cardio for gains at a young age

[hermedes2]

how beneficial could be cardio for a 19 year old ? some people tell me to skip on it because I'm young I don't nee it and others say cardio can enhance your muscle gains, my main goal is to get big , so I need some of your professional tips here, thank you.

 

[SteveMobsterG]

Cardio for heart health is always good. But it's a question of 'enough vs too much'. What body type are you?

 

[stevesmi]

you need to learn your caloric needs. obviously if you are doing a lot of cardio you need more calories from food, cause you are burning more.. otherwise you won't get bigger as you want

skinny dudes need to simply eat more, and not blame cardio for their lack of gains. unless you are running 30+ miles a week it isn't the cardio's fault

 

[SteveMobsterG]

The argument regarding cardio and it's impact on metabolism is a question of, as I said earlier - just enough vs doing enough to enhance endurance. I think HIIT style cardio is better here. Old school lifters would use a higher rep (20 reps) breathing squat workout as a way of upping their metabolism. It ups your calorific requirements and is mildly anabolic.

 

[MasonicBodybuilder]

Some cardio is always going to be good for heart health. The key is not to overdo it. You still need to be in a caloric surplus every single day and training hard so you gain mass.

 

[muskate]

Cardio is very important for hearth health. Even if your goal is to bulk up and put on muscle, you should still do cardio 2-3 days per week.

You just don't want to make the cardio sessions super long and burn up a lot of calories. Do 20-30 minutes, but focus on really going hard and getting your heart rate up. You should be dripping in sweat after your cardio sessions.

I like to do cardio on my off days from the gym. It also helps with appetite big time.