5 Muscle Building Cardio Exercises You Should Be Doing

Muscle building cardio is a great option for those looking to get more of a shredded look. The thought of building muscle while burning calories will sound counter-intuitive to some doubters, but it is possible. Like with any training, it’s about staying disciplined. Furthermore, it’s about knowing when to add this style of training to complement your main training regimen. It’s critical to state that these exercises alone don’t build muscle. Recovery and diet are equally important when building lean muscle is the goal.

Diet and Recovery

As mentioned in the intro, diet and recovery play comparable roles when it comes to building lean muscle mass. I feel that I should expand on both briefly before moving to the exercises.

A high protein diet is essential. High can be subjective without numbers. To this point, I recommend anywhere between 0.7 and 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. The more protein you eat, the more fuel you supply to your body to build muscle.

Benefits of a high protein diet include:

· Repairs and builds muscle post workout.

· Highly thermogenic, meaning protein burns a high percentage of calories in the digestion process.

· Protein has a high satiety level, and you are less likely to overeat.

On the subject of recovery, allowing your body adequate recovery time is of the utmost importance. Remember that your body repairs and builds muscle during the recovery process. Working out too frequently can lead to overtraining and less than optimal results. In general, recovery time will take longer as you get older.

Muscle Building Cardio Exercises

The list below includes my favourite exercises for muscle building cardio. These specific exercises cover the total body. Furthermore, there is a lot of variety with these exercises.

Keeping the workouts short and bringing maximal output is critical in optimizing muscle building potential. Salient concepts that need to be remembered when performing such workouts.

Hill Sprints

Fantastic exercise for building muscle in the lower body. Specifically, hams, quads, glutes, and calves can see gains over a period of time from adding hill sprints. Hill sprints are an exceptional form of resistance as you are running up a hill against gravity. The sprints don’t need to be long, 20 to 40 yards will be the limit, and shouldn’t take more than 10 seconds to complete. It’s recommended that on the descent from the hill to walk down the hill backward.

Why, you might be asking? Well, walking down a hill normally can put excessive stress on your knees, especially over a period of time if you are doing this exercise regularly. Walking down backward can reduce this stress on the knees and can even help to stretch the hip flexor muscles. I started incorporating these hill sprints into my outdoor workouts 3 months ago, and I am liking them so far. My general guide is 3 sets of 3 sprints, no set time on rest periods between sets. The key is to give maximum output during the sprints and make sure that you are fully recovered prior to next set

It will depend on the level of incline and the length of the sprint as to what you are capable of doing and your general level of fitness.

Assault Bike

Assault bikes are aptly named because you feel like you have been assaulted after a workout! Peddling and moving your arms at the same time will burn calories quickly. Add in some heavy resistance, and you are going to feel the build up of lactic acid very quickly. I recommend short bursts of output again.

Tabata style training, 20 seconds all-out work, and 10 seconds rest. That is classified as 1 round, then you go again for another round and so on. You can try this Tabata training as a finisher to your workout, and it will light you up. 10 minutes is a good time to aim for this finisher. I find it more useful at the end of short workouts as you have more energy to push hard on this taxing piece of equipment.

Prowler Sprints/Sled Drags

Pick your poison! Distance for prowler sprints will be short, 20 to 40 yards depending on the available setup. Weight will be low to moderate. You can even throw in other exercises while doing prowler sprints. Push the prowler the required distance and, once done, have dumbbells placed at the end of the sprint and perform a set of dumbbell curls, for example.

Then push the prowler back up the other way and do some tricep kickbacks with another set of dumbbells you have placed at the start of the sprint. Repeat 10 times, and you will feel it in the arms and legs big time. That is more of an advanced option. Prowler sprints on their own are more than enough for most people.

For sled drags, here is 1 routine you can try. Have a rope attached to either side of the sled. Drag the rope 20 yards towards you, once done, run back to the opposite side and drag the sled towards you again. Do that for 5 to 10 minutes and I guarantee your upper back will be on fire! It also takes good core strength to move the sled, the tighter you brace your core during the movement the more you will work it

Farmer Walks

Loaded carries of any variety are fantastic. Kettlebells or dumbbells are the traditional options to complete these carries. Overhead carries are another variation that brings tremendous benefits, especially for shoulder stabilization. Training methods include heavy loaded carries for a short distance and lighter carries for a longer distance.

A heavier load will require max effort type work. The longer the distance, the more it will be felt in the legs, forearms, shoulders, upper back, even your core. I prefer the longer carries as there is more time under tension for the muscles. I sprinkle in the heavy carries for variety.

An option for a longer distance workout is a loaded carry for a mile as quickly as possible. The load will be relatively light due to the distance, and aim to stop only a couple of times during the workout. A difficult test but has the potential to build muscle in several areas.

Dumbbell Complexes

Haven't heard of a dumbbell complex before? Well, it’s where you complete 2 or more exercises with dumbbells, with no rest between exercises — the dumbbells stay in your hands and you seamlessly transition to the next exercise. A simple example is a dumbbell lunge straight into the dumbbell row.

The more exercises in the complex, the more difficult it will be to complete. The length of the workout should be no more than 15 minutes. Adding a dumbbell complex is a great option for a total body workout. It is possible to complete a complex with kettlebells or a barbell also. I prefer the dumbbell option because there are more exercise options.

Summary

The above list of exercises can help you achieve the goal of building muscle from cardio style workouts. The key to success is completing the workouts in the correct time frame. No longer than 20 minutes. It’s possible to do 2 of these exercises in the 1 workout, for example, hill sprints followed by a dumbbell complex. These exercises should only be done once or twice a week.

You should still be continuing with your normal program and make sure you are getting in some heavy compound lifts during the week. Think of the muscle-building cardio exercises as complimentary workouts to your main program. Without a doubt, these exercises will aid in building muscle while burning fat and get you on track to a leaner body. A look most of us are trying to achieve!