In theory you would think cardio is the best option to burn fat in your weight loss program.
If you’ve ever tried long slow cardio as your primary source of fat burning for weight loss and you know, the practicality of it just doesn’t add up.
It gets even more confusing.
There are those who do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more per week, and still have stubborn belly fat to burn.
On the other side of the spectrum you have those for whom a long run for hours on the elliptical machine works just fine.
To get to the bottom of this,British researchers studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren’t previously exercising.
(Reference: International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).
Study set up:
- exercise 5x/week
- duration 12 weeks
Results
- subjects lost an average of 8.2 pounds
There you go, long slow cardio will work for some people..
however, in my experience, it works best in young men, who need the help the least!
Back to the study, the variance in fat loss between individuals was huge. Check this out…
The best subject lost a staggering 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, while the worst subject actually GAINED 3.74 pounds.
The scientists think they know where things went sour. They
classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the “Compensators”
and the “Non-compensators”.
Long Slow Cardio – The Compensators
- were hungrier
- consumed an extra 268 calories per day
These extra calories all but wiped out their cardio efforts.
Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and scientists believe that was due to the huge “compensatory” increase in appetite experienced by this group.
Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? If it does,
research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts.
So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your
appetite and calorie intake to see if you are “compensating” for
your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program
of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence Training) for your weight loss efforts.
As Australian Professor Steve Boucher has shown in research,
interval training increases hormones called catecholamines. And
increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat-
burning benefits.
In the real world, few people lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of
cardio. Heck, few even achieve an average weight loss of 8 pounds with aerobic exercise.
So again, check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity
exercise a go for your next workout program.
Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Turbulence Training, grab a free copy from the link below.
Click Here — >> FREE High-intensity Turbulence Training
This was a guest post by my friend Craig Ballantyne.
Craig is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For a free program using the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.mensfitnessandmore.com/free-tt-program/
