MuscleCircuit.com

A conversation between me and my roommate, Chris:

Carl: “Hey Chris, let’s go do some cardio at the football field in a little bit”

Chris: “I don’t know man, I’m not really up for it”

Carl: “Why the heck not?”

Chris: “Nah, I don’t want to burn off too many calories - I’m trying to bulk up”

Carl: “Okay, I guess I’ll have to go embarrass you on the internet now” (I didn’t really say this line, but I should have)”

A Common Mistake

This happens often. It’s easy to overdo certain activities when we want them bad enough, and sometimes by overdoing things - it means we’re also neglecting something else.

In this case, by Chris overdoing his bulk, he’s neglecting cardio. A common mistake.

Example: Chris wants to gain weight.
The Problem: He thinks he needs to skip cardio to do it.

While skipping cardio in order to gain more weight makes sense from a theoretical point of view, it’s a bad idea from a realistic one.

Why Is Skipping Cardio so Bad?

Your heart. I know you want huge pecs (it’s my favorite muscle to train too, by the way) - but your heart is just more important.

Another huge, and very important, benefit is your heart’s ability to deliver nutrients (such as oxygen) to your muscles. The more able your heart is to push nutrients, the more able you are to push your muscles.

Cardiovascular condition. If you skip cardio, your cardiovascular condition will not improve, meaning you get tired just as fast as you did last month.

Muscle growth requires you to push your muscles a little harder each and very time you work out. So given that, how are you supposed to push your muscles harder when you get tired just as quickly as you did last month?

How Cardio Can Help You Get More Muscular

By pushing your cardiovasular condition, you improve your ability to do physical work for longer periods of time. More importantly though, you also improve your ability to handle short, intense durations of work.

This is what gives your body an edge to get bigger, you’re able to push your muscles harder than you did before, because you’re not getting tired as quickly.

Combining a more intense workout with the fact that your heart is now capable of delivering more oxygen and nutrients to your muscles, means bigger muscles.

Given, of course, your diet must be intact and in a calorie surplus to see these kind of results.

Summary

• Your heart is more important than your pecs or any other muscle
• Skipping cardio reduces your heart’s ability to deliver nutrients to your muscles
• Just don’t skip cardio