth.

Intent is also a consideration. If the study is observational, and so doesn't involve diet control, one can easily imagine that those that participants that do more cardio are aiming for weight loss and, as such, they may already be in a caloric deficit leading to impeded muscle gain, if not outright muscle loss.

[KC-lgqf]

NFL players have to have excellent cardio and muscle. If you were doing a lot of cardio you just have to eat enough to support muscle growth

[whatby]

I am just starting out, but I am thinking of doing cardio on two off days each week. I will probably just do like 20-25 minutes on the elliptical. Does that seem reasonable? Also, is it better to have the resistance on the elliptical higher, then move at a slower pace, or lower the resistance and move slightly faster?

[joevlogs]

Excellent video. Im someone who is a novice weight lifter. My main goal is muscle growth. With that said I want to be physically fit. I plan to add in swimming 2-3 times per week for about an hour each. Since swimming hits the upper body do you think it will affect upper body gains

[Johnmatrix_]

5k training is really what I want to be doing, but muscle growth and being jacked is more important to me. Do you think if I start training for a 5k, will I be hindering my muscle growth? I’m bulking right now, and I’m applying progressive overload. I’ve been lifting for a year and a half. I would be running around 20 miles a week or less. I’ll also be eating extra calories lost during the runs. I REALLY don’t want to hinder my muscle growth though. I need to be gaining muscle in this bulking phase. Whatcha think?

[richardhein]

one small question: Lets say we're doing legs 4 days apart; e.g. on Monday and then on Friday. Is it better to do (mid to rather high intensity) cardio on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday? One day after the legs, you might've sore legs, also hurting a bit and one day before, you may fatigue them too hardly. So which would be the best choice for the least interference?

[shuvang]

For cardio i will be going for a 45 min walk daily morning . And in the evening i do strength training. Followed by intermittent fasting

[georgesarreas]

Cheers! Leaving a comment now but will watch video later :P

[spurzo-thespiralspacewolf]

Would doing moderate intensity elliptical cardio for 30 min 24 hours before leg day interfere with leg day?

[Hello-hhdf]

Great video. Have been debating this with myself for weeks as I currently have to cycle to and from the gym and also have to cycle for large parts of my job. I separate the days, although on leg day I do have to cycle home straight after. Its only a 20 min ride and I don't go full intensity, do you think this is not that large of a problem?

[MD-txse]

Peter that was great topic👍

I have a few questions;
how do you define Low intesity cardio with percantage of maximum heart rate -> 50 - 70%
max HR?

Do you think it is possible to maximize hypertrophy and Cooper time trial running test (2400m under 9 min) or later needs too much time of running to add hypertrophy to it?

[aarondcmedia]

I'm counting on it!! I want strength+ with no weight gain :D

[omevfun]

I do 30-50 minutes of hiit 3x per week and go on a incline brisk walk for an hour 3x per week. I also do 30-45 minutes of resistance training (supersets) 6x per week. Based on my cardio routine, will it kill my muscle gains?

[lenux]

I do soccer everyday because that's one of the most important thing for me. But muscle building is also important for me. I also want to improve my speed/endurance. I do Upper/lower each 2x a week(monday:upper Tuesday:lower Wed:rest Thurs:Upper Fri:Lower Saturday and Sunday: rest. Does anyone know how I can fit in my soccer and improve my speed/endurence training? Should I still do soccer everyday?

[geoffreycohen]

Would love to hear your thoughts on aerobic training inhibiting strength/power/speed. What cases does this happens in and why. How to avoid counterproductive work ie. training to get a heavy squat while maintaining running frequency

[madjeevilus]

My form of cardio is usually walking and speed walking on the treadmill and then the last like 6 minutes I do a light jog. Do you think that will affect my lower body gains?