No one seems to like cardio anymore...

SuperCrsa

I LOVE weight training! Only started 7 weeks ago but the results are so much more amazing than cardio alone has done for me before.

That being said, I still love a hot and sweaty, hearts jumping out of my chest cardio session now and then!

Opinions are like buttholes, everyone's got one

Ithina1

I LOVE resistance training. I've always hated running and most forms of cardio. I do really enjoy hitting and kicking the punching bags as well as agility ladder work. I do a fair bit on the treadmill because it is easy and I can goof off on my phone.

TyFit08

Strength training is beneficial and I think people shouldn't be afraid of it, but cardio is great for your overall health, Your cardiovascular health should be just as much a priority as the number on the scale. What is the point of having physique goals and not having overall health goals. Some very cut people still have heart attacks, still end up on high blood pressure and high cholesterol meds.

I've improved my heart health, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and cardiovascular health doing heavy lifting. It's not like you don't get your heart rate up doing it.

Good for you that you have seen these kind of results. But in the case of my husband, lifting heavy was not enough and he is now on blood pressure and cholesterol meds and told to increase his cardio by his doctors. He still doesn't do a lot of it, but now sees the benefits. Obviously so many factors come into play when talking about your overall health and fitness, diet, exercise, genetics. Some people can do nothing or everything with no negative impact on their health, while others will find that that a balance diet and exercise regimen is their key to avoid or minimize health risks.

I hate to be indelicate, but please consider that thin, healthy people do get sick, too. Obesity does increase your chances for certain diseases but I always thought that heredity, etc played a role as well. I do look forward to a testimonial that cardio helped him get off the meds, but I suppose there's not an actual way to prove that he would never have needed them if he was a runner.

Genetics play a role, but most of us, myself included are trying to get fit or maintain a certain level of fitness to improve our health and avoid or minimize risks for those illnesses. Your parents having high blood pressure doesn't doom you to the same fate. Both of my parents have high blood pressure, I have always had low blood pressure. Sometimes dangerously low, but low nonetheless. In my husband's case he didn't know his family history but still thought he was leading a health lifestyle. His protein packed diets, no fast food and supplements is how he has always been. He works hard in the gym and has for years, but never thought of cardio as a priority. His doctor is the one that said you can keep lifting, but throw some cardio in there. He lifts to maintain his physique, but now sees the combination of strength and cardio is better for his overall health. The funny thing about MFP, I see some people give thumbs up to people who say they lift heavy and do no cardio, while some folks are so critical of the cardio only crowd. In my opinion, it shouldn't be an all or nothing, but both.

Leoln7

Love cardio, just another thing I can do to push myself and improve at! I tend to jog 2 miles 3 days a week (on rest days) and it's keeping my weightloss going at a steady rate.

Kiwigirlkim

Weights!!

For the love if god, thank you for weights!!! Nothing beats feeling that burn in your legs, not being able to pee and everything drops on the floor after you've done a leg session!!!

It's hilarious!!!!

MzzFaith

I absolutely loves cardio, keeps myself heart rate up

jenilla1

Yes. I do both. :drinker:

danofthedead1979

i like cardio, but i also like lifting. But which one is better?
there's only one way to find out......

HeidiMightyRawr

You only need a calorie deficit to lose fat. Cardio helps this, it also helps improve CV fitness, but doesn't directly cause fat loss, nor is it the only way.

DizzyLinds

I think the consensus is that cardio is very effective depending on how it is performed and how it compliments your other training and/or your diet. For example, high intensity interval training has been identified as a successful way of helping lose body fat...this is still classed as cardio.

sijomial

Yay! I'm a knuckle-dragging cardio bunny.

The balance will be different depending on goals, capabilities,opportunity and pure enjoyment but if you exclude one or the other completely you will never get close to maximising your health and fitness potential.

wingchungym

As many have said, you need to do both for all around health, but then you also need to have rest days and de- stress activities like yoga or laying on the beach or sleeping for good health. None of it is secret, balance is and will always be key.

msf74

These things go in phases. For a long time, lifting weights was considered a low-end exercise for knuckle draggers. Now it's hot, hot, hot! The pendulum will swing back the other way soon enough, and all the CrossFit ads will be replaced by a solo jogger in Nike runners in some beautiful setting with a voiceover saying something about getting "Back to Basics".

The reality is a well-tuned physique requires a combination of strength (from resistance training) and a strong cardiovascular system (from lots of cardio), and that's not going to change for a long long time.

This dude gets it. Stick around for a while and you will see the same themes repeat over and over and over again.

I've basically given up listening to the "fitness" industry because really its become the "look this way with fitness as an afterthought industry".

I get that given the rise of obesity and the stigma attached to it there is pressure to lean out and so on. However when the most important thing when considering exercise has become the calorie burn something has gone very, very wrong.

kinmad4it

I think a lot of the anti cardio rhetoric comes from people swallowing the doctrines that are found in the Starting Strength and most certainly the Strong Lifts guides.
It's more like a sales pitch the way you get constantly bombarded with false information and some eventually start to believe everything these guys say as genuine fact. To the point that they'll start to recite the misinformation chapter and verse. Once they've been indoctrinated into those ways of thinking they'll take every possible opportunity to deride and ridicule anything that goes slightly against what their guru espouses.
It's like they turn into the compound lifting versions of Jehovah's Witnesses. Offering their opinions whether you asked for them or not.

