Cardiovascular exercise (or a conditioning workout) can be an excellent way to improve health, speed up fat loss, build muscle, and speed up recovery. However, when done improperly does cardio burn muscle? Yes! Cardio kills gains but only when done improperly. In this video, we will go over common mistakes to avoid when performing cardio workouts to reap the benefits while avoiding the negative effects of cardio and muscle loss.

Should you do cardio before or after lifting weights? Doing cardio at the wrong time is a very common mistake people make. Most people will tend to perform cardio before weights when they are in the gym. But doing cardio first is likely to lead to less strength in the weight session that follows and thus less reps being performed. Thus, its best to prioritize weights and perform cardio after lifting weights. This will lead to better strength and muscle gains in the long run.

It will not always be possible to do both cardio exercise and weights in the same gym session. For example, if your cardio session is moderate to high intensity and longer than 30 mins in duration, it may be best to perform each exercise in a separate session. Research in the field suggests that moderate intensity cycling 24 hours after a bicep workout caused a two fold greater increase in strength compared to cardio immediately after the weights. Other research is also in agreement and suggests that irrespective of duration, lifting weights and cardio sessions should be done at least 6 hours apart to maximize muscle hypertrophy.

What’s the best type of cardio to lose fat without losing muscle? Well, running and other high impact cardio such as jump rope, or even interval training provide a lot of eccentric stress and thus tissue damage. This means that recovery time is required after each session, especially prior to performing leg workouts. Lower impact cardio, such as cycling can be used as an alternative method which when combined with weights leads to less of a decrease in lower body growth compared to running. Other alternatives are using the elliptical and incline walking which have a lesser eccentric component and lower impact, therefore require less recovery after. Enabling you to better burn fat without losing muscle.

How much cardio should you be doing? Focusing too much on cardio can lead to better cardiovoascular endurance, but less overall increases in muscle mass. In fact, as a general guideline, it seems that cardio sessions more than 3 times a week or greater than 20 – 30 mins in duration begin to interfere with muscle gains. This does not mean that you will gain no muscle by doing cardio, but your gains will slow when doing more cardio. With this said, exceeding the recommended amount of cardio may be perfectly fine, if your goal is to reduce body fat and maintain muscle mass such as when you are doing cutting. But on the other hand, if your main goal is to pack on muscle and build strength, then you can see how too much cardio quickly becomes counterproductive.

The recommendations discussed in this video are key to avoid having cardio interfere with you muscle gains. To show you exactly how to incorporate the right type and amount of cardio into your workouts to get the results you desire, I have built an easy to follow, step-by-step program. This program will allow you to optimize your cardio and weights routine such that you can build muscle and lose fat as efficiently as possible. Simply take the quiz below to discover what program is best for you:
https://builtwithscience.com/bws-free-fitness-quiz/gender?utm_source=Youtube&utm_medium=Video&utm_content=Description%20box&utm_campaign=Stop%20cardio%20from%20killing%20gains%20Jun%2023%2F2019

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STUDIES:
META ANALYSIS ON CARDIO
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22002517
CARDIO BEFORE WEIGHTS
https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2016/10000/Acute_Resistance_Exercise_Performance_Is.1.aspx
https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2014/09000/Fitness_and_Lean_Mass_Increases_during_Combined.11.aspx
https://www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0034-1385883
CYCLING 24 HOURS AFTER WEIGHTS
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5592291/
CARDIO AND WEIGHTS 6 HOURS APART
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25546450
TOO MUCH CARDIO
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22002517