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Cardio and Bodybuilding

Why is Cardio Important for Bodybuilding

Since the sports science community explained to us bodybuilders about the advantage of high intensity interval training (HIIT) we seem to have forgotten the importance of doing cardio on a regular basis. The truth is that if you are training with HIIT on a daily basis then you are getting all the cardio that you need.

But if you are one of the old school bodybuilders that goes to the gym to talk to friends and spends half an hour doing three sets of 10 reps then you are not doing enough cardio. This will not only affect your ability to gain more muscle but will also directly affect your mental capacity and increase fatigue.

In a recent study that was done on cardio they showed conclusively during a double blind study that was done that doing a little bit of cardio on a daily basis will reduce fatigue generally by 65%. Cardio gives you more energy and has also proven to reduce the chances of depression by over 80%.

Doing just a minimum of 20 minutes a day of cardio will not only help you lose fat and gain muscle but will make you happier and help you live a longer and healthier life. Cardio does not have to be in the form of road work or jogging on a treadmill for hours.

Cardio can be anything from going for a walk to rowing on the lake for 20 minutes. If you have access to a decent gym then it is easy to set up a circuit that you do specific movements for 15 to 20 minutes every day. Slowly increasing the weight that you lift when you do this kind of cardio will gain muscle over time.

When doing cardio you should make sure that you are getting the full benefit of that cardio work you are doing by checking your heart rate. The simple equation of subtracting your age from 220 will tell you what your maximum heart-rate is. The objective when doing cardio on a regular basis is to get between 50% and 85% of your maximum heart rate.

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