Cardio and muscle building can occur simultaneously to help you build muscle and lose fat at the same time. With a little bit of planning and attention to detail, you can completely reshape your physique and develop new levels of strength, health, and fitness. Consult your physician before beginning any diet or exercise program.
Cardiovascular Work
Do not over-complicate this. Pick an exercise you like and perform it regularly. While there is often a great deal of commentary about the "target heart rate" and "fat burning zones" the differences in heart rate and percent of fat utilized when performing cardio are minor. Picking one that you like will enable you to enjoy your training more. A few times a week, 30 minutes to an hour, and you should be well on your way to becoming much leaner.
Muscle Building
This requires resistance training, or lifting weights. You cannot expect much waving around little dumbbells. Significant results require significant effort, so use the large, compound lifts that work the major muscle groups of the body. These lifts include the squat, deadlift, bench press, military press, chin up and row. These lifts will also work the smaller muscles of the body while you are training, so you can get the most out of your time in the gym. When performed with sufficient intensity and short rest periods, you can increase your hormonal response which will cause you to build slightly more muscle and burn a little more fat.
Advanced Cardio Work
Long, slow distance cardio can get boring, so raise the intensity, alter your workouts, or both. Instead of hour upon hour on the treadmill, perform interval sprints. This also does not have to be complicated, run 50 meters, turn around, walk back, run 50 more meters. Continue until you are tired, which will not take long if you are not used to sprinting. You can also run with a parachute which will increase the resistance, or drag a sled, slowly, to improve your conditioning but with less impact to your joints. Interval work, resistance running, and sled dragging can also improve your tolerance for training volume, which should increase your ability to perform in the gym.
Setting Up Your Program
This is where most potential enthusiasts will succeed or fail. You will often not have time to lift and get in some cardio work every gym session, nor should you. Running before a squat workout puts you at risk of injury. Following lifting, you need to consume protein and carbohydrates to help your muscles recover, so that is not the best time for cardio. The immediate solution is to do cardio on your off days. If you are lifting three times per week, you can do cardio on three more, taking a day off to rest and recover. Planning is still important, and do not exhaust your legs the day before a deadlift workout. The day before a heavy lower body workout of any sort might be best taken off, or a day that you perform light cardio only. If you feel the need to get in a lot of cardio, break up your training into multiple sessions. Do cardio in the morning, and lift in the evening. It is up to you to find the combination that works best.
References
- "European Journal of Applied Physiology"; Acute Hormonal and Neuromuscular Responses to Hypertrophy, Strength and Power Type Resistance Exercise; G.O. McCaulley; 2009
- "Fiziologiia Cheloveka"; Acute Testosterone and Cortisol Responses to High Power Resistance Exercise; Andrew Fry; 2010
- "Medicina"; Aerobic exercise-induced changes in body composition and blood lipids in young women; A. Stasiulis et al.; 2010
- "Journal of Applied Physiology"; Two weeks of high-intensity aerobic interval training increases the capacity for fat oxidation during exercise in women; J.L. Talanian et al.; April 2007
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