Doing cardio in the gym is one of the best places you can do cardio. The mentality when going to the gym and doing cardio is different than doing cardio at home with a treadmill or a cardio bike. But should you do cardo at all? Today, we will answer all the questions you may have about this topic.
Should I do cardio before or after the workout?
This can be answered by preference. Most people who do fitness professionally, like bodybuilders, do cardio in separate sessions or after their weight training. But for average people who do not intend to get so serious, like bodybuilders, they do cardio before workouts.
Doing cardio before workouts can be a sort of warmup for your actual workout, but if you intend on hitting the weight substantially hard, I suggest you leave the cardio for after the weight training or in a different session (a session later that same day).
Is cardio good for fat loss and strength gain?
Cardio is excellent for fat loss, but it also burns through a lot of muscle if done incorrectly. Cardio can be paired with strength training and hypertrophy training, so you can get the best of both worlds. With cardio, you burn fat, and with strength and hypertrophy training, you gain muscle.
Cardio can also boost your muscle-building potential by getting nutrients to your muscles faster.
Now listen, this isn’t an unreasonable statement; there is science behind this statement. By getting nutrients faster to your muscles, I mean that with cardio, your cardiovascular system will be healthier, and your heart will be able to pump blood faster and more efficiently. Also, your veins and arteries will be much healthier, which will allow them to spread correctly when your heart is pumping blood.
In general, cardio is great when done correctly.
What is the correct way to do cardio?
Cardio, when done correctly, means that you allow your body to burn as much fat as it can while not burning through muscle or at least minimizing the muscle loss.
Now, my suggestion is that when you do cardio, you do it at a conversational pace. What is conversational pace cardio, you ask? Well, conversational pace cardio is when you are able to do cardio while maintaining a conversation, which means that the cardio shouldn’t be so intense that you burn out and can’t get a hold of yourself.
Should you do cardio when I bulk?
Doing cardio while bulking is so good; you gain lots of muscle while minimizing fat gain at the same time.
When doing cardio while bulking, you will also have a bigger appetite, meaning you will eat more food without a problem.
Another benefit is that you can stay pretty lean throughout the bulk, which is very beneficial for strength gains as well. When you are lean, you can lift more because you don’t have excess body weight.
How to do cardio?
I suggest you do cardio on the treadmill where the speed is at a walking pace and the incline is pretty moderate or high. You will burn more calories, and you won’t get so gassed out when doing cardio that way.
Also, a good alternative are the cardio bikes. I suggest using a moderate resistance, and the calories per minute should be between 8 kcal per min and 10 kcal per min.
Another great machine for fat loss for you cardio freaks is the stair master. The stair master is excellent if you want to gain some leg endurance and burn a lot of fat at the same time.