It’s Official – Long, Slow Traditional Cardio is Dead

I’ve been saying it for years (but who the heck listens to what the former, i.e, “has-been,” Personal Trainer of the Year has to say?)

Cardio is dead.

Alwyn Cosgrove has been saying it for years, too. And he’s a martial arts champ, so you’d better listen to him.

Just a few days ago, Ryan Lee’s newsletter started with, “The Death of Aerobic Training.”

I saw the results myself and all my fellow sprinters had by perform high intensity sprint training. And then we looked at the distance runners and they looked awful. They were thin, zero muscle tone and they were always injured!

Even when I received my Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology, all of my professors taught us all of our clients should primarily do slow aerobic training (even our athlete so they can build an aerobic “base”)

So when I finally met Dr. Al Sears, I was so excited to see a medical doctor agree with me 100%. And best of all, he had research to back it up in his own medical practice.

During my long conversations with Dr. Sears, he really opened my eyes to how harmful aerobic training actually is. Not only is it less effective for fat loss, but it actually does much more harm than good!

Dr. Sears finally published a book on his findings. It’s called “PACE.”

Today, here’s what Rob Poulos of the Fat Burning Furnance program had to say in his newsletter:

First let’s tackle the traditional cardio…you know, the type that has you on a treadmill or something similar where you try and stay in your target heart rate for fat burning. This has you jogging at a slow to moderate pace for typically 30-60 minutes at a time, 3-5 times each week.

If you’re trying to burn fat off, this is a big mistake.

Here’s why:

With this type of exercise, your body will be burning stored body fat as its primary source for fuel. While this may sound good, its actually bad news. What happens after the workout is far more important that what happens during the workout. After this type of workout is over, your body responds by holding on tightly to its stored body fat so that it’s available the very next time you perform this exercise.

Also today (what a coincidence), Craig Ballantyne wrote about “Why Cardio is a Waste of Time.”

Personally, I believe cardio is inefficient and that there is a “Dark Side of Cardio”, but it’s not going to kill you or make you fat.

But cardio IS a waste of time if…

a) You are doing a lot of it and you are not getting results.

That goes for any form of training. But every week or so I get an email from someone doing mega amounts of cardio (in some cases, 7 hours per week!), but the person goes on to complain they are not losing fat even when doing this much exercise.

I call this, “The Myth of Maintenance.”

Many long-time exercisers are brainwashed into thinking their long, slow cardio routine that has never caused any weight loss (AND their 100-rep ab routine which has never led to any inches lost AND their inner thigh exercises that never cause any positive change whatsoever) is “working” because they’re not getting fatter.

Hey, how ’bout trying something different, Sherlock? But I digress …

b) Cardio causes an overuse injury. This happens all the time.

Alwyn Cosgrove often sites a study showing that the majority of people quit just a few weeks into starting an exercise program because of overuse injuries from long, slow cardio.

c) Cardio is a waste of time if you could be getting more results (or even the same results) in less time.

Amen. To be a nice guy (Craig’s not as “opinionated” shall, we say as Alwyn and I), Craig adds,

It’s not a waste of time if you enjoy doing it more than anything else you could be doing in that period of time. Hey, for some guys its a hobby. That’s cool. Enjoy.

Heck, I’m a five-time marathoner myself. (3:30 PR at 190 pounds bodyweight, thank you very much.) Do long cardio only because you want to, not because you think you have to.

You don’t have to believe us. See for yourself. The right weight training protocol (not the cute, little pink weights) and interval training will change your body faster.

Give it a try.

Tags: fitness program, exercise program

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