Cardio while bulking? If any, how much?
salisburyalex
Posts: 35 Member
Personally I really enjoy my cardio sessions and find them to be rather therapeutic. This is my first ever bulk after cutting weight for a few years. Do you guys/girls keep your cardio routines consistent during a bulk? Any information is appreciated.
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I try not to cardio on a bulk. I'm would be eating in the 4500+ range of calories and any cardio would only mean I would have to eat that much more to be in a surplus.
That being said, scheduling them with my goals in mind would be a priority and I would keep them consistent if nothing else but for proper rest which is a huge component of bulking.4 -
If you enjoy it do it. However you'll be burning more calories so you may have to eat more.1
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I do lots of cardio (cycling, hiking) while I bulk. I'm not willing to give these activities up. I don't enjoy lifting heavy things, and I enjoy the hell out of a bike ride.
I have to do less cardio because lifting takes time, and my honey wants some time with me too.
I have to eat more because bulking means gaining weight, and cardio exercise reduces the number of calories available for building muscle.2 -
The only time people recommend dropping or decreasing cardio is when they can't keep up with calories. So as long as it isn't impeding, cardio away. I know when I bulk, I will be doing HIIT.1
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I try to never do cardio. Bulk, cut, or maintenance. If it's therapeutic to you, go for it. Gotta make sure you're in a surplus and that it's not messing up recovery time.2
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another question is whether or not your body will get sufficient rest time to make use of the lifting you did to build new muscle.0
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richardgavel wrote: »another question is whether or not your body will get sufficient rest time to make use of the lifting you did to build new muscle.
Or rather, if you will get sufficient recovery in order to maintain a progressive overload to build muscle.1 -
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If you enjoy cardio, go for it. Just make sure you are fueling adequately to stay in a surplus and you prioritize your lifting.
Last time I bulked I did a bit of cardio but had to cut it out because I couldn't keep up with the eating. This time I am doing none.. I don't have time to workout that much nor do I have time to eat that much !1 -
For your cardiovascular health and mood I would keep cardio in no matter what.. and then have something like a protein cookie/milkshake etc that is calorie dense :-) I am like you, I love my cardio sessions0
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The purpose for doing cardio is to improve ur cardiovascular health- what does that have anything to do with bulking or losing weight?
When did ppl start to associate it with fat loss or keeping lean lol0 -
The purpose for doing cardio is to improve ur cardiovascular health- what does that have anything to do with bulking or losing weight?
When did ppl start to associate it with fat loss or keeping lean lol
There are a lot of people who are only interested in aesthetics, there are so many lean people in my gym who are NOT "fit". To me, that's absolutely crazy!1 -
Haha, I guess sexiness is conspicuous health. I blame mainstream media!0
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#firstworldproblems1
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The purpose for doing cardio is to improve ur cardiovascular health- what does that have anything to do with bulking or losing weight?
When did ppl start to associate it with fat loss or keeping lean lol
When you're bulking, you're intentionally in a caloric surplus. Cardio burns calories, which can reduce/eliminate the surplus. If one is going to do cardio during a bulk, they have to make sure they're compensating for the calories burned by increasing their intake.
Vigorous cardio (such as HIIT) can also impose demands on the CNS which hinders recovery, which hinders your strength workouts, which can ultimately also hinder growth.1 -
Do you realise how much cardio is needed to interfere with total calorie intake to the extent where its a problem as you are claiming?
I need to stop coming here....0 -
Do you realise how much cardio is needed to interfere with total calorie intake to the extent where its a problem as you are claiming?
I need to stop coming here....
Do you realize how much of a surplus we're usually talking about when bulking? If one is running a "clean bulk", they're only in a surplus of somewhere between 250-500 calories per day. Most people can burn somewhere around 250 calories in a 2.5 mile run, which, for a trained person, would take all of maybe 20 minutes. A 20-mile bike ride (which would be nothing for most dedicated cyclists) would easily take care of 500 calories in maybe an hour. So yeah, I do have a pretty good idea of how much cardio is needed to interfere with total calorie intake to the extent where it's a problem.
Sure, if you're running a GFH bulk and glomming down a 2,000 calorie surplus, there's not much to worry about (other than all the fat you're going to gain, that is). If you're keeping the surplus tight to minimize fat gains (as most halfway intelligent people do), there's not a lot of wiggle room there.5 -
It depends on how much of a surplus or calories over maintenance you're actually getting and your macros(how much if it is protein/carbs/fats) I recommend 40/40/20 protein/carb/fat && a 500-700 calorie surplus over maintenance. If he replaces the calories burned from cardio via diet and still gets his surplus it won't do a damn thing in terms of fat loss.
We are not talking thermogenics here- it's calories in calories out.
I understand more about physiology than you do0 -
It depends on how much of a surplus or calories over maintenance you're actually getting and your macros(how much if it is protein/carbs/fats) I recommend 40/40/20 protein/carb/fat && a 500-700 calorie surplus over maintenance. If he replaces the calories burned from cardio via diet and still gets his surplus it won't do a damn thing in terms of fat loss.
We are not talking thermogenics here- it's calories in calories out.
I understand more about physiology than you do
Which is pretty much exactly what I said (although we're talking about bulking, not fat loss - and nobody has said anything about thermogenic substances, so I'm not sure where that came from). Thanks for reinforcing my point.2 -
Op to answer you question, it really is personal preference whether you keep your cardio in with your bulk. As long as you are consistently in a surplus and cardio is NOT interfering with recovery from your workouts and the progressive overload is not being hindered, its ok to do both.
My running is enjoyment for me, and it kinda keeps me sane or as one mentioned above helps with mood.
