Doing cardio or lifting weights?

You may love to lift weights. In fact, you are working out regularly and taking firm steps towards bodybuilding. However, cardio workouts may not interest you.

 Allocating even a little of the time you spend in the gym to cardio can make you think of it as an unnecessary activity that makes the muscles you've barely built melt away. But in order to make those muscles more prominent, you should not neglect cardio work.

 If your goal is only to have bigger muscles, yes, this may be possible as a result of weight training, but you should also know that your trapezius and deltoid muscles cannot be separated from each other. You should not forget that you need cardio for a lean and voluminous body!

 Moreover, cardiovascular exercises have a very important place for heart health. Let's also mention that having a healthy heart will provide more efficient oxygen and blood flow to your muscles. In this case, if you want a more effective muscle development; Cardio is a must!

 Let me help you with some tips to both have a healthy heart and get more efficiency from weight training.

Do Cardio and Weight Training on Different Days

People who do intense weight training make a big mistake, thinking that doing cardio afterward will have a negative impact on muscle development. However, it all depends on how you do cardio. Between weight training and cardio, you must learn to give your body time. Your cardio training will not negatively affect your muscle development. Namely, doing cardio after leg workouts is not a very wise choice for the development of your leg muscles. But if you do the same workout two days later, you won't have to lose any muscle. If you have to do weight and cardio training on the same day, you should be careful to choose a cardio exercise that will not affect the muscles you work in the weight training. For example; If you have done back training, you should not choose rowing exercise as cardio, you should prefer another exercise. The most important thing to remember is to always do weight training first.

Cardio or Weight? Set Your Goal

You should know that the necessity of changing your weight training periodically for effective muscle development is also valid for your cardio training. It will be beneficial for you to change the frequency, tempo and duration of your studies. During periods when you focus only on increasing muscle volume, you may need to limit your cardio work to 10-15 minutes 1-2 days a week. Thus, you can realize that it will keep your energy at a certain level and allow you to concentrate only on muscle development. But if you primarily want to burn fat, it is okay to increase the number of cardio to 4 days a week. However, it will be very important to constantly change your cardio routine.

 Work at High Intensity

The claims that the body starts to burn fat after the 20th minute have surely come to your ears. Let's just underline that this is a completely unrealistic determination. We know that your body expends more energy in high-intensity exercise than in low-intensity exercise. Therefore, it is possible to burn more fat in a shorter time. Immediately after high-intensity movement, you need to do interval training in the form of active rest. Thus, you will have chosen the healthiest way for both your heart and fat burning.

 Make the Right Choice

You should know that; After weight training, your body will spend a lot of time regenerating and developing your muscles. Moreover, you should not need to force it with a high-intensity and strenuous cardio workout. Instead of running on hard surfaces such as concrete, you should prefer exercises such as swimming and cycling.