am i doing too much cardio to grow muscle (glutes)???

trulyhealy

i’ve read that doing too much cardio can effect muscle growth and i’m trying to mainly grow my glutes right now and focusing on eating enough protein. but how much cardio is too much?

i’ve reduced the amount of cardio i do now because before it was all i used to do.

i do 10-20 jogging on a treadmill when i’m at the gym and then 5-10 mins on the stair master if i can be bothered and the walking to and from work (4 hours of walking a week)

help is this too much? i’m so confused and was looking forward to walking tomorrow but i don’t want it to effect me growing glutes

trulyhealy

i might just switch to sprint intervals instead of jogging as apparently that engages the glutes more but i don’t know what to do about the walking because apparently long distance cardio like that can hinder progress

lgfrie

It sounds like you're doing 20-30 minutes a day of cardio, plus some walking. In no scenario other than injury or poor health would that be too much cardio.

Don't know where you read that cardio would get in the way of muscle development, but that doesn't make sense. Why would walking on a stair master do anything but help with glutes?

Going for a walk is not "long distance cardio". It's barely cardio at all, unless it's speed walking. Strap on a heart rate monitor, and if you're not hitting at least 65-70 % of MHM you're not really doing cardio at all. But it's still good exercise. We were designed to walk. Within reason, the more the better. It certainly isn't going to prevent you from developing muscles.

quiksylver296

Nah. You're fine.

trulyhealy

i’m just going to do what i’m doing bc at the end of the day my goal is weightloss sorry i just got concerned 😭 i’m just very happy i’m not doing 2 and a half hours of cardio a day like i used to do back in june/july and august bc that was way too much

ythannah

Ultimately we need regular cardio exercise for our cardiovascular health and I promise you that in future your heart health will be more important than your glutes.

However, as other posters have already reassured you, the amount of cardio you are doing won't impair your glute growth goals.

Speakeasy76

Nah, that amount of cardio wouldn't do it, especially low-mid impact stuff like walking and jogging. If you were doing so much that it interfered with your recovery process (which is crucial to hypertrophy), then it might be.

I don't know if you follow him on IG or have any of his stuff, but Bret Contreras (aka "The Glute Guy") is someone I'd HIGHLY recommend if you are serious about growing your glutes.

heybales

Too much cardio is so much that you can no longer eat enough to keep the deficit reasonable or eat at maintenance for muscle growth to actually have a chance to occur.

Or too much cardio if you have run out of time and never do any strength training - that is too much cardio.

ChickenKillerPuppy

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that wherever you read that, the point was advising not to do so much cardio that you are ignoring building muscle. I used to only do cardio, but I started listening to a really great podcast from NPR (like BBC - I think you are British) called "Food, we need to talk." It's a recent college grad from Harvard with a lot of food/diet issues, and a professor from Harvard medical school who specializes in nutrition and diet. When the doctor was asked what the one thing a person can do, activity wise, to lose weight, he said "build muscle." I was surprised because I thought it would be increasing cardio. But as he explained, building muscle requires more calories to maintain. Now I evenly split cardio and strength work (I do Barre classes which are great for your glutes!) 3 days a week each.

Having said all that, I think your level of cardio is just fine. Hard to believe it would "interfere" with building muscle in any other way that taking time from strength training.

kshama2001

ChickenKillerPuppy wrote: »

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that wherever you read that, the point was advising not to do so much cardio that you are ignoring building muscle. I used to only do cardio, but I started listening to a really great podcast from NPR (like BBC - I think you are British) called "Food, we need to talk." It's a recent college grad from Harvard with a lot of food/diet issues, and a professor from Harvard medical school who specializes in nutrition and diet. When the doctor was asked what the one thing a person can do, activity wise, to lose weight, he said "build muscle." I was surprised because I thought it would be increasing cardio. But as he explained, building muscle requires more calories to maintain. Now I evenly split cardio and strength work (I do Barre classes which are great for your glutes!) 3 days a week each.

Having said all that, I think your level of cardio is just fine. Hard to believe it would "interfere" with building muscle in any other way that taking time from strength training.

I like "Food, we need to talk" and was sad when the pandemic shut it down.

Juna is actually legally blind, yet "graduated in 2017 from Harvard University with a B.A. in cognitive neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, and a minor in music" which I find very inspirational.

https://www.wbur.org/foodtalk/about

https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1490621476?mt=2&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory

Theoldguy1

trulyhealy wrote: »

i might just switch to sprint intervals instead of jogging as apparently that engages the glutes more but i don’t know what to do about the walking because apparently long distance cardio like that can hinder progress

Sprint intervals aren't just something you go out and do without risking injury if new to sprinting.

Here is a good article from a well respected strength and conditioning coach on sprinting:
https://ericcressey.com/so-you-want-to-start-sprinting

Big takeaway from him and others, sprinting uphill is tends to prevent injuries.

From the article:

Sprint uphill first.

