Muscle Building Cardio is part of the series, How to Build Muscle for Skinny Guys.
Some say that cardiorespiratory exercise is a mistake when trying to build muscle. I say that it all depends on what kind of cardio and how much. Running for several miles 3 to 6 days a week is a great way to do cardio if your goal is to stay super skinny or run in the Boston Marathon. However, for those of us who want to carry around a little more muscle, a different approach is recommended. The late and great Jack Lalanne mentioned that 15 minutes is all that is needed to get a great cardio workout and I agree. In fact, sometimes it can be less than that. The Tabata Protocol (a high intensity cardio workout) requires only 12 minutes of your time including warm-up and cool down.
Long hours of cardio burn fat but they also prevent muscle growth and even break down muscle. On the other hand, high intensity cardio exercise stimulates muscle growth by increasing muscle building hormones. The only problem is that high intensity training can be tough so it’s best to slowly integrate it into your routine. And after a while, you’ll develop a craving for high intensity workouts. They are much less boring than running at a steady pace for what sometimes seems like forever.
High Intensity Interval Training
Intervals are the way to go when it comes to burning fat, building muscle, and having great cardiorespiratory health. The workouts in the “How to Build Muscle for Skinny Guys” program are all different types of high intensity interval training workouts. This is to maximize the muscle building process and avoid ruining all of the progress made with the resistance training portion of the program.
High Intensity Interval Training means performing a cardio exercise at a high intensity for a specified amount of time followed by an active rest period and then repeated. So in the case of running on a treadmill, you might start at 5 mph for 30 seconds, and then run at 8 mph for 30 seconds. You would then repeat that until 15 minutes has gone by. At the end of the 15 minutes you’ll be sweating and exhilarated. Your metabolism will be skyrocketing and your body will be ready to rest and build muscle.
Check out the Muscle Building Workouts to see each Cardio workout of the How to Build Muscle for Skinny Guys program.
