Hey guys
This is my first post here.
I've been training for about 2 months now and have made good gains during this bulking phase.
I have put on about 5 kg's (approx 10 lbs) since I started and have noticed strength gains as well.
The problem I have however is I find I am short of breath a lot quicker now during my exercises to the point where I stop due to cardio exhausation rather than muscle failure.
I have not done any cardio since bulking and speculate that it may be due to the increased muscle mass and need for oxygen to support the muscles that has reduced my cardio ability?
I regard myself as generally fit and was never overweight and play sport once a week.
Should i incorporate cardio into my routine, maybe on a non-weights day?
Is once a week even enough? I do not want to do too much cardio since I am in the bulking phase.
Thanks

Is your apprehension to including cardio based on negative results from previous bulking cycles, or are you basing this off the opinions of others? For every source that says to limit or exclude cardio while bulking, you can probably find an opposing view that feels it should be part of the program.

What everyone will agree on though is if you're going to do it, make sure your diet is in check to support the extra energy expenditure. Miscalculations here is where good cardio can go bad. :doh:

To what intensity and how often is something you'll have to expirement with. Your more intense sessions are of course best suited apart from an equally intense strength training session.

Apart from traditional machine based cardio, you can always use the occasional 20+ rep squat set to stay fit. :tu:

If you stop doing cardio, then don't expect to keep your cardiovascular endurance that you had before. If cardio is important to you for athletic reasons then you should have never stopped doing it in the first place. Do it on your non-lifting days or 8 hours before/after lifting.

I have put on about 5 kg's (approx 10 lbs) since I started and have noticed strength gains as well.
The problem I have however is I find I am short of breath a lot quicker now during my exercises to the point where I stop due to cardio exhausation rather than muscle failure.
I have not done any cardio since bulking and speculate that it may be due to the increased muscle mass and need for oxygen to support the muscles that has reduced my cardio ability?

It sounds to me like you are just deconditioned. Next time you bulk, you can work cardio effect into your lifting to prevent this.

As it is now, some HIIT would do fine for fixing most of this in a couple weeks.

Even 20min of medium intensity cardio like jogging or jump roping on off days would do you good and help keep the fat off as well.