I can't speak from a scientific standpoint on this but I found myself to have similar strength gains from hdrol+morning cardio as I had when I took hdrol with no cardio.
I only gained like 5-10 pounds when I was doing cardio on it though...looked a lot more cut. Whereas when I took hdrol and wasn't doing any cardio, which was my first PH ever, I packed on 15 pounds and lost 5 in PCT. Hope that gives you an idea.