Cardio increases muscle growth? Say what???

“Cardio bashing” has become rampant in the fitness

industry in the last few years. Have you noticed?
I sure have.

Both practitioners and experts alike have been blogging
away, posting on forums and writing books based on the
notion that:

* cardio is a waste of time (“just lift weights and eat right”)
* cardio will chew up your muscle
* cardio will sap your strength

Even degreed and certified strength and conditioning
coaches have been known to tell their clients to
avoid cardio and just focus on weight training.

What if I told you they may be mistaken?

What if I told all those cardio haters that there’s
a way to do cardio that will actually…

INCREASE MUSCLE GROWTH?

My guess is that a lot of them wouldn’t believe me
(or they’d just get P****d off because this conflicts
with their beliefs).

Most people have been programmed to believe that that
when you’re working on gaining muscle, you should stop
doing all cardio.

Research says otherwise and my experience backs it up.

A study published in the journal Medicine and Science
and Sports and Exercise (McCarthy) recruited 30
sedentary (untrained) healthy men who were divided
into three groups.

The strength group performed eight weight training
exercises for one warm up set and three maximal
effort sets for 5 to 7 reps per set, to the point
of muscular failure.

Rest between sets was approximately 75 seconds.

The endurance group performed 50 minutes of continuous
cycling at 70% of heart rate reserve. The concurrent group
completed the strength and the endurance protocol
in the same session, with a 10-20 minute break between
each workout (lifting or cycling).

The order of weight lifting or cycling was rotated
with each session.

Results: When strength and endurance training were
performed on the same day and for only 3 days per
week on alternate days, strength development was NOT
compromised as compared to the strength training only.

But here’s the kicker: The subjects in the concurrent
training group actually experienced greater muscle growth
in the thighs than the strength training only group!

Another study was performed at the University of Kansas
Department of Exercise Science (Dolezal). The results
were published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

This time the subjects were experienced trainees.

Thirty men who had already been training 3 days per
week for at least a year were assigned to one of
three groups – endurance training, resistance
training or concurrent training.

The resistance training group used a combination of
free weights and Universal machines. The program was
a 2 day split divided into upper and lower body
workouts.

They performed 3 sets of 10-15 reps the first week
and the resistance was progressively increased toward
the end of the 10 week study so that failure occurred
at 10-12 reps on the first set, 8-10 on the second
set and 4-8 on the third set.

The endurance training group participated in a jogging
or running program, progressively increasing in duration
and intensity to meet a new training goal every 2 weeks.

They started at 65% of age-derived maximum heart rate
for 25 minutes and built up to 75-85% of max heart rate
for 40 minutes by the end of the study.

This study was different than similar studies because basal
metabolic rate (BMR) was also measured.

The BMR for the resistance training and concurrent groups
increased, while BMR for the endurance-only group decreased.

In the concurrent group, there was a decrease in body fat
and an increase in fat free mass as well as an increase
in strength.

THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT WE’RE AFTER WITH A “HOLY GRAIL”
BODY TRANSFORMATION:

An increase in fat-free (lean) mass *AND* a decrease in body fat.

Ok, so if this is possible, then why all the cardio bashing?

Exercise scientists have studied the effect of concurrent
cardio (endurance) and strength training at length. I read
nearly 20 studies on the subject prior to writing the Holy
Grail cardio program.

When you read the research, you see how excessive aerobics or
endurance training can indeed reduce power, strength and even
lean body mass.

But if you read a little deeper, you see that moderate
amounts of cardio – even up to 2 to 2.5 hours per week
can actually INCREASE LEAN BODY MASS WHILE DECREASING
BODY FAT!

My two cents: A lot of people bash cardio just because
they hate doing it.

Hey, fair enough, I’m not particularly fond of it myself, But…

Most people could actually get better results if they
included cardio during their muscle gain programs…

It can prevent the “bulked-up” look where you do gain
muscle, but put on fat at the same time.

And when it comes to “body recomposition” – which means
gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time – I believe
that including cardio is almost a necessity for most
body types.

Why does excessive cardio hold back strength, power and
muscle gains, while moderate cardio can actually improve
muscle growth?

Those mechanisms are beyond the scope of this short
newsletter, but there are many reasons, which I explain
in the Holy Grail body transformation manual.

To learn more about the program visit:
http://www.realfatloss.com/hg.html

In the meantime, Here’s my quick n dirty recommendations

for cardio during muscle gaining programs:

* 2-3 days per week
* 20-50 minutes per session
* intensity will be higher for shorter sessions
* intensity will be medium / lower on longer sessions
* Busy people use HIIT to save time
* If you exceed 3d/wk, additional cardio should be
low-intensity
* Hate cardio machines? Use your imagination and do
something you enjoy. Cardio doesn’t just mean ‘Treadmill’
* ectomorphs: You might get away with little or no cardio
* endomorphs: cardio is absolutely crucial to avoid
gaining fat with the muscle

As en “endomorph” body type myself, I have the tendency
to gain fat while gaining muscle. Keeping a moderate
amount of cardio in my routine all year round – even
during the muscle building phases has worked WONDERS
for keeping my gains lean.

So there you have it…

Do cardio to gain LEAN muscle!…

Train hard and expect success!

Tom venuto, Author,
Holy grail body transformation system
http://www.realfatloss.com/hg.html

PS. The New Holy Grail program is a muscle gaining program,
designed to help you gain lean muscle without the fat, or
even achieve muscle gain with fat loss at the same time.

Learn more about The “holy grail” program here:
http://www.realfatloss.com/hg.html