Too Much Cardio?

[RubySue78]

In one of the articles in the latest "Fitness Tips" Newsletter regarding training glutes, this section jumped out at me.
I cannot seem to gain muscle for anything and I am very limited on foods that I can eat due to several autoimmune issue as well as food allergies.
Can I be doing too much cardio? I do cardio every day 6 days a week and walk 2 to 3 miles a day. I strength train 4 times a week and some weeks I do 2 to 3 full body strength training workouts.
My cardio consists of Steps workouts, Kickboxing, Tabata drills, HIIT, Low Impact HIIT etc.
I am 39, 5'8.5" and 123#
Snippet from article below.....

Mistake #5: Not Eating Enough

If you’re trying to convert weak, flat buttocks into strong, rounded ones, you can’t skimp on calories. Eating too little sabotages muscle gains. Doing excessive amounts of cardio does too. So, don’t try to lose fat too aggressively through calorie restriction and hours of cardio. If you do, you’ll find your glute development stalls. Increase the quality of your diet by boosting the protein content and eating whole, unrefined foods

 

[~Elsie]

Hello RubySue ....I am not Cathe, although I will just answer as someone else with autoimmune disease (and I am almost the same age & size as you!! lol. I'm 38, 5'7.5" & 134lbs). Keeping in mind that one plan does not fit all of course, yes, you can overdo cardio and it can make you feel worst. In my own case, it also makes me look thin/unwell. My endo instructed me to keep any high moderate -high intensity cardio whether it's anaerobic or aerobic to under approx 19 minutes. I generally follow that. Your schedule does sound like a lot of cardio to me. With your walks, are they moderate heart rate walks? Interval walks, or straight-up heart pumping cannot talk speed walks? I love walking and I think it's excellent for the mind, spirit and body. However, if you are having trouble keeping weight and/or muscle on, I would consider turning them into less frequent interval walks and/or just feel good slow....ish ones. Otherwise, you will likely be eating into any muscle gains and muscle maintenance.
Most trainers these days recognize HiiT or close to HiiT (high moderate) as THE form of cardio to maintain proper muscle. The science is definitely there. However, with the added challenge of keeping needed weight, fat and muscle on that autoimmune disease brings, I personally feel we have to tweak this to our own needs/bodies. I, for one, cannot maintain doing HiiT for 2-4 sessions every week.
Hope this might help until Cathe perhaps posts a response. If your endo is knowledgeable about fitness, I would definitely see what s/he has to say as they know your numbers/hormone levels etc.

 

[Jane Power-Grimm]

I do not have autoimmune disease so hopefully Cathe will chime in here with her knowledge to add to Elsie's great advice.
...But I did have a personal trainer assess my body composition and recommend I gain muscle mass. To achieve this she made 3 suggestions:

1. Do cardio only 3 x / week - enough for maintaining current cardiovascular fitness level. Because my cardiovascular fitness level was already good (probably like you), I did not need to focus on making gains or improvements in that area, only maintenance. And 3x/week will do that. She also suggested that my cardio sessions not extend past 30-35 min. to avoid burning muscle. No long steady state workouts for me!

2. Focus mostly on weight training - with HEAVIER weights. I did Cathe programs where I was lifting up to 12 reps (max.) per set. So endurance based programs (with about 16 reps/set) and metabolic programs (using light weights) were on the back burner until I reached my muscle gain goals. I used STS Meso 2 and especially Meso 3, XTrain's Burn Sets, Slow and Heavy - well, you get the picture....

3. Eat more protein. For me, she suggested about 100 grams/day, spread out into 5 meals of 20 grams / meal. Once I looked into it I found out I was only eating half that! So adding hard boiled eggs, apple with natural peanut butter, plain Greek yogurt with berries and low fat granola as snacks and focusing on veggie and salmon filled omlettes for breakfast, salads with chicken or feta cheese & almonds for lunch, and fish and chicken with veggies for dinner, I was able to fuel my workouts and eat enough protein to build the muscle mass my body needed. The odd post-workout protein shake also helped give me the calories and protein I was looking for. I seldom count calories but I think I eat around 2000 calories per day. Less than that and I find it hard to lift heavy enough to build muscle.

I implemented these 3 suggestions and they really worked for me. Hope you can find what works for you, RubySue78.

 

[tslop49]

I think you don't have to look beyond the elite distance runners to see the effects of excessive cardio. These people simply waste muscle mass away. Now, in fairness, many of the elite runnrs are this genotype, but that is NOT the look I am going for! I think Elsie and Jane have excellent ideas. It appears you have a slim build and adding mass can be challenging. I am a huge fan of " fry it and feed it",lifting heavy and increasing your protein consumption. Reducing your cardio may be beneficial as well.....good luck!!

 

[maddiesmum]

It is likely you are doing too much, period, if putting on muscle is your goal. Muscles are built during the resting phase, after the work, and you just don't have much rest built into your week at all. As Elsie suggests, total body weight training, especially 4 times per week, is going to maintain the mass you already have and burn calories as you likely have a cardio effect going on during these sessions also and are not lifting heavy enough weight to build muscle. So, you could easily take your training down to 3 cardio sessions per week and 3 weight training days per week, on different days from your cardio, and keep the walking because this is not excessive and we all need movement in our day that is not necessarily part of any fitness regime but just for health and for fun, and if you increase your protein quota each day, you will more likely see the results you desire. However, bear in mind, your body type sounds like mine: tall, long limbs, tendency towards ectomorphic and therefore, hard gainer, i.e., it will take a lot of work to build muscle. Our bodies will simply never look like Cathe's, it is not in the genetics. So, accepting the possibilities within your genetic make up is a necessity, otherwise you will be endlessly frustrated.

Clare

 

[~Elsie]

......it is not in the genetics. So, accepting the possibilities within your genetic make up is a necessity, otherwise you will be endlessly frustrated.

Wise words!!

 

[Jane Power-Grimm]

I cannot seem to gain muscle for anything

I just posted a 3 1/2 month STS + Newer Cardio rotation in the Workout Manager which may be of use to you RubySue78, or anyone else who wants to gain muscle, maintain cardio fitness level and workout most days of the week. I used Cathe programs from 2011-2017 for the cardio workouts to keep the cardio new and fresh. The cardio includes step, kickbox, spin and both high and low impact hiit. Cardio workouts are scheduled 3 days per week - enough to maintain fitness but not interfere with muscle growth. This rotation also includes 2 ab/core training sessions/week.