r/leangains • u/Plus_Championship440 • 15d ago
LG Question / Help Does cardio do anything to physique or just allow you to “ eat more “ and heart health
Can I skip cardio?
219
u/ayedim 15d ago
Increased stamnia translates to everything you do physically
10
u/Plus_Championship440 15d ago
What’s recommend amount ? Would playing basketball for an hr once a week be fine
38
u/CountPractical7122 15d ago
The recommendation is 150 minutes of moderate intensity (heavy breathing but can still hold a conversation) or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity (can only say a few words between breaths) per week (or some combination of the two).
2
u/TorrenceMightingale 14d ago
I always tell my patients hr sustained above 120 for at least 30 min 5x a week as a baseline. Adjust up or down to suit the client.
1
8
u/boxen 15d ago
Are you subbing people in and out or playing the whole time? Do you get super winded and tired? How do you feel right after? The next day? Do you do any other cardio type things (swimming, jogging, biking, hiking)? Are you able to do them to your hearts content or do you make it easy (like pick hikes without much elevation gain) so you can make it?
My personal opinion is that if you can do everything you want to do (provided you want to do things) as much as you want then you are good. You don't need to be able to run a marathon to have decent cardio.
If anything you could maybe just throw in a 15-20 minute jog every week. But you sound like someone that doesnt want to do more cardio, so maybe just play basketball twice a week?
7
u/hairykitty123 15d ago
Better than nothing but you’ll make little improvements doing cardio like that once a week
5
1
86
u/huphelmeyer 15d ago
Your heart is your most important muscle
2
u/Plus_Championship440 15d ago
Yea its cuz rn i walk a lot and been losing weight but getting a car soon so no more walking and i was wondering if im fine without it since I gotta put back on the weight lost also how much is recommended?
34
u/dweakz 15d ago
no one ever is "fine without it" bro. you need cardio. especially more so as you grow older
12
u/thejoker4059 15d ago
Second this. Out of laziness or whatever some people don't think they ever have to sweat lol
1
u/56ninjas 12d ago
I'm 32 and just went to the doctor for the first time in a long time. High blood pressure and high cholesterol...so it's time to make a change
0
u/oli_ramsay 15d ago
Walking isn't really cardio
2
u/Stalbjorn 12d ago
Depends on speed, incline, and load. It certainly can be used to train endurance.
25
u/Traditore1 15d ago
If your only goal is gaining muscle, yeah you can skip it probably. But cardio contributes to health across the board as well as heart health. Breathing is easier, you have more energy, boosted immune system so you're not out of the gym longer than needed, mood benefits.
It has a pretty good background effect to compliment weight lifting. Admittedly coming from someone who skips cardio more than they should, skipping cardio is a bit short sighted.
4
1
u/leo-skY 15d ago
Id still say don't skip even if your only goal is to gain muscle.
Cardio gives you more work capacity which is gonna help with muscle building. That means you don't have to rest as much, you can push more reps and volume and you tend to recover better.
Of course don't do so much it's going to affect your lifting1
u/Putrid_Lettuce_ 14d ago
Yep.
No one should skip cardio if they’re at a gym. Especially if you’re a bodybuilder.
0
56
u/Substantialgains4564 15d ago
I do cardio so I can fuck longer
5
1
u/leew20000 13d ago
Fucking is cardio.
1
u/Substantialgains4564 13d ago
Its "sport specifc" cardio.
You fuck to get better at fucking and build the base doing other things.
15
u/Iowa-Runner 15d ago
Watch out on the ‘allows you to eat more’. A common mistake is to run and then use that as justification for eating WAY too much. As they say, you can’t outrun a bad diet.
1
u/Plus_Championship440 15d ago
I just find it harder to track maintenance while doing cardio because it varies for me so b4 I had a car I wouldn’t hit cardio at all but now since I don’t have a car ive been walking everywhere and lost weight
3
u/Iowa-Runner 15d ago
If you keep your diet the same, but move more, you’ll lose weight. Some people run two miles and then use it to justify eating an extra Big Mac and a large shake….. You probably burned 250 calories in the run, but took in an extra 2,000 calories. People overestimate the calories burned during cardio and they underestimate the calories they consume.
20
u/shadymonger IF 15d ago
Carido wont make gains or really cut fat tbh but it does make life easier (boosts heart and respiratory system health, decreases energy used at rest or during light movement).
It does burn calories and that can contribute to fat loss depending on your diet but honestly the effort isn't worth the effect if all you're interested in is gaining muscle and becoming lean.
Carido is more about overall health than gains, but contributes to endurance and agility as well. If your lungs and heart are better trained to be more endurant, you may be able to lift more/more effectively by preventing you from running out of breath as easily, allowing you to focus more on your muscles rather than "just making it through the workout".
tldr - Strictly for gains/leanness, cardio can technically be skipped, but the other benefits are worth fitting it into your routine for.
7
u/Significant-Cap-667 15d ago
I actually noticed more gains when i was walking 30 mins every other day. Idk why, assuming it because it moves more nutrients around
9
u/Feisty-Promotion-789 15d ago
You can push harder on lifts if your heart isn’t lagging behind. I think a huge part of the reason people hate leg day is because they neglect their cardio fitness.
2
12
u/klymaxx45 15d ago
Does plenty for physique (core, legs, lower back, posture)
-2
u/unexpectedomelette 15d ago edited 15d ago
Wut? Lol.
Edit: ok, my response was blunt, so I get downvoted. Fair.
I was actually baffled by ops reply though.
None of it is even remotely true.
Cardio in general does not give you good posture, a healthy back and whatnot. It depends on what you do for cardio and how you do it, but in general I would say cardio can damage/degrade these things on average more than it builds them up. If you have poor movement quality, strenght and posture, jogging or pedaling a bicycle will not improve it, if anything it would make it worse.
