Should I stop running?

[dcp3450]

I do a 3 day split and start each workout with a 1 mile run. This is to burn some calories (about 200), get my heartrate up (2.5 times resting), and get my muscles warmed up. Recently I read:

"Aerobic exercise has a detrimental effect on mass building. Aerobics interfere with strength gains and recovery while burning up valuable glycogen and branched chain amino acids (BCAA). Adding mass is the best way to upgrade your resting metabolic rate (RMR); is the RMR is elevated, more calories are burned and it is easier to stay lean"

Is this true? Should I stop running? I'm trying to gain muscle mass plus lean down. I have a few pounds i need to shed. I'm trying to get to 10-13% BMI by the end of the year. I'm afraid running will slow down my weightloss but I don't want to stop my mass gaining.

What do you guys think?

 

[jtunderdog]

It going to be hard to gain mass while leaning out. Keeping in shape is great. It is probably keeping you leaner than you would be as well. I would personally chose one or the other. You can try to pack on some mass, but you are going to have a hard time staying in the body fat range you are looking to without missing some gains. On th other hand you could lean out first and get to your desired bf level then try to add some mass and watch your waist really closely. Don't worry about the scale. It really depends on your goal. I personally don't think you should stop running. I would just either up my caloric intake or lean out and maybe run more. Just my 2 cents.

 

[MrPerfect]

running is not such a bad thing, but it depends what kind of cardio your doing. as a bodybuilder i stay away from heavy cardio since it will decrease the mass in the legs, so i usually go for a short way of doing it. interval training is great.

5 minute powwr walk 5 min heavy jog...

 

[dreww]

IMO, for someone trying to gain muscle and lose fat, circuit training works wonders. You dont have to do any cardio, because if you're doing circuit training correctly you will be breathing hard the entire time.

 

[jtunderdog]

I am actually going to do circuit trianing to cut after I get done with PCT. Good point dreww.

 

[optimalbalance]

Losing BF can be almost all diet, however you can also intensify your lifts and reps for some productive cardio.

my heartrate is through the roof after 14 heavy deads

 

[saudades]

IMO, for someone trying to gain muscle and lose fat, circuit training works wonders. You dont have to do any cardio, because if you're doing circuit training correctly you will be breathing hard the entire time.

Bump what dreww said.

 

[dcp3450]

I've moved my run to after my lift. I move from lift to lift with little rest. By the time I hit the tread mill i can get out a good 5-8 min. run before I wanna die, lol.

 

[musclecomp]

I'm usually super-setting every workout to keep my heart rate elevated. For instance:

Chest/biceps... for every chest set I do a bicep set right after.

 

[MrPerfect]

Losing BF can be almost all diet, however you can also intensify your lifts and reps for some productive cardio.

my heartrate is through the roof after 14 heavy deads

Diet is KEY.

 

[jtunderdog]

My heartrate bumps about 120 bpms when Im going heavy. My resting is 55 or so, maybe a little less. I am trying to do the actual p90x program minus yoga to drop bf as soon as my pct is over. I will watch and see how that goes and post some pics for the guys here too.

 

[teedubgee]

These are some theories I live by... When trying to put on muscle, never do cardio before a workout. This sacrifices the amount of weight you could overload your muscles with. Also, if you're trying to lose fat, I wouldn't do anything besides low intensity cardio after a workout (only if this is the only time in the day you could accomplish this). Any high intensity type of cardio after a workout will pretty much further fatigue your muscles and reaccomplish the cardio from your lifts. After an intense workout, your body should be in a fat burning state based off the stimulus to your heart during each set.