Doing cardio with out gaining muscle...

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  • jedibunny
    jedibunny Posts: 321
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    In order to build muscle you need to be using a lot of resistance. You need to lift HEAVY weights... have hard resistance. You also need to be eating at a calorie surplus to build muscle.

    While on a calorie deficit and doing cardio, you will not build muscle. Unfortunately with a deficit and cardio most of us will lose some muscle... more so with a higher deficit.

    ^ This FTW!!!

    This is why so many people encourage weight training in addition to cardio for a good overall program. You won't look like a bodybuilder, you'll lose fat, and chances are you'll appear quite lean and strong (and you will be!) if you incorporate weight training. Higher resistance = building muscles, but most women won't bulk up the way that men do from lifting.

    Ever seen Staci?
    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    She's awesome. I want to be like her. I'm not doing Paleo, but trust me, good nutrition in whatever form you choose is VERY important if you want to be skinny and healthy instead of skinny and weak and tired... so factor that in to your equation as well.

    To answer your original question though, OP: no, doing cardio will not make you gain muscle unless your cardio is part of a serious weight training or resistance program.

    Cheers :)
  • Blessedbythebest1
    Blessedbythebest1 Posts: 971 Member
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    You care more about the number on the size tag than about looking/being fitter?

    Okayyy...

    You do realize that if you strength train and shape your muscles, you can lose inches but the scale won't budge, right? Weight is not related to size. I've seen women on here who lost inches all over but gained five pounds because muscle is more dense than fat.

    Personally, I'd rather look awesome in a dress that's a size 8 than be squishy and a size 6. Nobody can see your size tag, but they CAN see how you look in it. It's not like the size is printed on the back.

    This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^no more needs to be said..I rest my case!
  • SerenaFisher
    SerenaFisher Posts: 2,170 Member
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    Muscle is smaller than fat, but weighs more, by building muscle you will be more slender. Cardio does not bulk you up, as someone already said your body is use to carrying your weight around, it will cause you to lose body fat and gain a little mass but considering you are probably not in great muscular shape the definition you will get from the work out will still be smaller than you are. :D Do not look at the scale (as was also said) go by tape.
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
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    This is a serious forum; it is no place for jokes.

    I don't know why so many people here are so ready to jump on everything they disagree with, wow. Buncha bullies.
    Sorry you think you're being "BULLIED", but its quite ridiculous to imply that the time of day a person does cardio has anything to do with muscle gains or loss...

    If you have some kind of research that supports the theory, please feel free to post that, but as general advice, its just laughable!

    google "sarcasm" and then come back to us.
    So hard to tell around here with all the idiot advice that's given in complete seriousness (and people who actually believe said advice!)

    Once again...proof we need a sarcasm font!
  • jedibunny
    jedibunny Posts: 321
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    Muscle is smaller than fat, but weighs more, by building muscle you will be more slender. Cardio does not bulk you up, as someone already said your body is use to carrying your weight around, it will cause you to lose body fat and gain a little mass but considering you are probably not in great muscular shape the definition you will get from the work out will still be smaller than you are. :D Do not look at the scale (as was also said) go by tape.

    I'm sorry, I have to point out... muscle does not weigh more than fat. One pound of muscle = one pound of fat. One pound is one pound no matter what it's a pound of.

    Carry on.
  • moosegt35
    moosegt35 Posts: 1,296 Member
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    What sot of measurements should I look to lose? What is realistic? eg should I want to lose one inch a week from my hips/waist?
    For instance what sort measurement difference would be needed to drop a dress size? (if the measurement was from you hips say) this is new to me so I am interested.

    If you don't have much to lose, and it looks like you don't, then 1 inch a week is a lot. Might look for an inch a month. take measurements around yuor neck, arms, legs waist, or wherever you think you have some excess fat and watch the measurements slowly shrink. Another way would be to take unclothed photos of yourself in the mirror and keep a timeline of them to see if you can see progress. I am great with a computer so you could send those to me and I could compile the timeline for you if you want.


    LOL you want me to send unclothed photo's of my self to you? Im sure you didnt mean it in that way (I hope) but sounds a little dodgy hehe!

    That part was a joke. Taking the pics and keeping them to look at yourself and compare was serious though. Unless you really just want me to put them on a nice spreadsheet for you. Lol
  • moosegt35
    moosegt35 Posts: 1,296 Member
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    Muscle is smaller than fat, but weighs more, by building muscle you will be more slender. Cardio does not bulk you up, as someone already said your body is use to carrying your weight around, it will cause you to lose body fat and gain a little mass but considering you are probably not in great muscular shape the definition you will get from the work out will still be smaller than you are. :D Do not look at the scale (as was also said) go by tape.

    I'm sorry, I have to point out... muscle does not weigh more than fat. One pound of muscle = one pound of fat. One pound is one pound no matter what it's a pound of.

    Carry on.

    In that case nothing weighs more than anything else. I think they mean "muscle weighs more than fat" in relation to size.
  • moosegt35
    moosegt35 Posts: 1,296 Member
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    oops, double post.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    i would like to know too. every time i hit the treadmill i'm totally bulky by the time i step off of it
  • Blessedbythebest1
    Blessedbythebest1 Posts: 971 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/392784-skinny-fat-vs-fit-photo?hl=skinny+fat

    ^^^^this says it all -- awesome!
  • vkruithof
    vkruithof Posts: 227 Member
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    Listen to the Staci believers... http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833500-what-do-i-do-common-sense-cliff-notes (This is genius!)



    Ignore the rest of the flying monkeys on here that just want to pounce and not help...


