Q: I hate cardio. But I also hate being fat. Do I have to do cardio to get lean?
A: No you don’t have to. But it makes the whole process a lot tougher. Nothing magical happens when doing cardiovascular exercise – it just burns calories. High intensity ‘cardio’ burns more calories than low intensity ‘cardio’. And low intensity burns more calories than no cardio.
But remember – cardio is really a generic term to describe exercise that targets the cardiovascular system. That covers a lot of different things from steady state aerobic work to interval training to complexes and circuits.
I think most people don’t like walking on a treadmill and being completely bored. I understand that. But if it’s traditional cardio that you dislike – you can do some “non-traditional” cardio (as featured in the Metabolic Acceleration DVD) and burn even more calories.
If you are dieting down for a show or a photo-shoot and have a lot of time, I don’t usually add in any type of energy system work in the beginning – we work on creating a caloric deficit through diet only – adding in more calorie burning in the later stages. However if you need to drop fat as fast as possible – some extra energy system work is nesessary (we currently use the metabolic acceleration programs, or kettlebells and TRX routines).
But at the end of the day — is going for a walk for 30 mins each day really all that bad? Get your Ipod on, some good music or an audio book and head out the door.
Cardio is just a tool to burn calories when you’re trying to get lean. It makes no real difference in terms of fat loss whether you burn the calories off, or don’t eat them in the first place.
Q: Any new fat loss or cardio programs out there (my goal is fat loss)?
Besides the Metabolic Acceleration DVD we’ve been using the TRX and kettlebells to great use in our facility. The TRX is a great tool.
You can set up a simple metabolic circuit using a combination of bodyweight, the TRX and kettlebells. On Monday I did a countdown circuit of KB swings paired with burpees, starting at twenty reps of each and dropping one rep each round (so round two is 19 reps of each, round three is 18 reps of each), all the way down to one rep of each. It adds up to 40 sets and 210 total reps.
For more on the science of fat loss – (when you understand this – you can design your own fat loss programs – check out Fat Loss University )