LolBroScience

An observation from this thread and others like it: people who are pro lifting (particularly heavy lifting) tend to be roughly 847 times more knowledgeable about diet and fitness than people who say things like "I just don't feel a sense of accomplishment from lifting."

This all depends on your goals. Running is fine if you enjoy running. If you like the high that comes from finishing a race or improving your mile time or whatever, then by all means, go for it. If you think it is necessary for weight loss, you are wrong. If you think it is superior to heavy lifting for fat loss (assuming an accompanying calorie deficit), you are wrong. To lose FAT and to retain your lean mass (which is what you want if "toning" is your goal), a calorie deficit, adequate protein intake, and a progressive resistance training program are your best bet.

Low-intensity, steady-state cardio can be good for recovery and/or for giving you more calories to eat. However, higher intensity cardio is very hard on your central nervous system and will make progressive lifting more difficult. Doing it a couple times per week? Fine, if your other recovery practices are in check (sleeping, eating, joint mobility, soft tissue work, etc.). Doing it 5 or 6 times a week? You won't be lifting heavy, and you won't be lifting for long. That's going to mean that a lot of whatever weight you lose will be muscle, and that's going to mean that you just look like a smaller version of what you are now. Not leaner, just smaller. So, decide on your priorities (fat loss, weight loss, race training, etc.), and base your training on that. It's not as simple as "just do what you like." Not if you have physique goals.

That's all I have to say.

I have yet to see post that suggest cardio is the only way to lose weight. Most here seem to support the idea of doing both and are questioning why some people have chosen to avoid cardio altogether for lifting. You don't have to run or lift anything to lose weight. That can be done completely with a calorie deficit and sitting on your butt. Strength training is beneficial and I think people shouldn't be afraid of it, but cardio is great for your overall health, Your cardiovascular health should be just as much a priority as the number on the scale. What is the point of having physique goals and not having overall health goals. Some very cut people still have heart attacks, still end up on high blood pressure and high cholesterol meds.

I may never feel the same sense of accomplishment after a lifting session as I would after crossing a finish line, but I suck it up and do it because it is good for me. Same goes for cardio. The duration, intensity and activity is up to you, but I have yet to see a legitimate reason not to do it period. (it's boring is an excuse not a legitimate reason).

I've improved my heart health, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and cardiovascular health doing heavy lifting. It's not like you don't get your heart rate up doing it.

^ This. All of my health markers including resting heart rate, blood pressure, etc have improved simply by reducing body fat and and getting stronger without cardio.

jonnythan

I think a lot of the anti cardio rhetoric comes from people swallowing the doctrines that are found in the Starting Strength and most certainly the Strong Lifts guides.
It's more like a sales pitch the way you get constantly bombarded with false information and some eventually start to believe everything these guys say as genuine fact. To the point that they'll start to recite the misinformation chapter and verse. Once they've been indoctrinated into those ways of thinking they'll take every possible opportunity to deride and ridicule anything that goes slightly against what their guru espouses.
It's like they turn into the compound lifting versions of Jehovah's Witnesses. Offering their opinions whether you asked for them or not.

Out of curiosity, what's this false information you keep referring to?

k8blujay2

I just would rather get more bang for my buck... If I'm going to carve out 30-60 minutes a day to work out, I might as well do what's going to get me the best results the fastest (in a healthy way of course)..

And I don't mind some forms of cardio, like dancing... but most make me feel like I'm a gerbil on a wheel.

bmqbonnie

I guess the biggest thing for me is that I enjoy weight lifting, but don't do well with rest days. If I take a rest day, it turns into several rest days and I just really need to maintain the habit of working out every day. Rest days are pretty crucial to weight lifting, so I do cardio in between weight days and then throw in a fluke Pilates or something on one other day.

I did stronglifts for a while but I don't really like that it's the same damn 5 exercises. Essential exercises for sure, but I feel that mixing in some others can only be beneficial. They are good exercises that give a pretty complete workout, but to say as Medhi does that this is ALL you should do EVER? Give me a break.

Leadfoot_Lewis

I've improved my heart health, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and cardiovascular health doing heavy lifting. It's not like you don't get your heart rate up doing it.

This^ Weight training DOES get your heart rate up. Lift 1.5-2x your body weight and let me know what your heart is doing.

I've always preferred weights and I believe the benefits clearly outweigh those of cardio. However, I do believe that cardio is important and a little bit should be part of everyone's fitness routine. I think where cardio gets a bad rap is when people use it as the only means to weight loss. There is no reason on earth to be doing 1-2 hours of cardio a day unless you're training for some kind of endurance event. People need to learn to eat right and not try to "treadmill off" that piece of cake they just ate.