Does cardio even help?

[PanthersLuke]

You lose muscle by doing it, so does it help?

[Dominique]

It depends on the kind of cardio you’re doing, how much of it and what else you are doing. Ideally you would do a mix of cardio training (to improve your cardiovascular health and performance and burn calories) and of resistance training (to build – or at least preserve – muscle mass). The main cause for losing muscle is not exercising them, especially if you are in a caloric deficit in order to lose weight.

[shipo]

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@PanthersLuke wrote:

You lose muscle by doing it, so does it help?

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I'm curious; what leads you to believe doing cardio causes muscle loss?

[AuroraKat]

Of course cardio helps. It builds up your stamina, makes your heart more efficient (and, thus, healthier) and provides many mental health benefits. 

Cardio on its own does not make you lose muscle. However, if you are in a large caloric deficit to lose weight and all you do is cardio, then you will lose lean body mass. It has not so much to do with the cardio, but the increased caloric deficit and body prioritising certain functions over others. 

Solution? Cross-train! Lift weights to let your body know that you want to keep those muscles. Do some cardio to keep your heart in good shape and gain stamina. Or, combine the two and do endurance-building strength training circuits (I personally prefer kettlebell workouts for this particular purpose). 

[emili]

You actually strengthen your legs and butt muscles doing cardio, particularly if you add resistance. But it is true that if you are in a caloric deficit to lose weight and you do only cardio, you will lose some muscle from the groups that aren't working. Especially if you do it for long. However, cardio is the best way to burn fat quickly. When I was losing weight, I didn't care so much about muscle loss, I wanted fat loss. I did cardio for three months straight (with resistance). When I got close to my goal, I got a trainer and started lifting. I still do both to ensure I keep the weight off and the muscles on.

[Mukluk4]

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@PanthersLuke wrote:

You lose muscle by doing it, so does it help?

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I believe most athletes would disagree with you.

[AndyDandyPandy]

You can only lose muscle by doing cardio for a long time without eating. I'm sure any average person can never reach that point by doing cardio. Unless you are a cyclist, a cross country/marathon runner, or anything that deals with hours and hours of constant cardio you cannot lose muscle from cardio and those people trains very hard everyday to have a noticeable muscle loss. Any bodybuilder who knows what they are doing does cardio with their weight training.

[PanthersLuke]

Well, you certainly can't BUILD muscle from solely cardio, no matter how hard the resistance is. So you're either staying stagnant or losing it.

[shipo]

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@PanthersLuke wrote:

Well, you certainly can't BUILD muscle from solely cardio, no matter how hard the resistance is. So you're either staying stagnant or losing it.

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Not true, the muscles used for whatever cardio routine you're doing can and usually will build up.