Cardio for weight loss is a waste of time??
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I've been wondering about this a lot. I've been doing pretty much 100% cardio...elliptical, walking, Zumba. But maybe every other day I should work in some kettlebells?0
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Missy, thanks for posting the question....the EXACT thing happened to me yesterday at a new gym. It was obvious he was trying to sell his "trainer" package, he even admitted that's where they make their money!
Like you, I walked away frustrated even though I realize he was partially right as I know I need strength training. I've also heard more about Hiit recently and I'm going to give it a try. Best of luck to you and thanks again for asking the question!0 -
Unfortunately, the trainer is correct in a sense... If your doing only cardio, you will be losing muscle along with fat. If you don't retain some of that muscle mass, then you're going to look skinny fat. Plus muscle burns more calories then fat at rest.. so you are burning extra calories everyday, without even doing anything extra.
i agree with this ^^
and even though with cardio you might lose weight right away and see more instant results, over the long-haul, if you are losing muscle mass, then what is the point of losing all the weight? esp if over the age of 35, strength training/weights and walking on hard surfaces are great for building muscle as well as building strong bones.0 -
Well it's not a theory. And I don't say it because I'm a PT. I say it because scientifically it's proven. If you just do cardio alone for weight loss, you will lose lean muscle especially if the cardio tends to be long endurance training (over one hour in duration). Here's a great example:This is the philosphy the trainer at my gym tried to convince me of. Their ploy to get me to sign up for weekly sessions was to say that cardio would do nothing but burn fat and muscle and that basically I should focus more on the strength training for the weight loss and stick to cardio for the health aspects.
I argued the whole "calorie in - calorie out" benefits to the cardio exercise but he basically stated that I was burning muscle as well as fat causing my metabolism to crash even further. Again, I think he was really trying to sell personal training sessions but it was rubbing me the wrong way and NOT the best way to go about it.
I wasn't arguing that strength training wasn't crutial and in fact went to him for the sole purpose of getting a good strength training routine into my week to go along with my cardio but to come out and basically say that the cardio is doing nothing for my weight loss bothered me and went against everything I THOUGHT I knew....
Needless to say I didn't feel comfortable doing any further training with him. I'm going to continue with my daily cardio and 2-3x/week strength training on my own. I'm no professional but to me that seems like the best win-win plan for me to get to my goal for now.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts though. I know there are trainers on here and would love to get their opinions on his theory....
Look at the physique of a long distance runner and that of a sprinter. Both are runners, but one trains aerobically and the other anaerobically. The long distance runner usually has no distinctly lean muscle to speak of with the possible exception of their legs. The sprinter has lean muscle that shows and usually lower body fat which is why the definition is much more pronounced.
The less lean muscle you have, the lower your metabolic rate. This isn't disputed. So the more you do cardio as your only source of exercise, then the eventuality of stalling is true since you're not taxing the muscle.
Having a program of strength training combined with cardio is good, but the strength training needs to be challenging since muscles adapt pretty quickly. And make sure you do it before cardio so you utilize the glycogen stores for lifting and not waste it on cardio.0 -
In her defense, she didn't say "build" but did say improve.Wow! What a stimulating discussion thread.
But there is some implied belief that cardio doesn't improve your muscles.
If you walk, jog, dance, step, or do jumping jacks, the muscles in your legs (and back) are lifting your body weight with each and every step.
With every beat of your heart, your heart muscle is flexed and worked.
With every breath, your diaphragm, rib, and back muscles are worked.
I think explicit strength training is a good thing, but to imply that cardio doesn't provide strength benefits is baloney.
Cardio does not build muscle at all, you need to overload the muscle to tear the muscle fiber then feed and rest them, it is during the rest and from the feeding that they grow, to overload a muscle you need strength training, the heavier the better.0 -
Here's a simple piece of all purpose advice: Don't take advice from people who are trying to sell you something.
