Cardio and Bulking

[A790]

For May/June I'm going to bulk, so I'm on a pretty calorie laden diet at the moment. However, I'm concerned about putting on more body fat than I'd like while I'm doing this.

Will doing HIIT cardio effectively negate my bulking efforts?

[ragu]

Hey man,
I haven't read any articles or anything else on this topic but from personal experience I didn't see any significant results. Either I would not gain any muscle or I would still put on undesirable amount of fat if I did put on some muscle, I maintained 800 calories over my regular maintenance. BUT I've heard a couple of guys bulking with some cardio while staying lean and I would say its either due to their marvelous genes or their calorie intake was perfect..

What usually works the best for me is simple bulking with +800 calories or cut with a lot of cardio.

[r3ccOs]

To me, you can really only do either effectively... lean or gain

I prefer to gain first to establish a mass, specifically targeting your desired area

Then lean through means of calorie reduction, cardio and circuit training

However as of late, I want to increase my overall stamina, v02 max, and recovery. I do this by eating more carbs, all complex, and pushing my cardio to intervals of aerobic to anerobic and back. I have succesfully maintained my body weight, slowly reducing my bf% and increasing my V02 max

[Ebon]

I do HIIT personally, seems to work pretty well for me. I don't put on a lot of fat with it while bulking but still gain muscle as long as i keep the times the same with my workout and just throw HIIT at the end.

I do cycles of full out sprints to almost walking pace.

[kutt3r]

Originally posted by A790
For May/June I'm going to bulk, so I'm on a pretty calorie laden diet at the moment. However, I'm concerned about putting on more body fat than I'd like while I'm doing this.

Will doing HIIT cardio effectively negate my bulking efforts?

More info...
Why do you want to do HITT? It burns calories, which will make you eat more or not gain effectively.

You do not need 2k extra calories to 'bulk'. Start with 500cal and check your weight and keep and eye on BF if the scale aint moving add another 250.. find that right spot and your golden. 500/day=3500/week which equals 1pd.. and it will not all be muscle that I can promise.

I know the guys at IA are very against running when trying to build mass so I would avoid it with the elliptical or cycling to keep the conditioning up if that is your goal.

[Darkane]

This is a tricky scenario, I'll explain.

HIIT is probably the best form of Cardio. It's short, intense, and most importantly burns much more fat than standard steady pace cardio.

Kutt3R hit it dead on when he said the Cardio will burn calories. Here's the thing though, during bulking we want to recover as quick as possible for more frequency or volume, thus increasing muscle gains.

Having a greater work capacity through cardiovascular work like HIIT or just High Intensity is good for recovery. So it becomes a double edged sword. Eat more to gain, but burn more doing cardio to get more recovery ability.

Iron Addict likes having his clients doing x2/wk High Intensity cardio for recovery and fat loss. I agree and worked for me too. Twice a week elliptical (80% heartrate) for 20 minutes. Working up from 10 minutes adding 1 minute a session.

A790, You ever heard of carb cycling? That can get you lean gains while cutting fat at the same time. The only draw back is you won't gain as much muscle as a traditional bulk, but in lieu of that fat will ALSO come off, not just stay put.

So to wrap it up, do some form of high intensity cardio be it elliptical, HIIT, sprinting etc.

I also appoligize for not having the routine/diet plan made that I was going too, I didn't abondon it - It's just that my cut didn't go quite to plan. My body shut off again lol. Re-working some things and gonna make it to 10% if I have to set fire to a daycare.

[A790]

Originally posted by Darkane
My body shut off again lol. Re-working some things and gonna make it to 10% if I have to set fire to a daycare.

You're my hero, man

[civic_rida]

bullk during the winter
cut in the summer

[kutt3r]

Originally posted by Darkane
This is a tricky scenario, I'll explain.

HIIT is probably the best form of Cardio. It's short, intense, and most importantly burns much more fat than standard steady pace cardio.

Kutt3R hit it dead on when he said the Cardio will burn calories. Here's the thing though, during bulking we want to recover as quick as possible for more frequency or volume, thus increasing muscle gains.

Having a greater work capacity through cardiovascular work like HIIT or just High Intensity is good for recovery. So it becomes a double edged sword. Eat more to gain, but burn more doing cardio to get more recovery ability.

Iron Addict likes having his clients doing x2/wk High Intensity cardio for recovery and fat loss. I agree and worked for me too. Twice a week elliptical (80% heartrate) for 20 minutes. Working up from 10 minutes adding 1 minute a session.

A790, You ever heard of carb cycling? That can get you lean gains while cutting fat at the same time. The only draw back is you won't gain as much muscle as a traditional bulk, but in lieu of that fat will ALSO come off, not just stay put.

So to wrap it up, do some form of high intensity cardio be it elliptical, HIIT, sprinting etc.

I also appoligize for not having the routine/diet plan made that I was going too, I didn't abondon it - It's just that my cut didn't go quite to plan. My body shut off again lol. Re-working some things and gonna make it to 10% if I have to set fire to a daycare.

You can still get HITT in, but with kettlebells or lighter weight high rep full body exercises, lots of LISS as well.

I prefer that over running etc.. although I enjoy rowing

Dark you will get there... especially if you are working with Andrew. I am tempted to book a session or two with him to work on weaknesses.

[ecstasy_civic]

Originally posted by civic_rida
bullk during the winter
cut in the summer

2 months is no nearly enough time for your body to put on any decent size and then cut up.

To cut up and maintain your mass takes time and proper diet/cardio.