Brisk walking vs jogging vs hiit while clean bulking?

[ofmikeandmen]

I am 6'1 165lb (skinny-fat) and looking to gain about 30-35lb on a clean bulk to start. I have zero weight training/experience in the gym and have just started out. I've read that while bulking you should do cardio and eat a surplus on the days you do cardio. However, which would be the best to minimize fat and keep a healthy blood flow/heart while having the main goal to bulk? I've read brisk walking is good to keep the focus on gains, but I feel as though HIIT would be better and then just eating a surplus for muscle growth. I plan on doing about 2 days a week at 30 minutes on the treadmill. Any suggestions?

[jayareohh924]

switch it up between the 3. that way you wont get bored with just 1.

also, always do your cardio after lifting so you trigger more of your glycogen stores. ...or if you're really feeling extra effort, cardio 1st thing when you wake up, then lift later in the day.

[Scrabbz]

It also depends on your current level of cardiovascular strength. Have you ever run before? Or are you just starting out?

If you've never done any real cardio work, then trying to dive right into HIIT may actually do more harm than good, assuming you do HIIT correctly. It will wipe you out, you will feel god-awful at the end of it, and it's extremely taxing.

That being said, it's a great workout and is a great tool for keeping up cardio health in minimal time (or so some studies say, the jury is still out on which form of cardio is best cardio...welcome to the science world.)

If you're pretty new to cardio, brisk walking and jogging is just fine. Or you could do some GPP work, which is fun as all heck if your routine allows for it.

Cardio doesn't need to just be running. There are many different ways to improve your cardio health.

At the end of the day, however, when it comes to minimizing fat and maximizing muscle on a clean bulk, that comes down to diet. Plain and simple. Cardio is just another tool to make it a bit easier.

[Bellpolo08]

always do your cardio after lifting so you trigger more of your glycogen stores

^This, if you do cardio after lifting, you've already used up a lot of stored glycogen, and fat oxidation is almost double what it would be had you done cardio first

[ofmikeandmen]

I am new to cardio as well. For the past 10 years I've been pretty much glued to the computer. So, I'll probably start with a brisk walk.

I have a couple more questions. If I am doing cardio after my workout, should I still only be working out 3 days a week? Should I take my protein shake after cardio or before? And should I increase my calories to compensate for the cardio I do? And this may be better in the nutrition section, but should I be cutting my carbs on my off days to maximize lean gains -- or just make sure I meat my clean-bulk goals as far as macronutrients go?

Ahhh, the more I read into this the more confusing it gets.

[mkcookin]

For cardio your goal is to raise your heart beat higher then it usually is, so it will get stronger (similar to lifting weights).

You could walk or jog -- but really you will not raise your heartbeat to a level it needs to become stronger to help circulate your blood better.

So in my personal opinion - HIIT is the way to go and it only takes 10 minutes and is way more effective...

1. simply start out jogging at a normal pace to warm up for a few minutes
2. Then for 30 seconds you want to go as fast as you possible can
3. rest for 1 minute -- then repeat
4. continue this for at least 10 minutes and your done

Great thing about HIIT -- is you only need to do this 2-3 times a week to see great results

*** Also if you have bad knees or don't like running -- you can use an elliptical which has zero impact on your joints***

As far as your protein shake, take it at the very end of your work immediately after you finish running.

For the amount of calories -- you defiantly need to increase the amount you eat for any type of cardio you do, especially if you do HIIT which requires a lot of energy. If you do not eat enough you will be losing both fat and muscle.

Hope you found this post helpful

[Living4Health]

I'm more a fan of the slow paced cardio but any cardio is good IMO as long as you eating enough to compensate for the calorie burn when your bulking.

[oldballs]

you want to bulk but you are only going to be in a surplus on cardio days? It doesnt matter if you are doing cardio or not, You have to take in more calories than you burn. At your age/height/weight just eat everything you see.I dont get it when people say they are clean bulking, do they think the rest of us are bulking on cake?

[lucidz]

you want to bulk but you are only going to be in a surplus on cardio days? It doesnt matter if you are doing cardio or not, You have to take in more calories than you burn. At your age/height/weight just eat everything you see.I dont get it when people say they are clean bulking, do they think the rest of us are bulking on cake?

I know right. I'm pie man myself.

[TiberiusClaudis]

You don't NEED to do cardio when bulking if you keep your heart rate near 75% of your max while lifting. To go high tech on ya: Take your age multiply by .7 subtract from 207, this is your max heart rate. Multiply that by .75 and this is the heart rate you should keep above when lifting. I have a training watch that cost about $200, which keeps track of my HR. For comparison, when I WL, I burn around 680 calories, when I play squash its about 760 and HITT at 660. So WL is a good cardio workout. When I bulk, I play squash once a week and do HITT once a week. When I cut, I increase HITT to 3 times a week, and drop the weights but go up in reps on the WL.

With that said, I'm a HUGE believer in brisk walking. I lost 60lbs doing that...took my dog out for 2 hr walks. So like others have said, do what ever it takes to get you out the door.

[ironwill2008]

I am 6'1 165lb (skinny-fat) and looking to gain about 30-35lb on a clean bulk to start. I have zero weight training/experience in the gym and have just started out. I've read that while bulking you should do cardio and eat a surplus on the days you do cardio. However, which would be the best to minimize fat and keep a healthy blood flow/heart while having the main goal to bulk? I've read brisk walking is good to keep the focus on gains, but I feel as though HIIT would be better and then just eating a surplus for muscle growth. I plan on doing about 2 days a week at 30 minutes on the treadmill. Any suggestions?

You have an ambitious goal ahead of you. If you plan to "gain about 30-35lb," get used to the fact that you're going to add some body fat in the process. If you attempt to keep things, calorie-wise, too close to the vest, you'll wind up remaining about where you're at now.

Figure a calorie/macro intake that shows you about a 3-pound gain in body weight per month. If you bust your tail in the gym, and eat at a consistent 20% surplus of the right macros, maybe half of the gain will be actual muscle mass. It's best to eat to the same calorie total every day; attempting to 'eat' calories you think you just 'burned' from some single event of exercise is a practice that will upset your program. Don't go down that rat hole.



As far as cardio is concerned, keep it to the minimum; a couple of 20-minute sessions of LISS per week should be adequate to help manage your heart/lung health without impacting your ability to build muscle.