Should I stop doing cardio?
I'm a 27 years old man, I'm 1.76m tall, I weigh 66 kilos and I have 6.6% body fat.
My current goal is to improve my posture and my muscular mass. I think I have a pretty good heart health (I have a resting heart rate of 50-56 bpm, and >I usually hit 140-150 bpm at elliptic bike/fixed rower and 160 bpm at SkiErg).
I currently do two cardio workouts of 20 minutes per week.
My thought is the following: since cardio and muscle growth "consum" fat, regarding my low body fat, does cardio slow down my muscle growth? If so, should I stop doing cardio workouts?
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I'm 185.5cm tall and weigh about 96kg. I do three intense cardio workouts every eight days (two running [3.5 miles and 4.5 miles], one bike or stationary bike [20min time trial]). This doesn't interfere with muscle or strength building at all for me. I've been making multiple weightlifting PRs (I do about 8 different lifts every workout) every time I go to the gym for the last eight months (ever since I started taking 5grams of creatine a day). So two intense cardio workouts a week definitely will not interfere with muscle/strength gains. You just need to get enough protein, carbs, fat, etc.
Assuming you are not playing any sport that requires extra conditioning (cardio), and that you can carry bag of groceries over flight of stairs and not die -- you don't need extra cardio, and your current routine is too much already. I suggest you read this for more info
Try to see this from a cost/benefit point of view, where cost is generally non-refundable time spend on the gym. As the other answer points, cardio consumes calories and time, and doesn't build any new muscle tissue. From your goals it seems you want more muscle. Thus, I guess that time you spend doing 2 cardio sessions could be better spend building muscle through weight lifting.
Cardio doesn’t consume fat, muscle, bone, or otherwise. Cardio, like any activity consumes calories and depending on the type it may even help to sustain or potentially even build muscle.
The only thing that will make body weight lower or higher (this means both muscle and fat) is your nutrition. Your activities simply determine the shape your body adapts to.
Should you stop doing cardio? I can’t imagine there being health benefits to doing so. If you are worried about losing more bodyfat, you simply need to eat more to compensate.
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