Many weightlifters and bodybuilders, especially who train for muscle mass appear, not only underestimate the importance of cardiovascular training to their workout routine but also they still believe that it will affect their muscle mass. In other words they believe that aerobic training improves only the heart-lung complex, not their muscles. But this is not true. In fact, your muscles are the primary target of aerobic training.
The primary target, and how to reach it?
First let us look at what aerobic exercise means. Aerobic exercise refers to “moderate physical activity that places demands on the oxygen using pathways that supply blood to your working muscles”. This means that over time, your heart and lungs will be more efficient in delivering more oxygen and get rid of metabolic wastes to and from your body (including muscles).
How does this help in building a big muscle?
1- When a muscle gets bigger that means now it needs more protein than before, same happens with oxygen, bigger muscles need more oxygen.
2- Aerobic training will make your lungs more efficient in processing more oxygen.
3- It will make your heart relatively large, and highly efficient, pumping more blood with each stroke and with less effort.
4- It will also develop new capillaries and enlarge the existing blood vessels, that means new routes are available now to your muscles, new routes means more blood, more blood means more oxygen and more nutrients, it means also more wastes are carried out. The removal of carbon dioxide and other waste products is important in reducing fatigue and increasing endurance.
It’s that simple, include aerobic training to your routine, you will have enlarged and more capillaries routes to your muscles, which means more oxygen supply, more growth.
Don’t forget to ask your personal trainer about three important things:
- Intensity (to calculate your aerobic and anaerobic thresholds (the minimum limit and maximum level of intensity should you train to stay in the aerobic zone (the range of training intensity that will produce improvement in your level of aerobic fitness).
- Duration (time spent in the aerobic exercise)
- Frequency (how many times to train per week) Together they are called “the aerobic exercise recipe”
