Too much cardio for building muscle?

granty1987

How much cardio is too much if you are looking to gain muscle mass?

Been struggling in the gym a little recently and I think its coming down to the amount of cardio I am doing. Just don't have enough energy and I feel that its inhibiting any gains I could be making

Currently cycling to work every day - roughly an hour on the bike

Would play decent level tag rugby and 5 aside about 6 nights a week and go wakeboarding about twice a week.

Previously I was doing this routine: upper body push, legs, rest, upper body pull, legs, rest

Now I have cut back my leg days as they're constantly in recovery mode from running/cycling

Been trying to increase my food intake to help with energy levels

Im pretty sure I just need to reduce the cardio in the evenings a bit but i enjoy it but my gym progression is getting frustrating as a result.

Oh, I lift in the evenings before sports. I am not a massive morning person and as the matches go on til 10pm some nights, getting up in the morning for the gym cuts into my sleep too much

Thanks

Blacktie.

That is a lot of cardio bit it comes down to diet really unless the cardio is drastically affecting your recovery. In the end you could up your calorie intake a fair amount and that should solve the issue. Muscle building is about intensity of workout and nutrition.

Alf Veedersane

You need to eat enough food to build muscle and you need to be able to train properly to build muscle.

If your cardio hampers your ability to train, you're not going to be able to build much muscle.

It's very hard to serve two masters.

Zillah

I don't do nearly as much cardio as you do and I found I needed to make a serious effort to up my calorie intake to make proper progress with weights. The amount of exercise you're doing, you probably need 4k-5k per day to make any significant gains.

What's your BMI/body fat like generally? I'm going to guess you are lean. You need to gain weight to gain muscle.

granty1987

Zillah wrote: »

I don't do nearly as much cardio as you do and I found I needed to make a serious effort to up my calorie intake to make proper progress with weights. The amount of exercise you're doing, you probably need 4k-5k per day to make any significant gains.

What's your BMI/body fat like generally? I'm going to guess you are lean. You need to gain weight to gain muscle.

Last time I checked was during a bulking period back in December when I had added on 3kg, my bodyfat was at 11.5% then. Since then I have lost that weight due to a long snowboarding holiday and the cardio upping a gear or two.

Doubt im eating anywhere near that level tbh but i have added in additional meals in the last two weeks to compensate

Id actually appreciate an additional day or two in the week to do everything

Zillah

granty1987 wrote: »

Since then I have lost that weight due to a long snowboarding holiday and the cardio upping a gear or two.

Well, there you go, that's your answer. You are on a calorie deficit, no wonder you are struggling in the gym. You need to eat enough to gain weight to gain muscle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnpy3cC673o

Mellor

cardio might or might not be hampering your muscle gaining potential. But It's deficit increasing the food you need to be eating.

Before you go tossing it out altogether, I'd just focus on eating more food, and higher calorie food for 2-4 weeks.

granty1987

Cheers everyone.

Kinda knew that it was coming down to this, i will increase the calories and see how that works after a few weeks. Think i will drop one of the days cycles or matches

New job is a factor for the energy levels as well.

Im looking forward to smashing this though, at the end of the day i get to do what i love and eat more. win win. Have my cake and eat it you might say

reklamos

With all the late cardio I would say that on top of not getting enough calories your body also does not get enough rest and that does impact your energy levels.

Transform

there's not a snowballs chance in hell that eating more will make a significant difference and i think youll just slowly start to feel increasingly fatigued to the point of illness.

cut back and decide on whats important to you.

had a guy in with me a while back, cyclist, 43yrs old, on the bike 12-16hrs a week, competitive cyclist, wanted to gain some muscle, had terrible mobility

my answer - no way in hell any muscle gain is going to happen unless he cuts back on cycling.

his response - i like cycling so lets just work on improving strength and mobility

just comes down to what you enjoy and not trying to ride two horses at the same time as the cardio you're doing is far and beyond whats typical for most people

MartyMcFly84

I would up the calories and ensure you are getting enough carbs and protein in your diet to allow for muscle growth and recovery. Importantly ensure you are getting enough sleep also, this is essential for muscle growth and keeping testosterone production optimal.

Cycling does not prevent muscle growth. Most decent cyclist have developed legs.

Transform

MartyMcFly84 wrote: »

I would up the calories and ensure you are getting enough carbs and protein in your diet to allow for muscle growth and recovery. Importantly ensure you are getting enough sleep also, this is essential for muscle growth and keeping testosterone production optimal.

Cycling does not prevent muscle growth. Most decent cyclist have developed legs.

dude there is no way in hell he'll be able to simply eat more and sleep is going to make bugger all difference when there is such a large output .

the op needs to cut back somewhere

OP whats your height and weight?

granty1987

Update

So I have been upping my food intake. Second breakfast, afternoon snack and doubling up on the frequency of protein shakes that I'm taking.

I have also altered the evenings that I am playing field sports to Mondays, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. (Saturday is debatable if ill keep it up)

Wed, Fri and Sunday are cardio rest days.

So far so good as I'm feeling better lifting and in the evenings.

I am reducing the amount of days I cycle to work.

