I've been trying to put on muscle for the last 2 months or so for rugby season and havent been doing much cardio as i heard it can slow down or hinder muscle growth. my fitness has really decreased however i am happy with my body and how it is progressing, i need to be able to run for quite a while in rugby and where my fitness stands at the moment i wont be able to. how can i increase my aerobic fitness without sacrificing muscleI've been trying to put on muscle for the last 2 months or so for rugby season and havent been doing much cardio as i heard it can slow down or hinder muscle growth. my fitness has really decreased however i am happy with my body and how it is progressing, i need to be able to run for quite a while in rugby and where my fitness stands at the moment i wont be able to. how can i increase my aerobic fitness without sacrificing muscle

I have the same problem actually because I am rather small for a rugby player and every bit of muscle or bulk I put on is super valuable to me hahaha. But what our coach suggested was to do fartleks instead of long distance running. Which you can do on the field on track by sprinting(100%) the lengths and jogging the breadths for recovery. I play 7s so I do it for 7 minutes, take one minute water break and go for another 7 (usually about 9-10 lengths (cos I'm a girl so naturally I'm slower haha)) do this at least 3-4 times a week. And increase the time(8/9/10 minutes) at your own pace. Your fitness will go up. Can still do long distance running for conditioning but limit it to 4 or 5 km max and limit it to around once a week. I hope this helps! :)

well what I do after doing a workout to up my cardio is to just go for a 30 min run after my workout is finished and that seems to help me but that's just me and might not work for you so my advice to you is to find a way to include a cardio workout in there some where