Rest Days & Cardio

CatWhispererrrr

Hi All,

I have a few questions about working cardio into a workout routine. I am currently at my goal weight, but I am looking to lose a bit more body fat and gain some muscle. I was generally working cardio into my regular workouts - which is basically weight training 3 days a week, mixed in with Yoga classes. The cardio I do is stair master, for 30 minutes after my strength. Recently, I have taken to jogging outside, given the nice weather, for 5km, about 2-3 times a week. I have been reading that all that cardio can be counter productive for building muscle, and also, I generally do the outdoor jogging on what would normally be a "rest" day. So what's the deal with cardio? should I just be resting? I actually enjoy jogging outside, but could it actually be derailing my efforts?? Please help, I am so confused!

cwolfman13

running a 5K a few days per week isn't going to interfere with anything. Where people run into issues here is with major endurance training. A 5K a few days per week isn't a very heavy cardio load.

Even with a heavier endurance training load, this issue is overblown...for the average joe/jane it's really not that big of a deal so long as you continue to do resistance work. As a matter of general fitness for the average joe/jane wanting to be a little faster, a little stronger, and have a little more muscle and just be more awesome in general, this really isn't a big deal.

ETA: I ride 80 - 100 miles per week on my bike and throw in some swimming and walk my dog and lift weights a few nights per week and my muscle mass is just fine. If you're really trying to bulk, you may have difficulty with cardio and bulking in that the cardio is going to require you to eat a **** ton more food to get to an energy level necessary for bulking muscle...but you aren't going to burn up a bunch of muscle mass running a few miles a few days per week. Where you're going to have potential issues in this RE is in properly fueling your body for all of that activity...if you don't properly fuel your body you will burn muscle mass...if you properly fuel your body this really won't be much of an issue.

CatWhispererrrr

This is very helpful! Thank you!!