Cardio fails to produce fatloss - interesting studies

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  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
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    Eating at a calorie deficit (regardless of types of food) is for fat loss.

    Exercise is for fitness and improvement in health.

    Also..there are many people on here with great/perfect bodies that do BOTH strength and cardio and most certainly wouldn't have a coronary running for a bus.

    In my experience, strength training can also help with endurance gains so again...I doubt those who focus mainly on strength training would just keel over from short cardio.
    This. Why not do both?
  • madtownjeremy
    madtownjeremy Posts: 249
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    And in summary....
    NO workout will ever help you lose fat unless you get your nutrition in order.

    The rest just reads like seeking justification for lazy people to carry on being lazy.

    ....which is roughly 90% of the people here, it seems.
  • GODfidence
    GODfidence Posts: 249 Member
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    Weight loss is ALL diet. Simple as that.
    You can't out exercise a bad diet yet you can
    Out eat a 20000 weekly calorie burn on a treadmill.
    Pretty simple logic.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    He doesn't cite the "recent study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology" so I can't read the details of the conclusions.

    Here you go if interested

    One-set resistance training elevates energy expenditure for 72 h similar to three sets

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3071293/
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    In my experience, strength training can also help with endurance gains so again...I doubt those who focus mainly on strength training would just keel over from short cardio.

    I don't doubt it at all. The gyms are filled with people lifting weights who flat out cannot complete a 5km run.

    If someone can't bang out 5km, they are plainly and simply not fit. And "six minutes of sprinting" will not fix that.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    In my experience, strength training can also help with endurance gains so again...I doubt those who focus mainly on strength training would just keel over from short cardio.

    I don't doubt it at all. The gyms are filled with people lifting weights who flat out cannot complete a 5km run.

    If someone can't bang out 5km, they are plainly and simply not fit. And "six minutes of sprinting" will not fix that.

    So that's your line for fitness? If you can't run 5K you aren't fit?
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Gosh, diet is needed for weight loss?? What a news flash.

    Even without weight loss, cardio can improve health in people that are overweight. Doesn't sound so useless to me.
  • younginaz
    younginaz Posts: 71 Member
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    Cardio burns calories (just like any other exercise). Fat loss is achieved through calorie deficit.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    I was waiting for someone to respond with that little tidbit.
  • msneave
    msneave Posts: 16
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    Ha, my first thought was what are they hawking this time. The latest research which those guys never talk about has found that you need variety in type, intensity and duration to get the best results whether it's for weight loss or fatloss or just general fitness and athletic conditioning. The quick fatloss workout backlash started about a year ago and it's so funny to see these guys hanging on by a thread and digging up old research (like 20 years old) to sell outdated fitness products. I can't stand unscrupulous fitness marketers! They're such an embarrassment to our profession.
  • cwsikes
    cwsikes Posts: 86
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    These kind of studies hurt my head. I should know to stop reading when the article says things like

    "But you can get those same health benefits (and more) with much shorter, much more exciting, and invigorating workouts."

    "Over the course of this one year study, subjects performed aerobic exercise for 60 minutes a day, 6 whopping days a week (who even has TIME for that?) and lost only 3.5 pounds on average in an entire YEAR! "

    Cardio is not automatically boring and some people can manage to reduce TV time enough per day to somehow devote 5% of their day to exercising.

    Cardio has worked for me and somehow I've been able to outrun and outcycle my terrible diet and lose 40 lbs. I can't stand dieting so I'll keep doing things I actually enjoy doing, like the feeling I get from pushing myself in a race which unfortunately requires me to train a lot of running and cycling which then allows me to eat more delicious food.
  • froeschli
    froeschli Posts: 1,292 Member
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    Now I didn't see a distinction between fat and weight loss in the OP's post. That in itself is a reason for me to go read elsewhere.

    As for steady state cardio vs interval vs strength. Hey, as long as it lets me eat more and feel better, sign me up.

    I like being able to brag about running 2h straight. I like the way lifting changes my shape (hate being sore all the time though), and I may try some intervals seen as they are the current craze. Running is my favourite because it is easy, relaxing and I could do it almost every day if I wanted to, without feeling adverse effects.

    If lack of time is your only reason to diss cardio, I'd translate that to lack of ambition.
  • heleine28
    heleine28 Posts: 34
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    There are so many benefits to cardio. It releases endorphins so you feel great, it helps control appeitite, speeds up your metabolism, helps burn calories and the list goes on.....

    So add all that with a healthy eating plan = a happier healthier you!!!!
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    ...

    There are plenty of folk on these forums with "perfect" bodies who would give themselves a coronary running for a bus.

    ...

