No Cardio?

[Catlover]

I've seen reference to the concept that cardio does not work in getting one fit or losing weight (I may have summarized this wrong so please forgive me). I'd like to know more about this--could someone please explain the reasoning and if cardio is not effective, what is? Or point me to a previous thread if this question is redundant. Thanks so much.

[The David]

I'm wondering where you heard this?

[Keith]

What you may be talking about is that your body requires resistance exercise to maintain your lean body mass (muscle), especially if your calorie intake is below maintenance levels (ie. you're losing weight.) Since your lean body mass determines your daily calorie needs, just doing cardio exercise and/or calorie reduction risks losing lean body mass, thus making it harder to lose weight.

Note the 'just' - the key is that you need to do resistance exercise - not that you don't need to do cardio. Cardio is the best exercise for burning calories directly and it builds up the stamina levels necessary for intense resistance exercise. As the name 'cardio' suggests, it's good for the health of your cardiovascular system (heart and bloodflow). It's also good for your health in general. Cardio fitness enables your blood to supply oxygen to whereever your body needs it.

In short, if you want to lose fat you need to do a mix of cardio and resistance exercise. You can lose weight just through dieting, but that weight will be mostly water and muscle, not fat. And losing that muscle will make it increasingly hard to keep the weight off.

[Tristan]

Hello There,

Im being sarcastic of course. Cardio is exercise and exercise burns calories. Weight = calories, so if you exercise cardio or otherwise, you get fit and lose weight. That's oversimplified I know....What I think you heard is that cardio might not be the most optimal or best-suited choice of exercise to lose weight because there a debate does exists.

Read up on this article..It's not comprehensive, but it explains alot.
Articles

[Uplift]

Originally Posted by Tristan

Hello There,

Im being sarcastic of course. Cardio is exercise and exercise burns calories. Weight = calories, so if you exercise cardio or otherwise, you get fit and lose weight. That's oversimplified I know....What I think you heard is that cardio might not be the most optimal or best-suited choice of exercise to lose weight because there a debate does exists.

Read up on this article..It's not comprehensive, but it explains alot.
Articles

Ever seen a fat sprinter? Excellent for hormone profiles and maintaining healthy muscle mass as well.

[Tristan]

Ever seen a fat sprinter?

Actual. I have. He was a cop we nicked-named Bubba. When we heard him on the radio yelling, "Victor 25 is in foot pursuit" ......Well, you couldn't help but laugh.

[Catlover]

Where I saw this mentioned was in other threads here in this forum. I'm interested in it because I've felt for about 1-2 years that I'm not getting the kind of results that I thought I would from a mix of aerobic exercise and weight lifting. I read the article that Tristan attached. I'm still a bit confused. It seems to say at first that aerobic exercise is ineffective but then in the last paragraph it recommends using a heart rate monitor, etc. I think the overall message is that aerobic exercise alone is not sufficient to undo the effects of the standard American diet but can be coupled with a better eating plan. Am I getting the right message?

[Tristan]

Yes, you are correct in saying that. All the exercise in the world, regardless of type, won't do a person much good if they are still eating a crap diet. What CHEK is stating in the article that you read is to use a heart-rate monitor as a biofeedback device while performing anaerobic conditioning. To get more cardio benefits from your conditioning, maintain a target heart rate by shortening rest periods.

[John Hill]

Diet is first and foremost the most important factor in losing weight, however, the following article The Best Way to Burn Fat, explains how and when exercise will help you lose weight effectively.

John

Attracting People.com

[VacMan]

You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

If you do cardio you can basically eat more and get away with it because you can create a calorie deficit through cardio.

OR Cardio can help you accelerate your weight loss.

For example, if you need 1,400 calories to lose weight and you eat 2,000 instead.

You could run for an hour which may burn 600 calories.

2,000 - 600 = 1,400

By doing cardio you just created a calorie deficit enough to lose weight.

Cardio = burned calories

Weight loss is a function of a calorie deficit.

A calorie deficit by itself is not the "optimum" way to lose weight, but it sure is the most simple and easy to understand way.

That’s it!

