Are you trying real hard to lose weight? Giving it your best shot? Following all the rules? Then I bet you do plenty of good quality cardio exercise, don't you? If you're really committed, you might even put in an hour each day! Gotta burn up those calories. Gotta stay in the fat-burning zone.
But what if ....
I mean, what if it's all just make-believe?
What if it's nothing but a myth ...
That cardio is the best exercise for weight loss, that is. Could that be possible? Sounds kinda crazy, doesn't it? I mean, 'they' have been telling us for years that cardio burns fat.
So why is it then that the people I've watched day after day, after week, after month, after year on the treadmills do nothing but gain weight? Why is it that so many people who walk every day, or even perform higher intensity cardio every day, just can't seem to slim down? And why is that when I dramatically slashed the amount of cardio performed by myself and my clients, the weight came off with far greater ease?
Because the cardio myth just ain't true, that's why.
Here's what the latest research and clinical evidence is telling us about exercise for fat loss:
- While cardio exercise can assist you to lose weight in the short-term (coming from a background of little or no activity), these effects soon taper off
- This is because cardio exercise is repetitive by nature, and your body is conditioned to adapt quickly to repetitive movement. After all, why waste energy (that means burn fat) on something that requires a relatively low level of functional movement? And no, it doesn't matter that cardio puts you in the 'fat-burning zone!' It's all about what your body does after the event ...
- As a result, the only way to continue the fat loss response from cardio exercise is to perform greater and greater amounts of the stuff
- Not only is this not practical, it actually backfires on you in the end anyway
- You see, regular bouts of repetitive cardio actually elicit a fat-storing response in your hormonal system. This is because evolution has programmed your body to store fat in times of crisis - and long-duration cardio is viewed as just that. In nature, you'd only be on the move for a period of time if you had a threat to your survival: to your food source, your safety, or your shelter. So it would be important to store fat faster.
Does that make sense? I'm thinking that no matter how much of a cardio queen - or king - you are (hey, I've been there, I know it's hard to give up on), you've still got to admit there's something to what I'm saying.
So WHAT should you do instead?
--- Perform functional movements like squatting, lunging, bending, pulling, pushing, or twisting
--- Force continual adaptation and an increased fat-burning response by combining these movements in different ways, and with varying loads or added stimulus. See a good personal trainer - such as a Chek trainer - for more information on this. Or see my Functional Fitness article on this site.
--- Okay, so if I'm totally technical about it, it's not 100% true that cardio exercise is no good for weight loss. Some approaches to cardio can be a useful addition to your weights or functional training. The side salad to the meat and veg, so to speak. But I'm not talking about standard cardio training. Have you heard of interval training? This is a great method for fitness and fat loss, when combined with an effective weights or functional movement pattern. An example of interval training would be to set aside no more than 20 minutes wherein you run one minute as fast as you can, then walk or jog a minute to recover.
--- Use all your free time (from not having to do so much cardio) to research what YOUR body really needs.
Try the following for starters:
- A consultation with a good Personal Trainer
- Read the Metabolic Typing Diet, by William W. Wolcott and Trish Fahey and figure out how to optimise weight loss by eating right for your body. Visit my website for further information on Metabolic Typing consultations.
- Read 'How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy' by Paul Chek, H.H.P and learn how to do, well, just what the title says
- If you really want to get stuck into the details of what I've just spoken about (and one my best sources for this article), pick up a copy of 'Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and your Survival', by Bent Formby. It's one of my favourites!
Cardio for weight loss: it's not the solution. That's a fact. The question is - are you willing to take a leap of faith and discover it for yourself?
Life is Now: Don't waste yours on the treadmill.
Oh - and Press Play:
Kat