I have been scratching my head trying to figure out if running aids building muscle or impedes it. By running, I mean steady state running/jogging as opposed to sprinting. This is a perennial debate in the fitness community. While there is broad agreement some type of cardiovascular activity should be part of any fitness routine, running seems to draw the most disagreement.

 

I sure don’t have the answer. I have never been a big guy, so I do not even have personal experience to draw from. The evidence I have seen is conflicted but the idea you shouldn’t do any form of cardio while trying to build muscle is pretty much dead. You can go as far back as the movie Pumping Iron to see a huge Arnold Schwarzenegger jogging as part of his workout. I know Arnold was also doing massive amounts of steroids at the time. But it isn’t difficult to find natural bodybuilders who run as part of their regime.

 

 

The Bioneer makes the argument why steady state running benefits muscle gain. In a nutshell, steady state cardio depletes glucose stored in your blood. This leads your body to produce cortisol due to stress. This triggers the release of myostatin. Myostatin causes the breakdown of muscle. That sounds bad, so far, but it ignores the rest of the changes to your body.

 

The bigger picture is regular running will result in your left ventricle getting bigger. This produces better, more oxygenated blood flow. Your resting heart rate drops as does your stress level. This puts you in an anabolic state the rest of the time because you produced less cortisol and more serotonin. You deliver more oxygen and nutrients to your muscles both during a workout and at rest. So, running puts you in a more anabolic state more of the time.

 

 

Interestingly, while researching this article I couldn’t find anyone I respect who argues running is problem when building muscle. The sole exception is high mileage running but that’s something everyone appears to agree on. There is still the debate about whether HIIT is a better use of your time than running but I’m going to leave that for another day.

 

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