[Amit_S]

I'm not sure about this cause fat loss has never been my interest. I remember reading some stuff about this: cardio in the form of long duration steady state aerobics gives you the least bang for your buck. The time you spend doing aerobics can be better utilized in lifting weights.
If you calculate the number of calories you burn during aerobics versus weight training - then aerobics wins hands down. But thats that for you. Aerobics wont do anything after the session is over.
Lifting weights on the other hand will boost your metabolism cause of which you keep burning more calories even after the session is done.
It will not strengthen you. Lifting weights will build muscle.

Of course it doesn't have to weights. I just used it as an example here. If you really want to do 'cardio' try high intensity interval training. The basic concept is something like this: for fixed durations say...10 or 20 seconds you alternate a full blown exercise which requires lots of exertion with something low in intensity. For e.g.: sprinting full speed alternated with just slow walking.
If this appeals to you then just google Tabata Protocal.

[Amit_S]

Check out TESTOSTERONE NATION and The Science of Total Training
Just search for fat loss and/or aerobics. In the meanwhile check these articles:

Fat Loss Wars - The Science of Total Training

Secrets Of Fat Loss Training - The Science of Total Training

TESTOSTERONE NATION - Destroying Fat: War Room Strategies to Maximize Fat Loss

TESTOSTERONE NATION - Nutrition For Newbies

[Matthew Shea]

Keith's explanation hit the nail on the head AFAIC. Cardio will help lose weight and is great for cardiovascular (heart and blood delivery) conditioning, but it won't strengthen muscles. You need some sort of resistance exercise for that. When you strengthen the muscles, the increased muscle mass will help your body burn more calories even when it's at rest, which will help you to actually maintain your weight loss. Without that, you run the risk of gaining weight back if you cut back on the cardio.

[outdoorsnewzealand]

I've recently seen one of my friends try regular cardio exercise. He would go for hour long brisk walks at a speed where he was breathing quite hard and sweating a bit. After two months this had produced basically no weight loss.

After giving up on exercise for a while due to the lack of results he started do weight training at home and he's lost about 5kg in a month, you can really see the difference too. Needless to say this has him a lot more inspired than he was after two months of cardio.

[SmellyOrc]

That's because most people are fit enough to lift weights (which boosts your metabolism), but not fit enough to do cardio at a high enough intensity to get that same effect. And no, brisk walking is NOT intense. Not on the body, anyway. It won't boost the metabolism.

[Uplift]

Any form of exercise that can be performed continuously over a lengthy time period is not intense, and has a limiting effect on muscle mass, metabolism and hormone profiles, whilst simultaneously increasing the aerobic capacity, in order to cater to the duration. The muscle mass and metabolism (so by necessity hormone profile) will be the minimum required to do the work.

The higher the intensity the shorter the duration. This form has maximum effect on muscle mass, metabolism and hormone profile (anaerobic). The ideal is then to get the best of both worlds, which requires some understanding, thinking and unbiased observation.

Intense forms of exercise need to be approached particularly carefully, and eased into to avoid injury. Most people can safely lift light weights or perform cardio over reasonable distances, and mentally cope with the stresses produced. Hence the popularity of the cardio craze. High intensity lifting, or sprinting styles of training will soon injure an unprepared, untrained person, and is mentally extremely stressful. The type of mental focus required to correctly lift maximum weights in short time periods, or to correctly explode over short distances is different to less intense styles of training. Performing blocks of repeated maximum intensity effort is extremely stressful, especially mentally, which is why it produces extreme results, that is, extremely rapid adaptation of a type which also happens to promote extreme fat burning.

[moltar]

Cardio is exactly what you need to loose weight. Don't even eat less, just eat the same amount, but burn more calories than you normally do by doing cardio. And by cardio I don't mean "the machines at the gym", you can actually bike, run, skate, row a boat in real life.

There a great ebook called "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle". It really breaks it down like no other book. It also has VERY IMPORTANT chapters on goal settings, which include sections like affirmations, visualisation and exactly the kind of things that are usually discussed on these forums in general.

[dennis08]

Cardio builds leg muscles, slices weight, prevents blood clots and heart diseas and makes you happier.