Is ‘Cardio’ the Best Way to Lose Fat?

October 6th, 2008

Reliance on endurance activities (cardio) to burn calories and fat is like using a shot glass to fill up a pool.

It is possibly the least efficient way to lose body fat! Cardio focuses only on increasing the amount of fat that you are burning during the time that you are active. So, if you do 60 minutes on the elliptical machine, you have increased your metabolism only for that 60 minute session. If you are doing cardio seven days a week (1hour/session), then you are spending only approximately 4% of your week burning extra fat.

Another problem with this approach is that once you pass the 45-60 minute mark in your cardio session, you have depleted your body’s glycogen stores, and your body will now begin to use protein to fuel your energy needs. Unfortunately, your body gets that protein from your muscle tissue, meaning that the extra time that you spend doing cardio is actually shrinking your fat burning furnace, muscle mass. Keep this up for long enough and you will actually slow down your metabolism and burn less fat. This makes the other 96% of your week, when your burn the vast majority of your calories, much less effective.

The solution: Do resistance training circuits. Resistance training basically refers to higher intensity activities. For example, you could walk for 5-6 hours without too many problems, but you could not squat for 5-6 minutes. It takes far more energy to do one squat than to take one step. Squats, lunges, bends, twists, pushes and pulls against resistance would all classify as resistance activities.
Circuit training is when you sequence several activities one after another. It generally consists of up to 8 exercises in a row. For example, doing a lunge and twist, followed immediately by a squat, push ups, pull ups, and jumping rope would be a good circuit. The advantages of a circuit are that you get all the benefits of resistance training, along with all of the benefits of cardiovascular activity. You get the best of both worlds!
Resistance training benefits
*6-15 hour metabolic boost after workouts.
*24-48 hours of increased calorie/fat-burning activity.
*24/7/365 your metabolism will be faster burn more fat!

**Ladies: 5 lbs. of muscle will fit in the space of 2.5 lbs. pounds of fat. So, if you gain muscle and lose fat, you will be significantly smaller and firmer.
Summary: We are not saying that cardio is bad for you far from it. Any exercise is better than none. We are saying that circuit training is a much more efficient way to burn fat. Cardio offers the smallest return on the time invested. Circuit training takes the relatively small amount of time that you have to exercise, and makes you burn more fat during the rest of your day and week. Would you rather invest 7 hours a week, get seven hours of benefit or would you want to invest that same 7 hours and get 138 hours of fat burning benefit?

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Posted in Movement - Exercise | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Is ‘Cardio’ the Best Way to Lose Fat?”

  1. healthranker.com says:
    December 23, 2008 at 12:42 am

    Is ‘Cardio’ the Best Way to Lose Fat? Orange County Personal Trainer explains……

    For years Ive heard people talk about losing fat and getting a leaner physique. This article explains my experience as a personal trainer, helping people lose fat and keep it off….

  2. Tweets that mention Is ‘Cardio’ the Best Way to Lose Fat? | -- Topsy.com says:
    January 3, 2010 at 2:22 pm

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by gene marshall, Jim Fletcher. Jim Fletcher said: RT @corey_beasley: Cardio to Lose Fat? #InnovativeResults http://www.innovative-results.com/blog/2008/secrets-to-fat-loss/ [...]

  3. Twitted by thegetteam says:
    January 3, 2010 at 5:16 pm

    [...] This post was Twitted by thegetteam [...]

  4. uberVU - social comments says:
    January 3, 2010 at 5:31 pm

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by genmar: RT @corey_beasley: Cardio to Lose Fat? #InnovativeResults http://www.innovative-results.com/blog/2008/secrets-to-fat-loss/...

  5. Malik Castanon says:
    May 20, 2010 at 2:12 pm

    Another one bites the dust, or at least another post bites the dust. Your blog rocks man keep up the great work.

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