My thought is, you need proper oxygen carrying capacity in order to train properly.
It would be like have big valves, big intake, wild cam and headers on a v8, but running a 300 cfm carb, will it run yes, but not to its peek efficiency.
If you are gasping and puffing between sets and it takes a fair bit of time to recover, you need to increase your blood gas exchange efficiency.
Plus how much fun is it to be large and gasping just to walk around because your aerobic capacity is shit. Why train to be strong and look good when you wheeze like a fat old man, lol.
Usually when I start getting back to cardio is when I’m tired of breathing heavy for normal every day tasks.