It happens to me every week. Without fail I get numerous emails and new clients who come to me and are utterly confused about their lack of progress.
They say essentially the same thing: “I walk on my treadmill every day for 45 minutes and yet I am not losing any weight.”
My answer is more or less always the same : “ That’s because walking is for suckers.”
Hey Doofus, here’s a newsflash: If you are doing it
while wearing a tie it is not exercise.
Yup, that’s right. Standard cardio blows. When used as a primary fat loss tool walking (or any steady state cardio) is not only pointless it can actually make things much much worse.
I owned a (relatively) normal gym for several years. I saw these people day in and day out. They would show up, hop on the treadmill, set it on 3.2 mph and go for 45 minutes.
Sounds good right? Wrong.
Unfortunately even after months of going at it these people looked the same as the first day they walked in – fat.
You see there are some major problems when people use steady state cardio as their primary fat loss method.
The first is adaptation. For humans, adaptation is awesomeness on a bun when it comes to evolution etc. But when it comes to fat loss it is a giant pain in the ass.
Let me set up a scenario – let’s say you walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes at a given speed and elevation. Let’s further assume that you burn 300 calories in that time (made up number). Well your body is not stupid, and it will quickly realize what you are doing and make the appropriate adjustments so the next time you attempt the same event you do so with greater efficiency. This means using less calories. So in week #2, while walking for the same 30 minutes you are now only burning 250 calories (again, made up).
So now even though you are putting in the same amount of time you are now burning less calories. You have 2 choices: walk faster or longer. To me both of those options suck.
The next problem has to do with how your body uses fuel during the rest of the day. You see, standard steady state cardio makes you much more efficient at using fat for fuel during the other times of the day. Sounds great right? You want to be and efficient fat burner right? WRONG.
Be the Hummer
Think of it in terms of your car. You want your car to use LESS fuel per unit of time. Like a Smart Car. Be green, save the planet and drive a dork-mobile with great mileage. But when we are talking about fat loss we want to use MORE fat per unit of time- like a Hummer. Hell yeah, a fuel guzzling beast that runs those other cardio-dorks off the (fat burning) road.
Don’t let cardio turn you into a cardio Smart Car.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly is the complete lack of metabolic elevation. Cardio burns calories while you do it, but big deal so does watching American Idol. But when you step off the treadmill (more or less) you are done burning calories.
When choosing what activities to do to burn fat you must prioritize. You must (really must) choose what will give you the biggest bang for your buck. You have to look at the big picture. Who gives a crap about how many calories you burn during a session? That is insignificant when compared to what gets burned during the other 23 hours of the day.
Your metabolism is the brass ring – so let’s get that number higher. Let’s jack your metabolic rate so that you are a fat burning machine 24/7 (and walking on a treadmill will never do that).
Stop wasting your time. Standard cardio, whether it be walking on a treadmill, riding a bike or strolling through your neighborhood will never give you the body and health that you are looking for.
Want to clear your head – go for a walk. Need to lose some fat? Do a real workout (it’s not as hard as you think). Resistance baby–big moves short rest. (check out http://100rep.com if you haven’t already.)
(PLUG ALERT) I know a place where you can get top notch training and nutrition info so you do not waste one second of your time with worthless workouts.
Drop me a line.
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Joshua Carter, CPT The Body Transformation Expert Carter Fitness http://carterfitness.com 818-337-6175 |
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