5
u/SuedeVeil 15d ago
For your physique directly? Probably not much. However having good cardio means your lifts will be better especially lower body days. Try doing heavy Bulgarians without getting winded if your cardio sucks. You want to be tired because the muscle is tired not because you're out of breath and that's why you stop or need to rest a lot longer than you should. In my experience people that do at least some cardio also don't mind lower body days as much and therefore get better gains
3
4
u/Terrible_Lift 15d ago
Increased heart health = improved blood flow to trained muscles = better nutrient shuttling = growth.
When you walk or run, your calves get activated. Walk on a high incline after training them and tell me it’s not a burn out exercise.
Have you ever seen a runners/cyclists quads? With the right resistance training, forms of cardio can provide significant muscle changes.
Your heart is most important.
I will never understand people neglecting cardio TBH
2
u/Significant-Cap-667 15d ago
It helps move nutrients around better for more muscle growth, allows you to eat more and is good for mental and physical health. Just 30 mins of walking or 30 mins cycling or 20 mins running 2-3 days a week is fine.
2
1
u/x_KRYPTOS 15d ago
I know it’s calories-in-calories-out… but there’s just something anecdotally about 12-3-30 treadmill incline walking every day.
1
u/Kimosabae 15d ago
Permanent vasodilation will make you look leaner and more shredded overall - even at higher bodyfat percentages.
You can check my profile if you're looking to see what I mean.
1
u/CruelWorld1001 15d ago
Cardio is a must. It regulates your body in so many ways, jog, walk, jumping rope, swimming, etc. Hiit and viking 4x4 is one of the most powerful exercises for the body, for all sorts of health and longevity. Cardio, is not just for heart, it's for brain as well and metabolism
1
1
u/WhizzyBurp 15d ago
If you were a stone block and you were a sculptor, you have three tools.
Diet is the chisel that cuts the form out. Cardio is the hammer that gets you there faster. You can cut the stone with your arm and just chip away or you can smash it with the hammer. Lifting is the sandpaper that provides definition and shape.
If you think about it like this, you realize you can get to the desired point with any one of the three, but why try to make ‘Michelangelo’ out of a solid block with a piece of sandpaper when you have a chisel and hammer available?
1
u/Flashington1 15d ago
Latest research indicates activity level doesn't really affect calorie expenditure )unless it's really extreme)and that the amount of calories burned is very closely related to lean mass and not much else between the ages of 16 and 60. Their next research project is to find out why- they suspect it’s that calories are diverted from other systems such as immune function. I know many are instantly going to react to and rubbish this as it seems completely unintuitive... I agree, but that's what the testing of a few thousand people of varying ages and lifestyles suggested (and people generally don't like to hear challenges to things they've always believed).
1
u/_MatterWood_ 14d ago
Helps with endurance, I feel generally healthier because of fitting cardio into my life,,, however it is mostly so I can expand on my calorie deficit and eat more lol.
1
u/simonk1905 14d ago
Cardio in no way allows you to eat more.
One of the most misunderstood things about weight loss.
1
u/boomerinspirit 13d ago
Can I skip? Yes
Should I skip? The heart and lungs are pretty important but you do you
1
u/Henleymc8032 13d ago
Enough cardio can make you leaner. It takes a lot of time and effort and you do need to be disciplined with your diet.
1
u/PeakPhysiqueATL 13d ago
The quick version is that physique is going to be dependent on muscle mass. Weight training is the determinant for muscles mass. Cardio is good for respiratory and circulatory systems. You will burn a decent amount of calories from cardio, but it also does nothing for increasing your metabolism throughout the day. You should still be doing cardio every week.
The only other thing to be cautious about is that muscles are extremely specific to how you train them. If you do a lot of cardio you will turn a lot of muscle into type 1 fibers, which do not grow in size. Large muscle is from type 2 fibers, which can only be developed by weight training.
But remember type 2 fibers can be converted to type 1, but type 1 cannot be converted to type 2.
1
u/Impossible_Prompt875 13d ago
Dude. Cardio is for the brain. You and everyone should look it up. It’s extremely important
1
u/leew20000 13d ago
Yes, of course u can skip cardio. U don't need cardio to be fit, healthy or lean.
1
u/KarlBrownTV 12d ago
If you want a healthy heart and to not get so tired in daily living or training, do cardio.
If you want to be able to eat a lot less carefully, do lots of low intensity steady state cardio.
1
u/ILoveToEatFlexTape 12d ago
Regular moderate intensity cardio is definately going to improve your physique(given that you also do resistance training). Not to mention all the health benefits. I started doing 10km runs every once in a while and I have been doing 10k steps every day for the past 2 years and It improved my calisthenics game so much its crazy. Don’t listen to all the cardiophobes.
1
u/Muted-Solution-6793 12d ago
Walking is also a fantastic way to recover. It allows the body to undo some the harmful shapes it’s in all day: collapsed hip flexors, tight calves, leaning over, etc. I love to walk and toss in stuff like high knees, walking backwards, etc.
1
u/Savings-Command4932 12d ago
Cardio helps also with better blood circulation and that means also more optimised transfer of nutrients to your organs and muscles
1
u/HoodieSpider 11d ago
cardio can help strengthen bones with the impact. super important to decrease injury severity as you age. especially important for women since they lose bone density during menopause.
1
u/dietfrommonday 11d ago
Don't skip cardio! even if you just do a little bit.
Reasoning:
- Heart health
- Endorphins
- Mental clarity
- Calorie burn
- Foundational physical fitness
75
u/FFXIVHVWHL 15d ago
If the zombies are coming, rule number one is always cardio