    Exaggerate, much? I'm completely sedentary other than getting to and from my desk job and a once weekly 30 min heavy lifting session and even I can run for a bus without gasping for air. Seriously doubt the folks who put in the work for the "perfect" bodies would have more trouble than I would unless they starved their way there.

    My old gym was very grit & sawdust with many of my friends being male power lifters training for Strongman competitions and the like. They would be the first to admit that a few intervals on a stationary bike or a mile of running would totally wear them out.

    People train for different priorities and I know plenty of men who only weight train and never do any cardio whatsoever, and they will happily admit that their cardiovascular endurance is ****e, whether you personally like it or not.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    ...

    There are plenty of folk on these forums with "perfect" bodies who would give themselves a coronary running for a bus.

    ...

    Exaggerate, much? I'm completely sedentary other than getting to and from my desk job and a once weekly 30 min heavy lifting session and even I can run for a bus without gasping for air. Seriously doubt the folks who put in the work for the "perfect" bodies would have more trouble than I would unless they starved their way there.

    My old gym was very grit & sawdust with many of my friends being male power lifters training for Strongman competitions and the like. They would be the first to admit that a few intervals on a stationary bike or a mile of running would totally wear them out.

    People train for different priorities and I know plenty of men who only weight train and never do any cardio whatsoever, and they will happily admit that their cardiovascular endurance is ****e, whether you personally like it or not.

    So people at your gym = plenty of folks on these forums

    Seems legit
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    In my experience, strength training can also help with endurance gains so again...I doubt those who focus mainly on strength training would just keel over from short cardio.

    I don't doubt it at all. The gyms are filled with people lifting weights who flat out cannot complete a 5km run.

    If someone can't bang out 5km, they are plainly and simply not fit. And "six minutes of sprinting" will not fix that.

    So that's your line for fitness? If you can't run 5K you aren't fit?

    I think that's a pretty fair baseline. Even if you're slow as a bloke you should be able to knock out 5k in 25mins. If you can't run for 25mins that's pretty poor.
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    ...

    There are plenty of folk on these forums with "perfect" bodies who would give themselves a coronary running for a bus.

    ...

    Exaggerate, much? I'm completely sedentary other than getting to and from my desk job and a once weekly 30 min heavy lifting session and even I can run for a bus without gasping for air. Seriously doubt the folks who put in the work for the "perfect" bodies would have more trouble than I would unless they starved their way there.

    My old gym was very grit & sawdust with many of my friends being male power lifters training for Strongman competitions and the like. They would be the first to admit that a few intervals on a stationary bike or a mile of running would totally wear them out.

    People train for different priorities and I know plenty of men who only weight train and never do any cardio whatsoever, and they will happily admit that their cardiovascular endurance is ****e, whether you personally like it or not.

    So people at your gym = plenty of folks on these forums

    Seems legit

    Of course if might be possible that folk here are from a completely different planet. It has been considered.
  • albdusty
    albdusty Posts: 23 Member
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    Look, calories are calories. It doesn't matter how you exercise. Calorie deficit is going to make you lose weight. These studies are bs.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    As many others have said, a calorie deficit causes fat loss. You can achieve that through any exercise program (or no exercise) and diet. If you want to improve body composition and get stronger then strength train. If you want to eat extra calories and improve your conditioning and cardiovascular health, then do cardio.

    If you don't want to put in the work, then don't.
  • cwsikes
    cwsikes Posts: 86
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    In my experience, strength training can also help with endurance gains so again...I doubt those who focus mainly on strength training would just keel over from short cardio.

    I don't doubt it at all. The gyms are filled with people lifting weights who flat out cannot complete a 5km run.

    If someone can't bang out 5km, they are plainly and simply not fit. And "six minutes of sprinting" will not fix that.

    So that's your line for fitness? If you can't run 5K you aren't fit?

    I think that's a pretty fair baseline. Even if you're slow as a bloke you should be able to knock out 5k in 25mins. If you can't run for 25mins that's pretty poor.

    Totally off topic here, but it took 3 years of running for me to be able to break 25 mins for my 5k time. Us slow blokes start off a lot slower than you may think
  • Thomasm198
    Thomasm198 Posts: 3,189 Member
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    So that's your line for fitness? If you can't run 5K you aren't fit?

    I think that's a pretty fair baseline. Even if you're slow as a bloke you should be able to knock out 5k in 25mins. If you can't run for 25mins that's pretty poor.

    I can't do a 5k in 25 minutes, my best time is 30 minutes. But I've completed 3 half marathons so far this year. So although I can run non-stop for over 2.5 hours does that mean that based on your statement I am unfit because I can't do a 5k in 25 minutes?

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