    Also, if you want to know your body fat %... www.fat2fitradio.com

    Good luck!
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
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    Traditional cardio does not lead to muscle gain. Only high intensity forms of cardio that stimulate the muscles in the same way as strength training, or by generating explosive force from the muscles.
  • strikerjb007
    strikerjb007 Posts: 443 Member
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    I made the point earlier and asked what was so wrong about gaining weight in muscle. I am so glad someone on the thread cited past threads to illustrate what was said by a few on this thread.

    Now, the cliff notes post is pretty good. Now, everyone read it!!!!
  • strikerjb007
    strikerjb007 Posts: 443 Member
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    Traditional cardio does not lead to muscle gain. Only high intensity forms of cardio that stimulate the muscles in the same way as strength training, or by generating explosive force from the muscles.

    If you body can still be stimulated by "that weight" on HIIT, then yes. Oh and if you are eating at a surplus. Although if you are a newbie, you can probably see gains at a deficit. But it's difficult.
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
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    If you body can still be stimulated by "that weight" on HIIT, then yes. Oh and if you are eating at a surplus. Although if you are a newbie, you can probably see gains at a deficit. But it's difficult.

    cardio should still develop the type 1 'slow twitch' muscle fibers regardless of the load they are carring, assuming its intense enough and your eatting a surplus.
  • moosegt35
    moosegt35 Posts: 1,296 Member
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    You care more about the number on the size tag than about looking/being fitter?

    Okayyy...

    You do realize that if you strength train and shape your muscles, you can lose inches but the scale won't budge, right? Weight is not related to size. I've seen women on here who lost inches all over but gained five pounds because muscle is more dense than fat.

    Personally, I'd rather look awesome in a dress that's a size 8 than be squishy and a size 6. Nobody can see your size tag, but they CAN see how you look in it. It's not like the size is printed on the back.


    Ok I understand what you are saying, but for me its about loosing motivation, its always been my problem with dieting, I find I need to measure so I can tell my self im doing well.... it may sound strange to some people but for some it must make sense?????

    My first suggestion is to find your motivation outside of the scale. You are almost guaranteed to NOT lose 1 pound per week every single week. If you base your motivation solely on seeing the scale move, you are likely to fail very quickly. You have to work on your mindset and your thinking patterns in order to be successful longterm if you let scale movement or non-movement determine your mindframe.

    Start by accepting that what you are doing is for life. If you can't accept that it's for life, then find something that you can accept for life. There is no magical ending point. You don't get to stop when you get to goal. If you tell yourself that you will quit as soon as you hit a bump in the road, then you are setting yourself up for failure. Really work on changing your thoughts and responses to disappointment. Find motivation from factors other than the scale and just keep going. It would be way better for you to take 20 or 30 weeks to lose the weight slowly than for you to set an unrealistic or even realistic goal and quit the second it gets hard. Being down 10 pounds a year from now would be way better than being up even 1.


    I've lost all my weight over the course of 52 weeks and I probably have at least 52 more weeks, but if I had given up the first time I'd seen a gain, I'd probably weigh 10 pounds more than I did a year ago instead of over 52 pounds less...

    This is good advice. I have lost 44 pounds. It has taken just over a year to do. I lost weight before really fast (50 pounds in like 4 months) by eating hardly anything and running like a mad man. I also gained it all back plus 30 pounds a few years later. This time I eat healthy, low cals, high protein andwatch the fat, instead of just barely eating enough to function. I also lift weights a lot more and only do cardio a couple times a week and right now that is in the form of playing basketball 2 nights a week. I still have about 25 more to lose and plan on it taking several more months. It gets frustrating but try looking at the big picture instead of week to week. It bothers me sometimes that I gained a pound this week but then I look at my overall loss of 44 pounds and see that I am obviously doing something right and am on the right track.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
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    <======= lifting like crazy, eating tons of protein, at a slight surplus (TDEE + 5%). Lost 2 pounds in past 14 days.

    Gaining muscle is hard. Working on gaining strength and will see what happens.
    My problem is I know nothing about building mucle, this has never been one of my goals hence why I am trying to find out now how easy it is to gain muscle, but by the sounds of it its not very easy at all....?

    If gaining muscle was easy every guy at the gym would look like the Rock. You aren't going to gain so much muscle that you look bulky unless you start lifting like crazy and eating tons of protein with a cal surplus.
  • mfoy94
    mfoy94 Posts: 228 Member
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    Apparently youve never heard of skinny fat.
  • CallMeCupcakeDammit
    CallMeCupcakeDammit Posts: 9,377 Member
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    Just out of curiosity, and maybe it's been answered and I didn't see it, but you seem to be terrified of gaining muscle. Why is that? You won't get all crazy bulky like a man. Depending on your strength training, you will probably drop a size and just look lovely and healthy. You don't want to be skinnyfat and you don't need to just be focused on the scale.


    I do not like the thought of gaining because i get easily discoraged meaning if i dont feel like im loosing fat i seem to lose hope.... I dont have a probelm with gaining muscle as such just that im determined to stay on track and so far so good.... Im terrified of falling of the wagon not gaing muscle :)

    Send me your scale. I'll be more than happy to dispose of it for you. Even when I wasn't losing weight, everyone thought I was because I was lifting weights, and I looked smaller.
  • iampanda
    iampanda Posts: 176 Member
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    Even with a good hypertrophy program and a calorie surplus women typically gain no more than half a pound of muscle a month. Cardio won't make you gain muscle. If anything, you're probably losing muscle.

    I agree with this.

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