The number one priority of any bodybuilder’s program should be to build muscle. The only way to build muscle is to increase the amount of overload placed on the working muscle. An important measure of overload progression is strength (the amount of weight that can be lifted in an exercise). Often, when a bodybuilder concerns themselves with becoming stronger in the key lifts such as barbell bench press, squat and deadlift, the greatest muscle gains are experienced.
Any program or training strategy that interferes with the ability to place maximal overload on a muscle (and improve strength) will short circuit a bodybuilder’s capacity to make any improvements to his/her physique. One recent study has shown quite clearly that performing cardio exercise before resistance training will reduce a bodybuilder’s strength performance in the gym.
In this study, the most interesting finding was that it took a full 24 hours between cardio and weight training sessions to ensure the bodybuilders were able to lift their maximum weights in the gym. A break of 4-hours and even 8-hours did not allow enough recovery time to optimize weight lifting performance in the gym.
To build maximum muscle mass in the shortest possible time, it appears that 24-hours recovery between Max-OT weight lifting and Max-OT cardio maybe the best strategy. Pre-contest bodybuilding is a different story as it is a race against time to come in at your best condition, so training twice a day is often required. However, for rapid gains in muscle mass, most bodybuilders would be best suited to perform their Max-OT resistance training and cardio exercise on separate days.
Source: The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
