Trainer John Parillo has always been an advocate of lots
of aerobics, even for his bodybuilder clients who are trying
to gain muscle mass.
"Aerobics can enhance your recovery from weight training
by promoting blood flow and oxygen transport to your muscles,"
says Parillo. "Aerobics forces oxygen through your
body, increasing the number and size of your blood vessels.
Blood vessels are the 'supply routes' that transport oxygen
and nutrients to body tissues, including muscles, and carry
waste products away for muscular growth, repair and recovery.
The expansion of this circulatory network is called 'cardiovascular
density.'"
So, according to Parillo, aerobics can actually enhance
recovery from weight training and increase muscular growth
by developing the circulatory pathways that provide nourishment
to the muscles. Cardiovascular training is important for
fat burning, for good health and for muscle-building.
Losing muscle has more to do with inadequate diet than
with excessive aerobics. If you suspect you are losing muscle
there are four likely causes:
1. You are not eating enough protein. Protein is the
only nutrient that is actually used to build muscle. To
stay anabolic you must eat five to six protein containing
meals. Each meal should be spaced out approximately three
hours apart. Research has proven that if you are physically
active, you need a minimum of .8 grams to 1 gram of protein
per pound of bodyweight.
2. Your carbohydrates are too low. Low carb diets are
often used for fat loss, but it is a mistake to cut your
carbs too drastically. Carbohydrates are protein-sparing,
so even if you are eating large amounts of protein, you
can still lose muscle if you your carbs are too low.
3. You are not eating enough calories to support muscle
growth. This is the most common cause of muscle loss.
When your calories are too low, your body goes into "starvation
mode." Your metabolism slows down and your body actually
burns muscle tissue to conserve energy. Muscle is metabolically
active tissue, requiring a great deal of caloric energy
just to maintain it. That's why your body will shed muscle
if it thinks you are starving.
4. You are not training with weights. It is a common
misconception that if you want to lose weight, you should
start with cardio only and add the weights later - another
big mistake! It is the weight training that keeps you
from losing muscle while you are dieting.
You are much more likely to lose muscle from not eating
enough than you are from doing too much cardio. All too
often, people are afraid to eat a lot and do a lot of cardio
at the same time. It doesn't seem to make sense. Logically,
it seems like the two would cancel each other out - but
the opposite is true. Many people believe they must "starve"
the fat by drastically lowering calories. Unfortunately,
this approach can cause you to lose muscle along with the
fat. The only way to maintain your lean mass while losing
fat is to feed the muscles with plenty of nutritious calories
and at the same time, burn the fat off with cardio.
Whether your goal is muscle development, fat loss or both,
you should always include some form of cardiovascular activity
as part of your training program. Unless you're doing some
kind of ultra-endurance regimen, AEROBICS DOES NOT CAUSE
MUSCLE LOSS, in fact it supports the pathways that help
you build it!
>>
Click here for Tom's Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program
About the Author
Tom Venuto is an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified
strength and conditioning specialist, lifetime natural bodybuilder,
and author of the #1 best-selling e-book "Burn the
Fat, Feed The Muscle" (BFFM). Tom has written over
170 articles and has been featured in IRONMAN Magazine,
Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Muscle-Zine,
Olympian’s News (in Italian), Exercise for Men and
Men’s Exercise. For information on Tom's "Burn
The Fat" e-book, click
here
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