why is cardio so bad?

Jkowals123

One burns more calories throughout day
strength training and that is another
reason sora many people have found
weight loss success strength training.

DamePiglet

It gets a bad rap around here because people think that they can just do lots of cardio to burn calories and lose weight, and when the fat comes off they'll have the body of their dreams. The reality is that while cardio is good for burning calories and your cardiovascular health, if you are not doing some kind of resistance training to work the muscles and maintain lean body mass, all you'll end up with is a skinnier, soft version (sometimes referred to as skinny fat). Six-pack abs and awesome delts aren't just waiting there under all the fat for you to reveal them, you need to lift weights in addition to the cardio. Hope this helps.

Excellent post. A lot of people IMO are uneducated & try to "out-cardio" a bad diet which is a recipe for failure. I've said it a zillion times in this forum-there's no reason to do excessive daily cardio unless you're training for some kind of endurance event.

Everyone's workout routine should have both cardio + lifting. It's good for the cardio system to be in an anaerobic state every once in a while-something that's hard to maintain with just weight lifting.

I mean this kindly and respectfully.
I disagree that everyone needs to lift weights.
I think OP has heard that so often and it gets frustrating for some.
Lifting weights implies dumbbells, kettle bells, barbells, etc. which is NOT necessary for everyone's goals.

I'm not saying this because I think women will get "oh so bulkay" (just to clarify) but just that there are other ways to get stronger without all the bells.

I really prefer the term strength or resistance.

cooky_monster

All exercise is good!

DamePiglet

I've been reading posts and so many ppl are against it or say its unnecessary, and recommend just lifting.

Lots of folks need to paint a black and white world to justify their personal preferences.

Cardio is very good for you. So is strength training. A fully realized physique will excel at both, meaning it will need to train hard for both. With a proper diet, and appropriate work load, doing only one of them will still result in a very nice body, by normal standards.

It's all good....

This is good.

Blacklance36

It gets a bad rap around here because people think that they can just do lots of cardio to burn calories and lose weight, and when the fat comes off they'll have the body of their dreams. The reality is that while cardio is good for burning calories and your cardiovascular health, if you are not doing some kind of resistance training to work the muscles and maintain lean body mass, all you'll end up with is a skinnier, soft version (sometimes referred to as skinny fat). Six-pack abs and awesome delts aren't just waiting there under all the fat for you to reveal them, you need to lift weights in addition to the cardio. Hope this helps.

I totally agree, you need to do both. I start out with cardio and then move to stretching and then to lifting. I finish with a light cardio. It works for me.

Huffdogg

I totally agree, you need to do both.

Here's where I get prickly on the subject, and what causes a lot of polarizing comments. No you don't. Whether or not you need to do either/both is dependent entirely on your goals.

geebusuk

I disagree that everyone needs to lift weights.

In the first part, it just says 'lifting', which could also mean lifting your body weight.

While there are various ways to achieve it, I still think barbell weight lifting seems to be the most effective and quickest.

If your goal is to run a marathon someday, improve cardiovascular health or create a caloric deficit... lifting weights won't help you reach that goal. You should be focused more on cardio for that.

To lose a belly, you may benefit from lifting or cardio. Cardio will help you burn calories and get rid of the fat. Lifting will help you to develop abs. You need to figure out if you just want a smaller stomach, or if you want some muscle definition as well. Adjust your goals accordingly. To heck with everybody who tells you cardio is bad for you.

Weight lifting definitely burns calories - I would suggest one of the reasons it's so popular on here is that people don't tend to account of the amount it DOES raise your BMR, so find themselves losing a fair bit.

As an idea, I measured myself with a proper machine and got around 2400 calories for my BMR the day after doing weights - this was congruent with what I was eating and maintaining.
So, I was burning around what's recommended for a normal bloke by lying asleep all day - with any movement over that burning even more!

glin23

The fear of 'skinny fat' here is a bit overblown, in my opinion. In general, this site reflects a predominant bodybuilding stance, which is 99% great, in my opinion. But bodybuilders scoff at cardio, for the most part, and for good reasons. They're trying to grow not shrink, usually. But most people here are looking to lose weight, period. Women aren't going to be building significant muscle mass while losing weight (or any, or ever). Muscles that are strong look pretty much the same as muscles that aren't. Though I think you have better posture and more confidence when you're strong. But the muscular look you see in some women is due to low body fat, for the most part. Reducing body fat can be aided by burning more calories per day, and adding cardio is a good way to do that.

Doing resistance training to keep from losing too much lean body mass is terrific but doing cardio to speed up weight loss is, too.

