Would including cardio in my HST routine hurt my results?

Arekus

New Member
I'm thinking about doing about 20-30 minutes of cardio 2 days a week when I'm not lifting... Would this have negative effects on my muscle gains? I'm up to 235 lbs and roughly 30% BF, so I definitely have some to lose, but my main concern right now is gaining muscle. Should I use this first cycle to bulk, then cut next cycle? I'm trying to eat about 3500 calories per day as is and am pretty sedentary aside from walking 1-2 miles per day and lifting 3 days per week. I'm thinking it might be best to hold off on cardio as I'd just be burning calories that would otherwise use for bulking unless I want to raise my grocery bill. Opposing ideals, I suppose... Seems like I have to pick one or the other.



Thanks,
Dustin
 
Are you doing the cardio purely to lose bodyfat?
If so, then cardio isnt needed as all it does is burn calories. Just adjust your macros and you'll lose the weight. I'm not sure whether your bulking or cutting. But you cant really bulk monday wednesday friday and cut tuesday thursday if you were intending to do both.

As to answer your other question. Depending on how intense the cardio is will depend on how negative it will impact your gains as its all about your recovery rate. Also depending on how much volume your workouts consist of will also factor in. You'll have to figure out a happy medium through trial and error if your going to do it to see how quickly your body recovers.
 
The perfect answer that I was looking for. Thanks. I'll bulk this cycle and adjust my calories the next cycle for about 300 below my maintenance. Appreciate your input.
 
Don't do cardio when bulking, when cutting do plenty of cardio. Don't try to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. If I were you, if you really are at 30% bodyfat, I would cut first. You aren't going to even know if you are gaining muscle if you have that much bodyfat. Cut the fat back so you can see the muscles, then start trying to gain.
 
Definitely something to think about... I just figured it would be a bit easier to cut down with more lean muscle. More calories burned per session or something... I had reasoning behind it at one point.... I've never actually had my body fat tested with calipers... Only ever used the online tests with no real accurate reading... Some say 22, some say 30... I'll look into it and see if the campus gym has a measurement tool.
 
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