If Your Goal is to Bulk Up, How Much Cardio Should You Do in a Week?

[Frank2500]

I have a question. If you're a naturally lean guy like me with very low body fat, how much cardio should you do in a week that even though good for your heart rate will prevent you from burning muscle-if your goal is to bulk up? I don't think I don't think I need to run on an elliptical three days a week and even two days a week seems a lot for me. So far, I seem to be more inclined to try once a week. The thing however is that I've been working very hard on my abs and from what I hear, the secret to having and keeping good abs is cardio. At the same time, I don't want to lose my bulk. So would one day of good fat burn cardio on the elliptical be enough for me if my goal is to primarily bulk up rather than lose weight? My aim is to build a lot more muscle mass.

 

[LivA]

Ugh, why would you do that? I think it depends on how much fat you want to lose.

 

[EFFORT]

I have a question. If you're a naturally lean guy like me with very low body fat, how much cardio should you do in a week that even though good for your heart rate will prevent you from burning muscle-if your goal is to bulk up? I don't think I don't think I need to run on an elliptical three days a week and even two days a week seems a lot for me. So far, I seem to be more inclined to try once a week. The thing however is that I've been working very hard on my abs and from what I hear, the secret to having and keeping good abs is cardio. At the same time, I don't want to lose my bulk. So would one day of good fat burn cardio on the elliptical be enough for me if my goal is to primarily bulk up rather than lose weight? My aim is to build a lot more muscle mass.

Lots of ways to go about this, i usually have guys start with 2 high intensity sessions on the elliptical a week for the first month (and 1 low intensity for 45min-1hour on the treadmill), starting at 5min of as hard as they can go then increasing the time by 5min each week. So by the end of the month there doing two hard 20min sessions a week and one low intensity of 45min-60min

The second month i'll add another 20min high intensity session. That usually works well for most. (of the guys that actually do there cardio)

 

[spesmilitis]

I'm not sure how much you 'should do'.

I just do 10-20 minutes of elliptical on my non-lifting days. I also stand as much as possible, never sit. Burns 2x as much calories.

 

[Frank2500]

Re:

I appreciate it, guys. One day of cardio a week will work best for me in terms of my personal goals, I think.