Running while bulking?

[wildbill ws6]

I am in the bulking phase. When I started to work out 8 months ago I weighed 150 pounds now Im up to 171. My muscles are getting alot bigger but I want them to look alittle more defined. If I ran 1 mile per day after my lifting would that hurt my muscle growth. I still want to bulk hard but I know cardio will not help this. Let me know if I should run or just keep doing what im doing.

[khari]

All it means is you will have to eat more to compensate. It won't make your muscles more defined. That'll happen when you cut.

[wildbill ws6]

All it means is you will have to eat more to compensate. It won't make your muscles more defined. That'll happen when you cut.

you sure? Running in general will make your body loose fat so making your muslces look more defined

[Wierz]

Running in general doesn't make you lose fat. Eating fewer calories than your body uses in a day will make you lose fat. All the running might do is push your calories used vs. calories eaten into the negative.

Hypothetical scenario - Say you eat 3000 calories a day.

While you run, with your current diet, your body burns 3200 calories a day.

That is 3000 - 3200 = -200 calories per day (caloric deficit)

This same result (very generally speaking) can be achieve by not running and eating less. Without running your body burns 2600 calories a day, so instead, you eat 2400 per day.

That is 2400 - 2600 = -200 (the same caloric deficit)

[muscleup]

you sure? Running in general will make your body loose fat so making your muslces look more defined

Putting yourself in a calorie deficit will help you loose fat.(period)

Running will help only by burning calories, hopefully putting you in a calorie deficit , which leads to fat loss, which leads to your muscles becoming more aperent under your skin...

EDIT: To the OPer: I wouldn't run very much if you are trying to bulk because you will be burning more cals. The more you burn, the more you are going to have to eat to stay above your calorie maintenance level, so you can gain mass.

[Nosaj]

But eating is fun!

[MixmasterNash]

Why would you want to run 1 mile a day, everyday?

[Unreal]

Cardiovascular health? Maybe so you can eat more? I know when I start to bulk I'm going to continue to do as much cardio as I can, because I have no issue packing 6k+ calories a day.

[RBC13]

6K bulk? and youre barely benching 100 Unreal. Something doesnt sound right. I think you should focus more on 4000 or less cals, or thats gonna be all fat on your bulk. Or maybe im missing something here.........

[ianack4life]

Why would you want to run 1 mile a day, everyday?

The question is why wouldn't you?

Most are in it for looks, but they look ugly on the inside of, given what they do to their bodies.


Cardiovascular health may not be important now but when you're middle aged it may suddenly become a priority when its too late.

[notbad]

From what I've been taught by my trainers, I thought if you don't eat enough(calorie wise) and you train on cardio as well as weight training, wouldn't that be considered overtraining, and eventually hurt your muscle growth?

[fixationdarknes]

The question is why wouldn't you?

Because running a mile isn't going to do a whole lot for you...unless that's a mile of sprint intervals.

[ianack4life]

Because running a mile isn't going to do a whole lot for you...unless that's a mile of sprint intervals.

Will it do more for you than not running a mile?

And don't tell me just because its only a mile, even at a jogging pace, it won't help your cardiovascular system.

I know you've learned most of your information off of this website, but its bodybuilding oriented, not general health oriented. Jogging one mile may not be as efficient at burning calories as HIIT training but it still strengthens your cardiovascular system moreso than if you did what most of us do and sit on our asses then lift weights.

[josephxxl]

you sure? Running in general will make your body loose fat so making your muslces look more defined

Also you could try some sprints which not only burn fat but also build muscle in the quads, hamstrings AND improves your abs. Try 60,50 and 30 meter sprints with about 1 1/2 min rest between sets. Do that for about 20 min followed by some ab work and you won't have long to wait before you see noticeable results.

[MixmasterNash]

The question is why wouldn't you?

Most are in it for looks, but they look ugly on the inside of, given what they do to their bodies.

Cardiovascular health may not be important now but when you're middle aged it may suddenly become a priority when its too late.

Because a mile a day is probably the least effective cardio workout ever.

No one said that he shouldn't run, or that cardio is stupid and we didn't care about it. YOU made those dumb assumptions.

My insides look fine thanks. Excellent, in fact. I'm also training for a half-marathon right now. There's no way I would bother running a mile a day for that, or any other reason. Slow, short distance cardio is basically worthless unless you're extremely out of shape, and then it is only useful as a stepping stone to reasonable cardiovascular exercsie.

[Anthony]

I started improving my cardiovascular system within the past year and I feel A LOT better. So much better, in fact, that I will always maintain some type of cardio training (steady state, hiit, gpp, mma, etc) - even during a bulk. The benefits far outweigh the negative of eating more. I mean, really, 30 minutes of steady state burns what ... 300-500 cals? Big deal.

[Kayo]

i run all the time and it hasnt really hindered my growth but if your going to run you need to slowly increase your distance and speed

[Mercuryblade]

There are a bajillion factors to consider, running not only burns calories it burns fat, those cold spots that appear on the body are actually fat stores being attacked for energy (its an endothermic reaction process hence the coldness), but running after a workout and extending the workout session for too long would actually be detrimental bulking gains. Look up cortisol, its a hormone the body produces under many conditions, one of them being exercise. I've heard from many sources (one being my biology professor last year) that its best to keep workouts not too longer than an hour without resting and eating. So, unless you can get your running and your workout in under an hour, which I can't, run on the days you don't lift.

[wrestlemaniac]

The most likely result of adding cardio to a bulk is an expensive grocery bill followed by a cut cycle.