People often get hurt when they overstride; they’ll pull the hamstrings on the front leg. Sprinting uphill doesn’t really allow you to overstride, though, and it’s also good because you go up with each step, but don’t come down quite as much. Ground reaction forces are much lower, so this is a great option for easing into top-speed sprinting. (great studies here and here, for those interested).

While it’s more ideal to do uphill sprinting outside, it is okay to do this on a treadmill. After all, you’re just trying to lose your spare tire or be a little better in beer league softball, not go to the Olympics.

I like to see a month of 2x/week uphill sprint work before folks start testing the waters on flat terrain.

nooshi713

People may disagree but typically losing weight and growing glutes are two opposing goals.

AnnPT77

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Nah. You're fine.

@trulyhealy, you're not doing a huge amount of cardio. I do more cardio, and I'm waaaaaay older than you (so we'd expect, statistically, I'd have worse ability to retain/build muscle), and I"m not losing muscle/strength. (I doubt I do as much strength training as you do, besides.)

Look at the post I quoted. @quiksylver296 changes her profile pic somewhat often, but right now she's flexing (nice muscles!) with her medals, which are for weightlifting competitions. She's highly successful at that. She has lots of muscle/strength, and she's telling you not to worry about doing the cardio you're doing.

When you think about who to believe, think about @quiksylver296's opinion, and results. Sure, genetics matter, so things can differ between people. But when your genetics are a wild card - as they are for most of us until we try a new thing - it makes more sense to me to believe the people who've done what we're doing or wanting to do, and who have gotten results we want. It may not always work, but it's an optimistic course, and it will work out - strongemphasis on the word "work" - in many cases.

Speakeasy76

nooshi713 wrote: »

People may disagree but typically losing weight and growing glutes are two opposing goals.

I'm one of those who disagree Lost about 10 pounds while simultaneously focusing on growing my glutes (which I'm already genetically predisposed to grow in this area anyway). It's definitely helped with my low back and knee issues.

quiksylver296

AnnPT77 wrote: »

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Nah. You're fine.

@trulyhealy, you're not doing a huge amount of cardio. I do more cardio, and I'm waaaaaay older than you (so we'd expect, statistically, I'd have worse ability to retain/build muscle), and I"m not losing muscle/strength. (I doubt I do as much strength training as you do, besides.)

Look at the post I quoted. @quiksylver296 changes her profile pic somewhat often, but right now she's flexing (nice muscles!) with her medals, which are for weightlifting competitions. She's highly successful at that. She has lots of muscle/strength, and she's telling you not to worry about doing the cardio you're doing.

When you think about who to believe, think about @quiksylver296's opinion, and results. Sure, genetics matter, so things can differ between people. But when your genetics are a wild card - as they are for most of us until we try a new thing - it makes more sense to me to believe the people who've done what we're doing or wanting to do, and who have gotten results we want. It may not always work, but it's an optimistic course, and it will work out - strongemphasis on the word "work" - in many cases.

I’m blushing!!! ☺️

misslizzierod

Hey there. I'm also trying to grow my glutes and I found this video useful. He answers your question at 23:04 however this whole video was immensely helpful for me as I am also trying to lose fat and build muscle (mainly my glutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQg65AnKo-k

westrich20940

Are you at a calorie deficit? Or at maintenance?

If you are -- eat more. You need to eat more to gain muscle. In addition to your weights. If you are doing weight lifting/body weight routines and eating at a deficit or maintenance, then all you can hope to be doing is maintaining your muscle mass. If you at a calorie deficit, most likely you are losing some muscle mass.

The amount of cardio you're doing shouldn't have any affect on your muscle mass gain at all. I think the only time it can interfere really is if you are doing a LOT of long-distance running...in which case it's more likely because of the amount of calories that high intensity cardio workouts burn.

cwolfman13

trulyhealy wrote: »

i’ve read that doing too much cardio can effect muscle growth and i’m trying to mainly grow my glutes right now and focusing on eating enough protein. but how much cardio is too much?

i’ve reduced the amount of cardio i do now because before it was all i used to do.

i do 10-20 jogging on a treadmill when i’m at the gym and then 5-10 mins on the stair master if i can be bothered and the walking to and from work (4 hours of walking a week)

help is this too much? i’m so confused and was looking forward to walking tomorrow but i don’t want it to effect me growing glutes

That's not even close to being too much cardio to put on muscle. I was training for a sprint triathlon shortly after I started back to the weight room and that did not impede muscle development, and that's way more cardio than you're talking about.

That said...building muscle is slow, even under optimal conditions with optimal programming...it's not like all these 30 day this and 30 days that stuff that gets put out there...people work on their physiques for months and years. Also, you are trying to lose weight...which means you are in a calorie deficit...a calorie deficit will hinder muscle growth, because muscle growth requires energy...something of which you are deficient in a calorie deficit. You can build some muscle in a calorie deficit, but it is fairly nominal and most typical with people new to the weight room and obese.