Exercises that get your heart rate up such as running or bike riding should be part of any well rounded exercise program. Cardiovascular exercises such as these provide several benefits such as more energy to take on the day, improved lung and heart function, reduction in the chance of cardiovascular disease etc.

If your goal is to gain weight excessive cardiovascular exercise my stop your from doing just that. All cardio burns up calories which you need a lot of in order to gain weight.

If your goal is to build muscle, you should be eating more calories than you use up every single day. If you burn several hundred calories running, walking, cycling etc. you may not be able to take in enough calories to off set what you have burned.

The amount of calories you burn in a single cardio session can vary greatly depending on the type of exercise, the intensity, your weight and so on. To give you a range, 300-1100 calories may be burned in one hour.

If you’re a hardgainer I recommend either stopping your cardio all together during your bulking phase or at the very most keeping it at a bare minimum. When you have reached your weight gain goal then you can resume your cardio training. In the event you make the decision to keep doing cardio in your bulking phase follow these strategies:

Keep cardio sessions to twenty minutes or less.

Speed walk rather than run.

Only do 1-2 cardio sessions each week.

Don’t exercise on an empty stomach.

Estimate the calories you have burned and consume that many more calories.

As I remarked above there are a variety good things about doing cardio so it shouldn’t be stopped for ever. In fact if you always focus on putting on the weight and do not do cardio it may hurt your gains. Since your heart pumps blood for the muscles and offers them with the nutrients that they need to grow it is vital that your heart is strong and healthy.

Cardiovascular exercise should be used as a method for reaching your overall fitness goals. Performing cardio depending on where your are with your goals will help you get to where you want to be.