How to Do Cardio When You're Building Muscle Mass (and Why)

Want to build muscle mass, but not sure about cardio?

You’ve come to the right place. First, the basics:

But you may still want to do cardio. Why?

  • There is evidence it prevents 26 diseases
  • It improves your cardiovascular fitness and speeds up your overall recovery
  • High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is the most efficient cardio for fat loss (Boutcher, 2001)

So, I usually recommend it twice a week to clients who want to do cardio.

Guidelines for cardio when building muscle mass

  • Twice a week
  • 20 minutes per session
  • Alternate slow and fast intervals
  • Stationary bike is safest
  • Same day you train legs, at the end of your workout

No equipment? Jogging and running can work. Just make sure you don’t exhaust yourself to the point where your running technique goes bad and you turn an ankle.

These are basic guidelines. You may want to adapt them to your situation and progress over time (Dr. Muscle will help you with that part).

When to do cardio?

After Weights

Benefits

  1. Enhanced Fat Burning: Performing cardio after weight training can enhance fat burning. This is because weight training depletes glycogen stores, forcing your body to tap into fat reserves during the subsequent cardio session.
  2. Improved Aerobic Endurance: Ending your workout with a run can help improve your aerobic endurance. This is particularly beneficial if your primary goal is to enhance cardiovascular fitness.
  3. Muscle Building Potential: By lifting weights first, you ensure that your muscles are fresh and capable of performing at their maximum potential, which is crucial for muscle growth. Running afterward allows you to maintain this focus on strength during the initial part of your workout.

Considerations

  1. Energy Levels: Running after a workout might mean you have less energy for the cardio session, as your glycogen stores are already depleted. This can be a positive if your goal is fat loss, but it might be a downside if you're looking to maximize your running performance.
  2. Goal Alignment: If your primary goal is to build muscle, it's generally recommended to do strength training first. Conversely, if your main goal is to improve endurance or lose weight, you might consider starting with cardio.
  3. Recovery and Nutrition: After a workout, especially one that includes both strength and cardio, it's important to refuel with protein to aid muscle recovery and growth. This is crucial as your body is in a state of heightened protein synthesis post-workout.
  4. Personal Preference and Enjoyment: Ultimately, the order of your workout should also consider what you enjoy most. If you prefer running after lifting, and it keeps you 

Separate Sessions

When it comes to running and strength training, having separate sessions can indeed offer some advantages:

  1. Improved Performance: Separating your running and strength training into different sessions allows you to focus on each activity with maximum energy and effort. This can lead to better performance in both areas.
  2. Reduced Fatigue: By doing your runs and workouts separately, you're less likely to experience fatigue that could compromise your form or intensity in either activity.
  3. Better Recovery: Separate sessions give your body more time to recover between different types of exercise, potentially reducing the risk of overtraining or injury.
  4. Flexibility in Scheduling: Having separate sessions allows for more flexibility in your workout schedule, which can be beneficial for fitting exercise into a busy lifestyle.

Considerations for Separate Sessions

While separate sessions can be beneficial, there are some factors to consider:

  1. Time Commitment: Separate sessions may require more total time due to additional warm-ups and cool-downs.
  2. Goal-Specific: The best approach depends on your primary fitness goals. If you're training for a specific event or sport, separate sessions might be more appropriate.
  3. Cross-Training Benefits: Some research suggests that runners who cross-train (including strength training) can become more efficient runners with better performance. The reverse may also be true for those who primarily strength train.

In conclusion, whether to have separate sessions or combine running and workouts depends on your specific goals, schedule, and preferences.

  • If your primary goal is to excel in both running and strength training, separate sessions might be the better choice.
  • However, if time is a constraint or you enjoy the variety of combined sessions, doing both in one workout can still be effective.

Remember, consistency is key in any fitness routine. Choose the approach that you're most likely to stick with long-term, and don't hesitate to adjust your strategy as your goals and circumstances change.

New to interval training?

If you’re completely new to interval training, check out this tutorial:

How to add cardio to your program in Dr. Muscle

Option 1 (easiest): Toggle on Cardio under Settings

By default, Dr. Muscle does not include cardio in your program. But you can add it easily. Here’s how:

  1. Tap Settings (bottom bar)
  2. Look for Cardio
  3. Toggle on

This options adds 10-20 min of cardio exercise (HIIT style) at the end of all your workouts.

Option 2 (most flexible): Add custom cardio exercises to your program

Here’s how you would go about adding custom cardio exercises to your program:

1. On your home page, scroll all the way down
2. Tap Exercises (bottom-left)
3. Tap the big plus button at the bottom right corner
4. Enter the name of your new exercise
5. Tap cardio on exercise type
6. Choose Both sides together
7. Enter how many seconds you can do easily
8. Tap continue to finish setting up the exercise.

To adjust the exercise settings, do this:

1. Tap More next to the exercise
2. Tap Exercise settings
3. Toggle on "Use custom set style" and select "Normal sets" from the dropdown
4. Toggle on "Use custom warm-ups" and set it to zero
5. Tap Save warm-up sets
6. Enter the number of your custom work sets under "Work sets"
7. Tap Save work sets

To add the exercise into your workout, do this:

1. Tap Home (bottom navigation)
2. Open your workout
3. Tap Edit workout on the top left
4. Toggle on the exercise from My exercises section
5. Tap next
6. [Optional] choose to reorder your exercises
7. Tap save workout

If you want to set up a custom rest interval, do this:

  1. Tap the timer icon in the top right
  2. Enter your your time using -/+
  3. Toggle off Automatch Reps

And you’re good to go! Now, when you start biking, you’ll do “sets” (intervals) of 30 seconds with 120 seconds of rest in between.

By default, the app will recommend 2-5 intervals based on your progression. You can add or remove sets on the fly; the app will remember your changes and adjust in one workout.