How to Gain Muscle With Cardio

Cardio exercises are generally associated with fat burning. There are, however, ways to increase musculature through cardiovascular exercises. Because increased muscle mass will also raise the resting metabolic rate, you will burn excess fat at an escalated rate to help expose the lean musculature you attain during your muscle-building cardio workout sessions.

Instructions

    • 1

      Perform circuit training exercises with resistance or weights. Circuit training is done by moving from one exercise to the next without any rest in between sets. CT increases heart rate to help you develop cardiovascular endurance. You will also develop musculature if you increase resistance or work out to failure (until you can no longer perform the exercise with proper form due to muscle fatigue) during each set. An entire circuit might include both upper, lower and core body exercises such as squats, lunges, crunches, bicep curls, lat pull downs, overhead press, chest press and back lifts.

    • 2

      Include high intensity interval training (HIIT) in your cardio training sessions. This type of training combines short bursts of intense training with lower intensity in a cyclic cardio training session that increases musculature due to the intense musculature contractions and release. Cardio activities that work the large muscles such as cycling, running and weight training done in high to low intensity intervals from five to 20 minutes depending on fitness level will increase muscle mass and cardiovascular fitness.

    • 3

      Consume adequate protein. Be sure to take in enough calories, protein and carbohydrates during your cardio workouts to gain muscle. Depriving yourself of food will not only promote fat loss but will likely contribute to muscle loss as well if you are performing cardio workouts on a regular basis. It is important to consume a gram or more of protein for every pound of body weight to build muscle mass. Carbohydrates are important for energy and are usually best in the simplest forms found in potatoes, whole wheat and raw vegetables. Eat several times per day to ensure you are consuming adequate nutrients to encourage muscular growth. A healthy balance is the 40-40-20 diet or 40 percent protein, 40 percent carbohydrates and 20 percent fat for muscular and cardiovascular health.