Yep. It's all about balance and your own personal goals.

DamePiglet

I disagree that everyone needs to lift weights.

In the first part, it just says 'lifting', which could also mean lifting your body weight.

While there are various ways to achieve it, I still think barbell weight lifting seems to be the most effective and quickest.

If your goal is to run a marathon someday, improve cardiovascular health or create a caloric deficit... lifting weights won't help you reach that goal. You should be focused more on cardio for that.

To lose a belly, you may benefit from lifting or cardio. Cardio will help you burn calories and get rid of the fat. Lifting will help you to develop abs. You need to figure out if you just want a smaller stomach, or if you want some muscle definition as well. Adjust your goals accordingly. To heck with everybody who tells you cardio is bad for you.

Weight lifting definitely burns calories - I would suggest one of the reasons it's so popular on here is that people don't tend to account of the amount it DOES raise your BMR, so find themselves losing a fair bit.

As an idea, I measured myself with a proper machine and got around 2400 calories for my BMR the day after doing weights - this was congruent with what I was eating and maintaining.
So, I was burning around what's recommended for a normal bloke by lying asleep all day - with any movement over that burning even more!

Cardio isn't your choice, it seems, and obviously your way is working for you.

There is more than one way to get to a flat tummy.

3dogsrunning

I am under the impression that cardio is excellent. It improves cardiovascular health and helps with a calorie deficit.... but unless you're training for a marathon or something, doing more than a half hour or so is more-or-less pointless. It won't improve your cardiovascular health much more if you do 3 hours of cardio or 30 minutes of cardio. It also doesn't do very much for muscle retention. If my foot wasn't broken, I would be doing cardio because that's what is best for me to reach my current goal. If I wanted to build or retain a good amount of muscle, I would be lifting.

Cardio is excellent. Lifting is excellent. They are beneficial for different goals though.

If your goal is to build muscle, retain muscle, or build strength... cardio won't help you reach that goal, you will have to lift.

If your goal is to run a marathon someday, improve cardiovascular health or create a caloric deficit... lifting weights won't help you reach that goal. You should be focused more on cardio for that.

To lose a belly, you may benefit from lifting or cardio. Cardio will help you burn calories and get rid of the fat. Lifting will help you to develop abs. You need to figure out if you just want a smaller stomach, or if you want some muscle definition as well. Adjust your goals accordingly. To heck with everybody who tells you cardio is bad for you.

There are a good many running coaches that would disagree. From everything that I have read, most recommend adding strength training to your running program for a number of reasons, most importantly, the help avoid injury. Many running injuries are a direct result of weak muscles. You can't run a marathon if you are injured due to weak muscles. Adding pounds of muscles may not be recommended for a faster marathon, but that doesn't mean strength training isn't valuable to a runner.

bobf279

I did mostly cardio for a few months and shed loads of weight. As my fitness improved I added resistance so now I regularly do both to mix it up.

Mr_Knight

There are a good many running coaches that would disagree. From everything that I have read, most recommend adding strength training to your running program for a number of reasons, most importantly, the help avoid injury.

The post you are responding to explicitly said "focused on". It did not say "only" or "to the exclusion of".

It is absolutely correct that someone pursing a running goal should focus their training on running, and you'll never find a successful running coach suggesting otherwise.

3dogsrunning

There are a good many running coaches that would disagree. From everything that I have read, most recommend adding strength training to your running program for a number of reasons, most importantly, the help avoid injury.

The post you are responding to explicitly said "focused on". It did not say "only" or "to the exclusion of".

It also explicitly said " lifting weights won't help you reach that goal".

Sreneesa

NO EXERCISE is required to lose weight. That will always boil down to calorie deficit.

Choose exercise for fitness and health. Some like cardio, some like lifting or like me many like a combination of both together. Excessive from either also isn't needed unless training or competing for an event.

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

+1

WalkingAlong

Weight lifting definitely burns calories - I would suggest one of the reasons it's so popular on here is that people don't tend to account of the amount it DOES raise your BMR, so find themselves losing a fair bit.

As an idea, I measured myself with a proper machine and got around 2400 calories for my BMR the day after doing weights - this was congruent with what I was eating and maintaining.
So, I was burning around what's recommended for a normal bloke by lying asleep all day - with any movement over that burning even more!

What 'proper machine' measures your BMR for a particularly day?

Are you talking about EPOC?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excess_post-exercise_oxygen_consumption

Or are you saying that adding muscle mass increases your BMR? I think it's generally considered to be slight- like 6-10 calories per pound of muscle added, per day.

cwolfman13

If your goal is to run a marathon someday, improve cardiovascular health or create a caloric deficit... lifting weights won't help you reach that goal. You should be focused more on cardio for that.

