25/01/2023
Does cardio really interfere with muscle building and how to avoid it
Cardio is very helpful. They improve heart health, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), help you lose extra pounds and get rid of dangerous visceral fat.
Many athletes and amateurs combine cardio and strength training in their program, and this is wonderful: such a combination helps to lose weight without losing muscle mass and reduces the risk of CVD even more than aerobic exercise alone. But such a system also has its minus, which is very significant for strength athletes and bodybuilders.
How does cardio training affect strength and muscle growth?
In a 1980 study, participants were divided into three groups: the first group did weights five days a week (C), the second did cardio six days a week (K), and the third did both (C + K). ).
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The K-group did not increase strength at all, only stamina. In the C and C + K groups, strength indicators grew equally well at first, but at the ninth week, C + K began to lag behind, and by the end of the experiment, the strength training group became the absolute leader, despite the same volume of loads.
Subsequent studies have confirmed this effect: the addition of cardio sessions to strength training inhibits the increase in strength and muscle size.
Over time, the term “competing training” (concurrent training) was formed in the scientific community, and the decrease in performance from such classes was called the interference effect.
Why does the noise effect occur?
Scientists still don't know exactly how cardio interferes with muscle growth. Moreover, this does not always happen: in some studies, competing workouts did not reduce strength gains. There are several theories about this. Some affect the mechanisms inside the cells, others - the effect of occupation on the nervous system.
Adaptations interfere with each other
Scientists have suggested that, since the body adapts differently to strength and cardio loads, certain mechanisms can interfere with each other. There is a theory that the interference effect is due to the sirtuin-1 protein.
