Muscle vs. Cardio: Breathing My Way Up a Mountain

Today, we went to an amazing lake called Quilotoa, which is surrounded by huge mountains here in Ecuador.

The descent to the lake took 30 minutes and was easy enough, but the ascent was supposed to take an hour and was extremely challenging. I managed to do it in 45 minutes. I'm not going to lie, it was very difficult, not so much for my legs, but because I was running out of breath.

I developed a pattern of breathing deeply through my nose, which is hard to do uphill. I walked up the steep path for 20 breaths, then paused to rest and breathe deeply before repeating the cycle.

I was happy to make it, but I wish I had a better endurance for stuff like this. To be honest, I don't do cardio anymore. For the past two years, I've been fully dedicated to weightlifting to build muscle. This means I don't make time for cardio. Going to the gym every weekday is already a challenge and a big time commitment. I still have conflicting beliefs about cardio versus muscle building.

Some people say cardio will kill my gains, while others encourage it. But at this point, I don't see myself finding extra time to fit in cardio while keeping up with my priority of building muscle.

What's interesting is that I know I can improve my health and endurance by improving the way I breathe. There's a book I've heard good things about called "The Oxygen Advantage" that I'd be curious to read.