Question, do people reckon id be better off aligning cycle-to-work days with the evenings I have cardio or or on the days that I have given my legs the evening off? My guess is to have proper rest days (from cycle and sports)

Thanks for all the feedback!

Alf Veedersane

MartyMcFly84 wrote: »

Cycling does not prevent muscle growth. Most decent cyclist have developed legs.

Sprinters, and track cyclists have, perhaps.

The majority of road cyclists don't. Unless you mean 'fully formed' by 'developed'.

granty1987

Transform wrote: »

dude there is no way in hell he'll be able to simply eat more and sleep is going to make bugger all difference when there is such a large output .

the op needs to cut back somewhere

OP whats your height and weight?

Havnt measured myself in a few months but at my current cardio output Id usually level out at 79kg, 11% BF at 6 foot.

From a couple of occasions, i have been able to add on around 1.5kg a month if i cut out cardio but I lose it pretty quickly when i start back again.

Transform

granty1987 wrote: »

Havnt measured myself in a few months but at my current cardio output Id usually level out at 79kg, 11% BF at 6 foot.

From a couple of occasions, i have been able to add on around 1.5kg a month if i cut out cardio but I lose it pretty quickly when i start back again.

have you started tracking calorie intake?

Based on your height/weight/activity you're going to need 3,500-4,000 cals per day to gain some muscle.

you think you're hitting that daily?

granty1987

Transform wrote: »

have you started tracking calorie intake?

Based on your height/weight/activity you're going to need 3,500-4,000 cals per day to gain some muscle.

you think you're hitting that daily?

That seems like a lot of calories so Im guessing no. Can't say that I have done it before. Would be an interesting exercise to benchmark what my calorie intake is at the moment. I'll get My Fitness Pal and see where I am

The thing that has always made me lazy about calorie counting is determining portion sizes that you havn't measured yourself. Lunch would be a guesstimation as I use the canteen at work.

MartyMcFly84

dude there is no way in hell he'll be able to simply eat more and sleep is going to make bugger all difference when there is such a large output .

the op needs to cut back somewhere

OP whats your height and weight?

Speaking from personal experience, when you have a large output you can drastically change your physique with upping calories and getting more sleep and changing little else.

I compete in MMA and various combat sports and over the year my weight can vary up to 18kg. All I really do is up or decrease my calories and rest patterns and my training stays more or less consistent with short periods of scaling back a little .

conzy

Transform

MartyMcFly84 wrote: »

Speaking from personal experience, when you have a large output you can drastically change your physique with upping calories and getting more sleep and changing little else.

I compete in MMA and various combat sport and over the year by weight can vary up to 18kg. All I really so is up or decrease by calories and rest patterns and my training stays more or less consistent with short periods of scaling back a little .

agreed and its getting the OP to realise how much he needs to up by

granty1987

OK I added up my food intake yesterday and came to just over 3,500 calories. This figure could be off a little as i did not measure the food, but gave a guesstimation as to the volumes. Used branded nutritional info where relevant.

I did not each much more than usual, my dinner was probably a bit higher on the calories, quite carb heavy.

I ate around 200g of protein which seems enough for protein synthesis (2.5g / body weight kg) although im by no means an expert, 480g of carbs and 70g of fats

Blacktie.

granty1987 wrote: »

OK I added up my food intake yesterday and came to just over 3,500 calories. This figure could be off a little as i did not measure the food, but gave a guesstimation as to the volumes. Used branded nutritional info where relevant.

Considering you haven't tracked before I'm going to say this is actually way off.

Alf Veedersane

Tbh, if you've never tracked or weighed, guessing weights of food is a fool's errand

conzy

Your going to have to track accurately for a week or two just to get an idea of your actual intake.

Sometimes what feels like "loads of food" tops out at 2500 calories.

Calorie density is going to be really important, getting in a "meal" before you even leave the house is good.

A frozen banana, two scoops of whey, some milk and peanut butter is an easy 900 calories or so in a pint glass to start they day

ford2600

Eating more is pretty easy; add in foods low in fibre and protein.

Think butter, olive oil, cake.... have your spuds fried in beef lard.

Really easy that way to add 1000 calories daily.

Blacktie.

ford2600 wrote: »

Eating more is pretty easy; add in foods low in fibre and protein.

Think butter, olive oil, cake.... have your spuds fried in beef lard.

Really easy that way to add 1000 calories daily.

I found this out when I took a bit of a diet break. First day was 3700 calories and I didn't feel like all that much. And this was all relatively "clean" food aswell.

granty1987

Cool thanks for all the tips lads!

Yeah thinking back I miscalculated the dinner so it was definitely less than i originally estimated. I am not too fussed on the exact figure, as I think I don't need to be as strict as someone cutting.

If people have any other suggestions that they use for adding more calories to their day feel free to throw em out there!

Need to prep better for an afternoon snack. I can get by with a protein shake but id prefer something a bit more homemade and solid

Zillah

Get some powdered oats and peanut butter from somewhere like myprotein or bulkpwders. Throw them in the protein shake. You can make it the night before, keep in fridge.