Does Cardio Help to Improve Muscle Mass?

I promised myself I was going to try to post at least once or twice a week from now on and not neglect this blog. Even if no one else ever reads it, it's important for me to have a record of my journey, so I need to make a commitment to keep it active.

Someone on a fitness board I post on asked if cardio would help to improve muscle mass. I thought my response to him was worthy of being reproduced here:

Yes, cardio will help to improve your muscle mass. More on that in a minute. You know I've mentioned I follow Tom Venuto, who is an amazing natural bodybuilder and one of the most respected in his field, so this is what I've learned from him.

If you don't overdo your cardio, you don't need to worry about losing muscle. True, muscle proteins break down and are used for energy when you do cardio ... BUT ... your body is constantly doing that anyway. It's called “protein turnover” and it happens all day long. On average, extreme amounts of high-intensity, high-impact cardio can cause you to lose muscle; however, you are much more likely to lose muscle from inadequate protein consumption, dieting without weight training, or inadequate calorie intake than you are from too much cardio.

A lot of that will depend on your body type as well. If you have an ectomorphic body type and are naturally lean, “too much cardio” will probably be a much lower threshold than for someone who is a mesomorph (all of whom should all be banished to the deepest levels of Dante's hell, but that's another conversation ). The key is to find your balance and stay anabolic so you maintain muscle, while taking advantage of the benefits of cardio to burn fat.

Using high-intensity interval training (HIIT) as your cardio routine can help to improve your muscle mass. Basically, HIIT alternates a 2-3 minute high-intensity work interval with a 2-3 minute lower-intensity recovery interval. Not only do you burn a lot of calories by doing cardio this way, your metabolic rate will stay elevated longer after your workout is over. But, most importantly, those intervals of push-relax-push-relax-push-relax are pushing and resting your muscles in a cyclical pattern, which is giving you a similar, though much smaller, benefit as weight training. Result ... improved muscle mass It's important to remember to give those muscles a rest just as you do when you weight train as well ... follow your HIIT cardio with a weight training routine that focuses on a different muscle group.

When it comes down to it, there are three parts to good fitness: cardio, weight training, and nutrition. None of us will be able to achieve our optimal fitness peak unless we pay attention to all three equally.

Where Do I Start?

Like I said, it has been an interesting couple of months ... and hectic, too!

My last day at work was April 10 and I was delighted to exit out the door. Strutt and I spent a couple of weeks seriously talking about what I wanted to do. Did I want to be a stay-at-home mom, did I want to find another position as a business or strategic analyst? What it came down to was this: I've been in business for 25 years and have hated just about every minute of it ... but the money was really good, so I stayed. Believe it or not, all I've really ever wanted to be was a hair stylist, but I kind of fell into the "you need to be more ambitious than that" trap. After looking long and hard at all my options, I've walked away from it all - corporate America, one bachelor's, one master's, 15 years of experience as an analyst, and about six job offers. I start cosmetology school on Monday :) And I haven't been this happy for a long, long time.

The last two months since I left work have not been terrific, fitness-wise. At the end of April, I tore my right trapezius muscle and strained my right rear delt, so I couldn't work out for about six weeks. I didn't really gain a bunch of weight back (nothing I couldn't knock off with a week of clean eating), but it's taken me quite a bit of time to work my way back up to the level I was. And, I don't mind telling you, it's been a real pain in the ass.

The injury itself was very, very painful ... I'd rather have another baby than have another muscle tear. It was my own damned fault. Yes, I know how to lift safely and I always pay attention to my form. However, when I try a new routine, I usually back down on the weight until I'm comfortable with the routine, then I bring my weight back up to the level I'm accustomed to lifting. Well, I tried a new routine and didn't. I didn't handle any more weight than I usually do, but I didn't back down either ... and I paid for it. There is a good lesson in that for all of us. Rushing yourself or not paying attention leads to injury and that's best avoided, trust me.

Other than that, life has been good ... I'm relaxed, very tanned, and spend my days hanging out in my pool with my partner and my baby. Strutt, who has been a stay-at-home parent since Katie was born, will have to go back to work in the next month or so ... and we've decided that, since we don't want to put Katie in daycare, s/he'll find something on second shift. School is from 8:30 - 3:00 and it will only take me 10 minutes to get home, so that will work out well for us for now. My program is 10 months and Katie will be almost 2-1/2 when I graduate, so we think we'll feel a lot more comfortable putting her in some kind of day program then.

Now, that I've caught up, it will be time to get back to talking about the point of this blog ... fitness! Cheers!

Yes, I'm Still Alive!

Okay, I've been yelled at and yelled at and yelled at for my inattention ... LOL. It's been an interesting couple of months. I promise to start writing again more frequently, starting with an update tomorrow!