Cardio = Waste of time?

[The Badass]

I was just reading an article in MuscleMag international that was talking about how aerobic exercise is more of a waste of time and damaging to your body than a benefit for fat burning.

This is not the first time I have heard this theory either.

Have you heard of this? What do you think Is cardio really a waste of time for fat burning? It's gotta have some kind of fat burning or weight loss benefit, but now it's being debated.

Your thoughts?

 

[spatts]

I don't think it's the best way to lose fat, but it has its upsides.

In the past when I've tried to drop fat for an event, I saved cardio for last. I was able to use straight dieting up until about the 8-10 week point, then I started to slow down on progress, so I added a cardio session in the mornings on my off days. Then when progress slowed there I added interval sprints to a couple days (weekends). Then when I slowed down again, I would add more....bottom line, by the end, I was doing 1 hour AM sessions on an empty stomach, and sprint intervals in the evenings that I didn't train with weights. That was only about 4 weeks worth of cardio; diet did the rest.

The idea is to keep amo up your sleeve. If you pull out all the stops at once, you have nothing to shock your system with down the road.

 

[SofaGeorge]

Do you see fat people or skinny people on treadmills?

If cardio worked for buring off body fat... wouldn't there be a bunch of sleek, buff people with 8% body fat on the cross country ski machines and treadmills?

 

[JG1]

Do you see fat people or skinny people on treadmills?

If cardio worked for buring off body fat... wouldn't there be a bunch of sleek, buff people with 8% body fat on the cross country ski machines and treadmills?

So you're saying cardio doesn't work for burning off body fat?

 

[Bulldog_10]

come on people...cardio works. It won't replace a good diet, but it will definitely help.

And sofa, the fat people on the bikes are the ones that think that cardio WILL replace a good diet.

If nothing else, cardio increases your caloric output, which will put you in a more negative calorie balance...it also increases your metabolism, which will lead to long term drops in body fat.

And forget about fat loss...why not just do it for the heart...it IS cardio.

 

[SofaGeorge]

I haven't seen any evidence in 30+ years that supports cardio as an effective weightloss tool. sorry.

 

[The Red Dragon]

Well I read a study awhile ago, cardio alone does shit to help with weight loss. It's only effective while you're on a good diet, and even then their effects are negligable. If you want to do it by all means, it definately helped my stamina during deads and squats. Why do you think smokers make bad lifters . You can alos get growth hormone spurts if the cardio is intense enough (75-90% of max heart rate)...just sprint or something .

 

[Bulldog_10]

I haven't seen any evidence in 30+ years that supports cardio as an effective weightloss tool. sorry.

So you don't think being more active leads to weight loss, and in particular fat loss? Doing cardio will increase your caloric output, if your caloric input is kept stable, you will lose weight by doing cardio (or not gain as much).

How about the fact that doing cardio (or aerobic activity in general) increases the mitochondrial density in the muscles...and it increases fat stores near the mitochondria making fat more available for oxidation.

 

[slinky]

Cardio is good for a newbie to build up lung capacity. And the "cardio doesn't work" is a over simplified way to say it. In the beginning, sure, it'd be effective. But after awhile, it's time to look at other methods. Like HIIT.

And you know, it all boils down to what the person needs. For me, HIIT is what I need to focus on. If I were a marathon runner or long distance cyclist, then long term cardio would be the way to go.

 

[SofaGeorge]

So you don't think being more active leads to weight loss, and in particular fat loss? Doing cardio will increase your caloric output, if your caloric input is kept stable, you will lose weight by doing cardio (or not gain as much).

How about the fact that doing cardio (or aerobic activity in general) increases the mitochondrial density in the muscles...and it increases fat stores near the mitochondria making fat more available for oxidation.

Numerous studies have proven that you will burn off more calories sitting naked in an air conditioned room reading a newspaper than you will if you go out jogging.

I'm not against cardio. I like to walk my dogs. I like to box. I like to go on mountain hikes.

I just don't have a belief that getting on a treadmill for an hour is an effective weightloss tool. All scientific studies I've read indicate just the opposite.