Weight Loss Cardio Myth

by Ed Scow (aka The Fit Dad) - Certified Fitness Professional and Fat Loss Expert for Busy Moms and Dads

I have a confession to make...

When it comes to performing a weight loss exercise, I hate cardio. Well, that's not totally true. I hate cardio that lasts a long time.

I don't like cardio in the traditional sense as a weight loss exercise - you know, where you have to do it every stinkin' day and for at least 30-45 minutes.

Have you ever heard that you need to do your cardio for at least 20 minutes before you begin to burn fat?

Or how about the one where you need to do your weight loss cardio in your "fat burning zone" if you really want to lose fat?

Is that true? Do you really need to be on the treadmill for some magical number of minutes before "BOOM!" your body starts to burn fat?

Is there really some mystical "fat burning zone" where your body somehow turns some switch and you immediately start burning nothing but fat that will also lead to lots of weight loss?

No, those statements, as they're commonly understood, are flat out wrong.

The dirty little secret is that your body is ALWAYS burning fat...it's just a matter of how much.

You actually burn a higher percentage of fat while sitting on the couch watching TV than you do while doing weight loss cardio in the traditional sense...hard to believe, but true.

But you know what? If you believed any of those statements I made earlier, don't worry because cardio for weight loss is, by far, the most misunderstood and overrated aspect of fat loss.

Ever since the 1970's when people started to do "cardio" for health and weight loss, it's been misunderstood.

I can still remember my mom going on walks, sometimes twice a day, for upwards of 90 minutes in an attempt to lose fat, and she never really did. Yet there she was day after day, walking in the hopes of losing all that unwanted weight.

Looking back I can understand why she was so frustrated.

But is cardio even necessary if you want to lose fat?

Do you have to do it?

What if you absolutely, positively hate the thought of cardio for weight loss. Then what?

I believe that cardio is grossly overrated and isn’t even necessary if you want to lose fat.

How’s that for a sacrilegious comment? How can a personal trainer, and fat loss expert say that cardio is not necessary?

Well, it’s true. Especially the way I instruct people to train.

By performing your fat loss workouts the way I train many of my clients...5 days a week of 10 minute resistance training and body weight workouts...you don’t need to perform any extra cardio for weight loss.

The reason my 10 minute workouts work so well is because of something called EPOC. What that basically means is that your body burns a lot of calories, especially from fat, long after you’re done with your 10 minute workout.

Why? Because it’s working overtime trying to get your body back to "normal".

If you rely on a lot of cardio and/or long, drawn out low-intensity resistance training trying to lose weight, your body doesn’t have to work very hard to get back to normal because you didn’t work very hard during your workout.

Have you ever done a workout where you can still "feel it" about 20 minutes after you’re done? That’s EPOC in action and that’s where the real fat burning takes place.

Do I believe cardio is totally worthless?

No. Cardio is very, very important, especially when it comes to general health.

My point is it's not the ultimate approach to fat loss.

Make sense? 

 

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