If you are not making gains as planned, think about cutting or dropping cardio.1 -
It depends on how much of a surplus or calories over maintenance you're actually getting and your macros(how much if it is protein/carbs/fats) I recommend 40/40/20 protein/carb/fat && a 500-700 calorie surplus over maintenance. If he replaces the calories burned from cardio via diet and still gets his surplus it won't do a damn thing in terms of fat loss.
We are not talking thermogenics here- it's calories in calories out.
I understand more about physiology than you do
If you browse this forum, you will see how many people struggle to keep up calories. And it can be very difficult to know how many calories are burned with cardio, which may make it more difficult to maintain a consistent surplus. This is extremely true for those who do long distance. And then other considerations of muscle recovery come into play as well.
Also, % are not a good way to determine macronutrient goals. It should be done based on grams per lb of lean body mass to body weight.
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It depends on how much of a surplus or calories over maintenance you're actually getting and your macros(how much if it is protein/carbs/fats) I recommend 40/40/20 protein/carb/fat && a 500-700 calorie surplus over maintenance. If he replaces the calories burned from cardio via diet and still gets his surplus it won't do a damn thing in terms of fat loss.
We are not talking thermogenics here- it's calories in calories out.
I understand more about physiology than you do
This thread is about bulking. Fat loss isn't happening.2 -
Oh wow! Woke up to quite a few replies. I appreciate all of the insight. I'm probably going to end up having to cut some cardio out since I've been doing 30 minutes of steady state before each workout five times a week. I'm having a hard enough time eating the calories to bulk as is so I think a compromise is going to have to be made.0
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salisburyalex wrote: »Oh wow! Woke up to quite a few replies. I appreciate all of the insight. I'm probably going to end up having to cut some cardio out since I've been doing 30 minutes of steady state before each workout five times a week. I'm having a hard enough time eating the calories to bulk as is so I think a compromise is going to have to be made.
That is probably the right idea. When I did my first bulk, I had to reduce the amount I ran to one 30 minutes per week so I could gain. Even though I liked running, my objective was to gain weight/muscle.1 -
salisburyalex wrote: »Oh wow! Woke up to quite a few replies. I appreciate all of the insight. I'm probably going to end up having to cut some cardio out since I've been doing 30 minutes of steady state before each workout five times a week. I'm having a hard enough time eating the calories to bulk as is so I think a compromise is going to have to be made.
Good job, you can do this.
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I won't get into the science of doing HIIT while on a bulk but here are some cliffs:
Increases metabolism
Increases muscle mass
Increases Vo2 max
Increases protein synthesis
Increases fat loss
Increases testosterone
Ultimately if you are having hard enough time consuming the required calories then maybe high volume weight training with little rest between sets = your cardio lol
Best of luck!1 -
The purpose for doing cardio is to improve ur cardiovascular health- what does that have anything to do with bulking or losing weight?
When did ppl start to associate it with fat loss or keeping lean lol
There are a lot of people who are only interested in aesthetics, there are so many lean people in my gym who are NOT "fit". To me, that's absolutely crazy!
I'm not exactly "only interested in aesthetics "but dislike (1)being constantly told I'm too skinny (2)the way I look and feel (it actually hurts to sit on a hard surface )and (3 ) I suffer from a chronic illness that means I sometimes lose a lot of weight and have nothing to fall back on.
For the time being I'm avoiding too much cardio and just swim or walk briskly 3 times a week,but will increase this when I've reached the weight I'm happy with1 -
I won't get into the science of doing HIIT while on a bulk but here are some cliffs:
Increases metabolism
Increases muscle mass
Increases Vo2 max
Increases protein synthesis
Increases fat loss
Increases testosterone
Ultimately if you are having hard enough time consuming the required calories then maybe high volume weight training with little rest between sets = your cardio lol
Best of luck!
Not nearly this black and white.
HIIT has a strong recovery component and so from a practical standpoint you could make a strong argument that the more HIIT you do, the less resistance training you can do because recovery is finite. Depending on the goal, someone might be better off adding additional resistance training volume instead of HIIT.
This isn't me saying that HIIT is arbitrarily good or bad -- it's a tool that will cause a specific set of adaptations. Whether or not someone should incorporate it into a routine is goal dependent among other things.
Additionally, you're claiming that HIIT will increase the loss of fat when in a caloric surplus. Good luck losing fat on a bulk.5 -
I won't get into the science of doing HIIT while on a bulk but here are some cliffs:
Increases metabolism
Increases muscle mass
Increases Vo2 max
Increases protein synthesis
Increases fat loss
Increases testosterone
Ultimately if you are having hard enough time consuming the required calories then maybe high volume weight training with little rest between sets = your cardio lol
Best of luck!
Not nearly this black and white.
HIIT has a strong recovery component and so from a practical standpoint you could make a strong argument that the more HIIT you do, the less resistance training you can do because recovery is finite. Depending on the goal, someone might be better off adding additional resistance training volume instead of HIIT.
This isn't me saying that HIIT is arbitrarily good or bad -- it's a tool that will cause a specific set of adaptations. Whether or not someone should incorporate it into a routine is goal dependent among other things.
Additionally, you're claiming that HIIT will increase the loss of fat when in a caloric surplus. Good luck losing fat on a bulk.
Lean bulk? Eat just enough over your maintenance to build muscle, but not enough to put on fat. Technically over the day and throughout the night your body will be burning fat HOWEVER it will not be as significant as a standard cut. All he needs to do is look up muscular potential to figure out how much he'd be able to gain in a year, and then divide that into the growth potential per day/week. If he goes too high his your calories this won't work but that doesn't sound like an issue for him.
The best way to lose fat and gain muscle is to recomp. Which means to cycle your calories so on workout days you put yourself in a surplus and on rest days you put yourself in a deficit.0
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