arabianhorselover wrote: »

Hi. As of a few months ago, I have lost the weight. Walking a lot was a big part of that. I am still walking just as much as I was in order to keep the weight off, and because if I want to take a 5 mile hike, I want to be able to do so.

Wondering recently, though, if my walking is affecting my ability to gain muscle. I have been doing Stronglifts plus some other stuff throughout this journey. I have gained a lot of strength, but I want to try to fill in areas where the fat used to be with muscle. Especially on my thighs and backs of arms.

If you do cardio, how much do you do, and what kind?

I very seriously doubt that walking is interfering with your ability to get stronger or gain muscle.

As far as figuring out the proper amount of cardio there's a number of considerations and I'm not going to be able to give you a concrete answer but here are the primary variables:

1) Your enjoyment/preferences around cardio.
2) Caloric balance and how cardio effects this.
3) Cardio or endurance based goals.
4) How cardio impacts recovery and fits into the overall program.

And there could be factors I'm missing but I'll start with these.

So for example, if you enjoy cardio and you have endurance based goals and your cardio volume does not impair your ability to lift weights, and your energy intake is appropriate for your goals and your level of activity then you're fine with your volume of cardio.


But anyway the general idea is to balance the above out.

arabianhorselover wrote: »

Well, the reason I ask is because so many trainers seem to say doing cardio more than once or twice a week is too much. They say it takes away from the energy you have to put into lifting. Also, things like walking work the muscles in a different way. People who do a lot of hiking, for instance, do not have legs with large muscles. Since I want to build up my thighs........?

I generally walk for exercise about 4 1/2 hours per week.

1) Walking will not have the same impact as higher intensity cardio
2) As long as its not extreme and you eat enough, cardio does not mean you cannot gain muscle, especially low intensity

As someone who does 8-20 hours of cardio per week I can say without a doubt that walking has zero effect on building muscle. Lift , eat at a surplus, put on muscle.

arabianhorselover wrote: »

scott091501 wrote: »

As someone who does 8-20 hours of cardio per week I can say without a doubt that walking has zero effect on building muscle. Lift , eat at a surplus, put on muscle.

The thing is, how would you really know if it was having an effect or not?

Careful and meticulous observation over several months or a couple of years while changing one variable at a time.

Given that people walk all the time and given that walking isn't going to impair recovery, what makes you believe that it could be impairing progress?

If anything I would expect frequent walking to IMPROVE results.

And says that easy cardio is fine on rest days.

Also, I'd argue that at a certain point, walking is no longer cardiovascular effecting, it's not intense enough to ask the body to make changes.
At the start sure, but eventually it turns into just a small calorie burning activity, and great for repair because it gets the blood flowing.

Ever seen half-dead people in the hospital walking the hallways after surgeries - that was me, had to walk.

Now, if you can only walk on 10% grade at 4 mph - then no, that is not the same as what I think most here are thinking of.

Are you doing power-walking which is leaving you breathless? Or more of the "walk around the block" variety?

Endurance athletes (marathoners, triathlon, hard-core hikers) won't have big muscles in general, but you have to work incredibly hard and long to fall into that category. I can't see simple walking as falling into that category. You get a decent stretch and increased blood flow to help carry away toxins and repair muscles.

To grow muscle, you need two things:

1. The body needs a reason to increase the size of the muscle, and
2. You need to consume enough calories & protein to fuel muscle growth

The body doesn't WANT big muscles; biologically speaking, it sees big muscles as a waste and a threat to the body's survival, since they consume more calories than small muscles. So you have to trick your body into thinking it needs big muscles, typically done via lifting heavy weights. Lifting heavy literally rips the muscle apart, and the body responds by not only repairing the damage but also increasing the size/density of the muscle to defend against future damage. Lifting light doesn't stress the muscle enough to require repair and growth; lifting heavy and then stopping will grow at first but then the muscle will see it is not being stressed any longer, so will shrink back down once more.

So if your goal is to build up muscles in your legs and you're already lifting, try lifting harder. This could mean lifting heavier, or lifting more volume, or a combination of both, each body will respond differently, so you have to find what works best for you. While walking does burn some calories, it should be easy to eat back what is burned walking and then some to fuel muscle growth.