Bodybuilding and Aerobic
The popular opinion is that the combination of these disciplines will only aggravate the results of each separately and they cannot be combined. With some important reservations, this is the right conclusion when it comes to professional sports. In other cases, this is not only possible, but under certain conditions, on the contrary: progress in one discipline will contribute to improved results in another.
Bodybuilding and aerobics: when to combine
If you are a teenager or a lover of twenty with very low genetic potential, you should forget about aerobics for a while. The human body responds best to a single stimulus. If there are two or more such incentives, the body’s ability to adapt is forced to be distributed between them; Naturally, in this case, the result in both disciplines will not be the maximum possible. In this case, you need to focus your efforts on achieving a single goal. If you want to learn how to lift big weights, focus on that. If you want to improve your heart and respiratory activity, pursue only this goal. The choice here is necessary: you will not catch two birds with one stone.
In the case of good genetics from the point of view of bodybuilding, or vice versa, a tendency to be overweight, aerobic exercises can go hand in hand with strength training – endurance acquired during the process of aerobic exercise will help you to progress faster in gaining weight. In addition, aerobics, without any harm to your health, better than any diet will help to recycle excess calories.
It is worth remembering that cardiorespiratory (cardio-respiratory) regulation is very important for health, especially if you are over thirty, and with age its importance increases. Here and here aerobic exercise must pay tribute. The difficulty is to build a cardiorespiratory system, without interfering with this progress in bodybuilding.
Bodybuilding and aerobics: how to start
If you are able to do exercises to stimulate cardiac activity (according to age) three times a week for 20-30 minutes, and at this time your heart rate is close to the upper limit of the range 60–80%, then we can assume that you are in excellent shape . The healthier you will become, the greater the load (the resistance of the pedals on the exercise bike or the speed of the treadmill) will be required to raise the frequency of your heart rate to a certain level.
For clarity, consider one example. Suppose you are thirty years old. There is a simple formula for determining your “working” pulse. Take away your age from 220 and get 190. 60% from 190 is 114, and 80% from 190 is 152. Watch your pulse during the exercise (it is better not to stop). If you do not have a pulse meter, count it for 15 seconds and then multiply by 4.
Do not try to immediately run with a pulse rate close to the 80% limit. Start at 60% and then move very slowly to 80%. If you are in poor physical shape, start with only 50%, and be sure to consult your doctor first. Start small and move forward slowly. To begin, exercise for 5-10 minutes. Then gradually increase the duration of the exercise to 20 minutes while maintaining the pulse rate at 60%, and only then can you increase the pulse rate.
Bodybuilding and aerobics: combination rules
If you train your cardio-respiratory system persistently and constantly, your body will be able to adapt to the increase in weights in basic exercises – then your heart and breath will not “slow down” you. And if you show impatience and immediately overload your cardiorespiratory system, it will stop your bodybuilding progress and lead to a general overworking of the body.
If for the first time you include aerobic exercises in your strength program, do it at the expense of a small reduction of the main complex. Do less exercise with weights or go to the gym less often. When the state of your cardiorespiratory system improves, you can return to the previous training regime.
When you reach the schedule of the heavy load cycle and begin to feel tired, limit the number of aerobic exercises or their duration until the end of the cycle. Perform them only twice a week and only for 15 to 20 minutes, not a full half hour. It is better to keep the pulse rate within 70% instead of 80%.
In order not to impair the ability of your body to recover, do not strive for simultaneous progress in aerobics and bodybuilding. Focus on aerobics for a month between “heavy” cycles, while performing only a few relatively light weight exercises, so as not to lose shape.
After a month of such training at the time, forget about aerobics. You will be satisfied with what you have already achieved, and proceed to the usual training in the gym. After completing the next cycle, return to aerobic exercise again and try to move a little further.