Not a marathon runner here...but my triathlon coach frequently tells me and the others that we avoid the weight room at our own peril. Do I lift the same when I'm full on training for a triathlon? No...but I still lift. Some form of resistance training is pretty much essential to any well balanced fitness plan...even if you're training for marathons and triathlons.

Huffdogg

I am under the impression that cardio is excellent. It improves cardiovascular health and helps with a calorie deficit.... but unless you're training for a marathon or something, doing more than a half hour or so is more-or-less pointless. It won't improve your cardiovascular health much more if you do 3 hours of cardio or 30 minutes of cardio. It also doesn't do very much for muscle retention. If my foot wasn't broken, I would be doing cardio because that's what is best for me to reach my current goal. If I wanted to build or retain a good amount of muscle, I would be lifting.

Cardio is excellent. Lifting is excellent. They are beneficial for different goals though.

If your goal is to build muscle, retain muscle, or build strength... cardio won't help you reach that goal, you will have to lift.

If your goal is to run a marathon someday, improve cardiovascular health or create a caloric deficit... lifting weights won't help you reach that goal. You should be focused more on cardio for that.

To lose a belly, you may benefit from lifting or cardio. Cardio will help you burn calories and get rid of the fat. Lifting will help you to develop abs. You need to figure out if you just want a smaller stomach, or if you want some muscle definition as well. Adjust your goals accordingly. To heck with everybody who tells you cardio is bad for you.

There are a good many running coaches that would disagree. From everything that I have read, most recommend adding strength training to your running program for a number of reasons, most importantly, the help avoid injury. Many running injuries are a direct result of weak muscles. You can't run a marathon if you are injured due to weak muscles. Adding pounds of muscles may not be recommended for a faster marathon, but that doesn't mean strength training isn't valuable to a runner.

I would amend that to say "any good coach of any sport."

ElizabethFuller

I like running, I don't particularly like strength work.
When I get to my target weight I think I may have to start some strength work to get the shape I'd like but at the moment I just like to run. It builds a good calorie deficit, means I can eat pretty much the same as the rest of my family and leaves me nice and chilled.

geebusuk

It's a newleaf metabolic tester, as discussed here: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/01/look-at-testing-with-new-leaf-fitness.html
Ok, it's not the most expensive very highest tech, but is about as good as most of us will have access to.

And yes; well EPOC seems more a description of the result of a raised BMR, but it would all seem be based around the same thing.

So, I'm specifically discussing a raised basal metabolism from what I would suggest is the body 'recovering' after exercise (hell, it could be alien slugs repositioning themselves for all I know, but the recovery certainly fits.)

kgeyser

It gets a bad rap around here because people think that they can just do lots of cardio to burn calories and lose weight, and when the fat comes off they'll have the body of their dreams. The reality is that while cardio is good for burning calories and your cardiovascular health, if you are not doing some kind of resistance training to work the muscles and maintain lean body mass, all you'll end up with is a skinnier, soft version (sometimes referred to as skinny fat). Six-pack abs and awesome delts aren't just waiting there under all the fat for you to reveal them, you need to lift weights in addition to the cardio. Hope this helps.

Excellent post. A lot of people IMO are uneducated & try to "out-cardio" a bad diet which is a recipe for failure. I've said it a zillion times in this forum-there's no reason to do excessive daily cardio unless you're training for some kind of endurance event.

Everyone's workout routine should have both cardio + lifting. It's good for the cardio system to be in an anaerobic state every once in a while-something that's hard to maintain with just weight lifting.

I mean this kindly and respectfully.
I disagree that everyone needs to lift weights.
I think OP has heard that so often and it gets frustrating for some.
Lifting weights implies dumbbells, kettle bells, barbells, etc. which is NOT necessary for everyone's goals.

I'm not saying this because I think women will get "oh so bulkay" (just to clarify) but just that there are other ways to get stronger without all the bells.

I really prefer the term strength or resistance.

I used "lift weights" because I had already used "resistance training" and I like to mix it up. I do all sorts of strength training, from bodyweight to bands to dumbbells, even barbells and machines back when I had gym membership. The one thing I will say about the bells is that while you can stronger without them, using the bells activates stabilizing muscles that you can't get with the machines and the constant weight on the eccentric contraction isn't there with resistance bands. Even bodyweight has its limitations for strength unless you add something like a weighted vest. I'm not looking to get ripped myself, but I recognize that each form has its advantages and disadvantages and you can use all of them to achieve your specific goals.