The Odd Couple Print E-mail



Resistance training and traditional aerobic exercise are incompatible at high volumes. You simply can't excel at both simultaneously. That's why you don't see a lot of bodybuilders doing triathlons, or marathon runners putting up impressive poundages in the squat rack. You can, however, engage in both to varying degrees depending on what it is you're trying to accomplish. Let us tell you how.

When building muscle is the goal, cardio needs to be kept to a minimum, especially when you have to fight for every ounce of muscle you gain. Besides, a couple of brief, intense workouts per week are really all you need to maintain good cardiovascular health. Any more than that, and you're either using cardio as a form of weight control or as a means of training for an endurance-based sport.

However, before you go ahead and just randomly start adding cardio to your program, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. First and foremost, the caloric support needs to be there. What we mean by that is that you have to make sure you eat enough calories to cover the energy demands of the workout. This shouldn't be too difficult since the workouts must be relatively brief (12 to 16 minutes in duration, tops).

The second consideration is the phase of training that you're in. During periods where you're working with lighter loads and higher reps, or supersets with shorter rest intervals, you're probably better off doing as little cardio as possible (perhaps as few as one session per week). On the other hand, heavy-load, low-rep training may have you feeling that you need a little bit more. Two short workouts per week are all you should really be doing when trying to add muscle. Otherwise, you'll just be spinning your wheels.

Finally, you need to try to keep your cardio training as far removed from your lifting as possible. We realize this might not always present the best option from a time efficiency standpoint. After all, if you can only get to the gym three times per week, it makes perfect sense to do it all in one shot. Unfortunately, though, what suits your schedule may not be optimal for building muscle. Combining resistance and cardiovascular training in the same session will likely lengthen your workouts to the point where they have a negative impact on your ability to recover. Let's face it; following a grueling session with the weights with 20 minutes on the elliptical machine isn't exactly a recipe for getting huge. Your muscles need a little more time than that to recuperate, especially considering the intense nature of the type of cardio work we want you to do.


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