I've been working out a shit-ton and have seen great results. however, my friend told me a rumor that if you do cardio right after you weight lift, then your weightlifting that you just did won't be effective in gaining muscle mass. Any thoughts?

_________________
work hard, play harder!

I don not think so.

_________________

Care to elaborate? do you have any experience in health in fitness? Thanks

_________________
work hard, play harder!

It really depends on your diet. As long as you intake more calories than what your body is burning then everything will be fine.

Though I don't see any reason to do cardio while gaining mass.

_________________
"Despite all the giggling, blushing and talk about having a deep connection, it all ends
with a cock in her mouth." ~60 Years Of Challenge

cardio improves cardio vascular health, at the same time, it burns calories

your friend is partially right, while at the same time not fully informing you

your bmr (body metabolic rate) can only use so many calories of fat per day as energy, if you are in a deficit of calories that dips under your bmr, your body will see diminishing gains, and start to use fat as a source for energy, once you reach the maximum amount of fat that can be metabolized your body will start to use proteins as a source of energy, thus dipping too far into a deficit can prove to be catabolic (muscle wasting)

your body will consume energy primarily from carbs first, then fats second, then proteins as a last resort

so say if for example, I went to my nutritionist and she told me that I had a bmr of 2400 calories (burn 2400 calories at rest) and at around a 700 calorie deficit I would see diminishing gains towards fat loss, then at around 1700 calories a day, I would start to see atrophy (muscle loss) as well as quick fat loss and lose strength, rather then gain it

otoh, if you are in a caloric surplus and are getting your macro requirements (1-1.5g of protein per lb, .4-1g of fat per lb) and in a caloric surplus, you will start to see mass gains and hypertrophy as long as you are lifting heavy enough to recruit new muscle fibers, and on top of that, there will also be a point where a surplus offer diminishing gains, and you will see fat gain as apposed to muscle gain, the more nutritious the food, the more your body can convert into lean mass (depending on your bodies anabolic syntheses rate)

so in short and to simplify, cardio improves heart condition, but also expends calories, if you are eating enough, you can still gain, if you are not, you will see mass loss rather then gain, and cardio will have an effect on this to the point of forcing catabolism rather then anabolism, and expending more calories can have a direct negative correlation to lean mass gain

but it almost can be simplified as calories in, vs calories out, if you are in deficit, you will lose weight, if you are in a surplus, you will gain weight

pumpington don't let the name fool you, weight lifting also improves cardiovascular health. That name was given 60 years ago when people knew next to nothing about the subject. So cardio is excersise same as weightlifting, excersise will put stress on your heart by raising your pulse. Some studies have even shown weight lifting can strengthen your heart more than running. Old science was mainly done by using mask that measured CO2 release from breathing, which now we know is a very small part of the picture.

Also carbs first fats second and protiens thrid is wrong. When your body is using alot of energy as in cardio, with little rest it needs to use carbs, fats can not be converted fast enough. Your body can not convert fat to carbs, it can convert protien to carbs. So if you are on a low carb diet you can actually cause your body to use protien as fuel, but in a low carb diet for non-strenuous activity fat will be your main source of fuel. So diet and excersise have a big role on your bodies choice of fuel.

OP- If I was you I would read on here are some articles.
http://www.biolayne.com/contest-prep/be ... ybuilding/
http://www.simplyshredded.com/cardio-fo ... ardio.html

Pumpington and Faust 23:

Great information! I am still learning more about nutrition so I had a few follow up comments.

I am 23 5'10" and weighed 192 two months ago. However, I've been at 180 for a month and seem to have hit a plateau I have been eating pretty healthy and have been working out at least once a day. I have gained almost as much muscle mass as I want (not trying out in body builder competitions), but would like to get a lttle more cut and down to 170-175 or until I have a ripped 6 pack. pretty much every guys goal haha.

Diet:

I'm strict to this diet 5.5/6 days a week. Mostly a low carb, high protein with everything fresh and nothing processed food.
scrambled eggs every morning with orange juice, banana or other fruit.
Lunch and dinner I have chicken/steak with fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. I pretty much always drink water or vitamin water zero and never soda. I do drink alcohol on the weekends though.

Workouts:

I do a full body weight lift every other day using supersets ( Ex: set of pushups then immediately a set of squats). I work hard enough to get me to get a good sweat.

Cardio:

I either bike intensely for 30 min, play soccer for 1.5 hr, or play basketball for 1.5 hr. when i do, I play/work pretty hard. I'm pretty focused so you wouldn't be able to hold a conversation with me.

Sometimes I will lift at lunch and cardio at night, but still seem to be at a plateau. So if I want to burn the last 5-10 pounds should I do less-strenous cardio? or should I bump up the intensity and cut back the time to burn more fat? or should I keep doing what I'm doing? I'm just a little impatient and have been working pretty hard. I read your article, but am still a little unclear. I'm sure other people are in the same boat as me.

_________________
work hard, play harder!

a plateau with weight loss, or a plateau with strength gain?
if it is weight loss, lower your daily caloric intake, and if you can't do so without cutting your minimum macros short (1g prot, .4g fat per/lb bodyweight), then add more caloric expendature to your daily activities (more lifting/cardio)
if your plateu is with strength gain, focus on getting enough food into your body and lifting at 80% of rep max, you can do rpt or drop sets, or super sets or w/e, just lift heavier and eat better if you are not seeing strength gains, also hit up the major compound lifts so that you can activate more of your muscle and you will be able to put more stress on them, deadlift, bench press, squats, shoulder press/military press, chinups, olympic lifts, etc.
more cardio at a longer place, encourages catabolism, the main point is that you expend more calories then what you consume, and if you are too far into a deficit, then it will ecourage atrophy, your body can only metabolize so much fat a day before it dipps into other sources for energy, so you have to stay consistent and on top of your diet, you can't just expect to lose only fat and fat alone at the speed of light, has to be gradual without cheating or straying from the path

basically, start keeping a log of what you eat and how much, and if you are stuck at a plateau then eat less food and move more, and if you are losing strength in the gym, you are probably under eating

cardio doesn't nessicarily burn fat dude, the point of that article was how HIIT cardio is just as much of a benifit for your cario training, as prolonged cardio, cario doesn't ''burn fat'' it expends calories, if you are still in a surplus after 2 hours of cardio that day, you won't be losing any weight at all, the point is that you can get your heartrate up high enough to hit your cardio training zone with sprints in intervals and still see the positive impacts on your heart, without having to see the negative effects of too much energy expendature leading to catabolism

cardio is not the main issue here if you're stuck, eating too much food is, one hour jogging on a treadmill is generally between 600-800 calories (depending on speed and slope), skip one of the meals you're eating and you accomplish the same effect on weight loss as that hour of cardio, just without the positive impact for your heart

think of cardio like weight lifting for your heart, doesn't ''burn fat'' just expends energy, and generally at around 140bpm and above (depending on the persons current heart condition and age), your heart's conitioning improves and it gets stronger, more energy used daily then what's eaten = weight loss, more energy consumed daily then whats expended = weight gain, your body tends to use what is most easily available source of energy for it's self, carbs 1st, fats 2nd, proteins 3rd, it will use all 3 if it has to but it takes the path of least resistance, cut your carbs and this increases the likely hood of fats to be used for energy, expend too many calories in a day and increase the chances you waste muscle