The Great Cardio Myth

My biggest guess for you going for a run, swim or cycle would be because you want to lose some fat, reduce the muffin tops and shred those love handles. Wanting to lose fat motivates us to do cardio right? Wouldn’t it just rock your sweaty socks if I told you relying solely on cardio is a waste of time.

The truth is cardio (and when I say cardio I mean low intensity long monotonous activity) is not the answer to a guaranteed fat loss method.  Here’s why:


1.       The more cardio you do the less fat you burn at any given intensity. Your body becomes efficient and you have to constantly work harder and harder or longer and longer to get the same fat burning result.

2.       During cardio you only burn fat while you're exercising. The burn stops as soon as you do.

3.       It's at the muscle where the fat is burnt. Cardio reduces the amount of muscle mass we have. So we lessen our ability to burn fat.

Now I’m not completely giving cardio the big middle finger because incorporating some cardio into your workouts is beneficial, however if you work harder in short bursts, you’ll burn more calories even after your workout is over.

Let’s say you only have 20 minutes to work out and your goal is fat loss. What is the best way to use those 20 minutes? Probably not by jogging that’s for sure.
Adding some high intensity work into your exercise program is a great way to burn the fat and that’s where HIIT workouts come into play.
In as little as 15-20 minutes, you can get similar caloric burns that it would take to achieve with low intensity work for over an hour. You’ll get the after-burner effect, and you will build some muscle which will burn more calories while resting. HIIT workouts, some heavy weights and of course clean eating will be the most direct path to fat loss.