Cardio Is Inefficient For Fat Loss

Extra cardio is not necessary for fat loss. In one healthclub I worked at we did 30 minute training sessions. So clients would do their cardio on their own, ideally after the strength training session. This way they would use carbs for fuel during their weight training sessions and not burn any lean muscle tissue for fuel, by doing their cardio first.

Because many of them had preconceived ideas that they needed to do cardio for fat loss, and because I wasn't a big cardio fan myself (Sorry, the thought of walking on a treadmill to nowhere for 30 minutes or more kills me!), they would sometimes do more than necessary.

One client decided to do about an hours worth 5 days a week, in addition to her strength training workouts. I didn't know she was doing that much. I was already working with my next client and couldn't keep track. A couple weeks of this and she decides to get her bodyfat checked.

Well, turns out she actually increased her bodyfat levels according to the machines they used to measure that. Those machines aren't always that accurate, by the way. She was pretty upset! After putting all that time in doing extra cardio and increasing her bodyfat percentage.

All that extra cardio on top of strength workouts ended up burning off some of her lean muscle tissue. Its hard to gain lean muscle tissue when you are doing that much cardio. Your body has a limited ability to recover and you pass that limit when you do extra work using your slow twitch muscle fibers.

Since lean muscle tissue is what you're after when trying to lose fat, it makes more sense to concentrate on your resistance training. This is also more efficient, as it takes far less time to do circuit body training, where you work your total body in one session, using your large muscles to burn more calories.

If you're not training for an endurance competition such as a triathlon or marathon, etc., don't train like an endurance athlete. Sprinters never run long, continuous distances, yet they are very lean because they are using their large muscles in an interval training session. They will run shorter distances at a high percentage of their maximum speed - very intense training!

Its this short, but intense training that gives them their lean physique without running long distances. Its also more efficient as you don't have to exercise for hours and hours to get lean. This is the same type of workout you should concentrate on if fat loss if your goal and not an endurance competition.

Elite runners work at a much higher intensity than the average jogger and thus burn more calories during their training sessions. Add this in with the length of their runs and yes, you burn quite a few calories. Not the most efficient way to lose fat, however.

A recent study looked at strength and cardio workouts that burned a similar amount of calories during the session. Then they measured how much fat was being burned after the sessions ended. The strength training group was burning 22% more fat than the cardio group, 15 hours after exercising.

The take home message? If you are short on time, interval strength workouts with some interval cardio training will get the job done most efficiently. You want to create some Turbulence in your metabolism with short, intense workouts.

Get the hint. If looking for a proven fat loss system that can be done at home or the gym, go on over to Turbulence Training for fat loss.

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