east coast muscle
Charles Poliquin is indeed correct when he says you should put a lot of emphasis on diet and strength training, as opposed to relying on Cardio to get you lean.
Despite what you have previously thought, cardio by itself does very little to increase your metabolism. Also, cardio comes in second place behind strength training when it comes to lasting fat loss. Hint: more muscle = increased metabolism. Cardio has it's place, but by no means is it the ideal method for lasting fatloss. Far from it.
Millions of people are jumping on treadmills, steppers, and exercise bikes all over the Country; and unfortunately the majority of these people do very little to change their body composition, despite the many hours spent on these machines. The fact still remains that a sensible diet combined with strength training will do more for lasting fatloss than focusing on cardio to burn off the fat.
You will burn more bodyfat in the long run by putting on an additional 10 pounds of muscle, than performing cardio for 30minutes a day/4 times a week; thus people need on focusing on building muscle. The fat will come off.
Currently, I'm pretty lean. But when I want to shed a few pounds of bodyfat during the winter months, my mindset is focused on gaining muscle as opposed to losing bodyfat. People need to change their mindset from "how can I lose 10 pounds?" to "how can I gain 10 pounds of muscle?"
I rate the priority as follows:
1)Diet
2)Strength Training
3)Cardio