Here's another: As much as the stories of individual weight loss and improved fitness by people on this site are inspiring, confidence building, and generally fun to read, even taken together they represent an unscientific sample that tells you very little about what is likely to help you achieve whatever results you seek.
Also, comparing the bodies of sprinters and distance athletes may tell you much more about what kind of person chooses to participate in those sports than it does about what participation does to your body. Perhaps the reason there are few marathon runners built like linebackers is that linebackers have crappy physiques for marathon running? There are very few 5'5" centers in the NBA, but it is not because playing center makes people tall. People self-select for sports based on their talents and body types.
Also, I have not seen anyone mention the difference between fast and slow twitch muscle and the effect that resistance training has on these different types of muscle fibers. As I understand it, fast and slow twitch muscles look different, and fast twitch types are more likely to be bulkier than slow twitch types.
Finally, endurance athletes tend to do perform a relatively narrow range of movements over extended periods of time: running, cycling, or swimming, mostly. Their muscles become acclimated to these narrow range of motions and acclimate accordingly. It is pretty difficult to vary a running or cycling style. People who are into resistance training, on the other hand, are probably like to vary their routines and are therefore less likely to become acclimated to a narrow routine. Just a regular free weight workout with 6-8 different motions is far more diverse than anything an endurance athlete is likely to do.
For someone interested in general fitness, it is probably hard to argue with the concept that doing lots of different types of exercise, and never becoming stuck in a routine, is best for building muscle and losing fat.0 -
love this thread! i was asking the same thing recently. this is the conclusion i got. cardio is good for you, esp your heart. does it burn fat and muscle, depends. like someone mentioned before, it does at a steady pace. so i recommend to do anything in intervals or HIIT. you can do that with a stationary machine or a body weight workout like FOR EXAMPLE the program INSANITY (not selling or promotting, i dont even sell beachbody products, but i am a firm believer in them!).... but getting on a treadmill and walking or running for straight an hour i dont believe is that great for you. bad on your knees and breaks down muscle.
as for me...i am trying to define and tone my muscle. i lift 3x a week so anything that will break my hard earned muscle down, i am not for it. i do strongly believe in strength training and interval cardio ONLY. yes cardio burns fat, but did you know strength training does too? and it strengthens muscles too! did you know you burn up to 48hrs after a strength training session where cardio is only 6-8hrs? the benefits of strength training outweights cardio TREMENDOUSLY. but it depends on your goals and what you want to achieve. sure i want to lose weight and be smaller...but do i want to be skinny with no muscle, NO. there have been MANY people, even a few trainers on here that look AMAZING that dont do cardio, they only do strength training. and with that, it doesnt have to strickly be lifting dumbells and getting on the weight machines. how about burpees? or push ups? those are all targeting multiple muscle groups, all using your body weight and getting your heart rate high (the point of burning calories) and yet it stays with you longer WAY after you leave the gym and strengthens and tones muscle, how could it get ANY BETTER!. to me i'd rather do pushups than get on that treadmill anyday! but to each their own.
eat less + burn calories=weight loss. but the finished product of reaching that goal has different factors of getting there.
so i agree with what he is saying in the basis that you dont need cardio to lose weight, but am i all for never doing it, of course not....but i will be doing high intense INTERVAL training to make sure it doesnt attack my muscle, and to burn more calories at the end of the day. who wants to walk on a treamill for more than an hour anyways! they say 30min is long enough to get a good, hard workout in and burn more than if you were there for an hour and a half! GOTTA LOVE IT!
good luck to you!0 -
love this thread! i was asking the same thing recently. this is the conclusion i got. cardio is good for you, esp your heart. does it burn fat and muscle, depends. like someone mentioned before, it does at a steady pace. so i recommend to do anything in intervals or HIIT. you can do that with a stationary machine or a body weight workout like FOR EXAMPLE the program INSANITY (not selling or promotting, i dont even sell beachbody products, but i am a firm believer in them!).... but getting on a treadmill and walking or running for straight an hour i dont believe is that great for you. bad on your knees and breaks down muscle.
as for me...i am trying to define and tone my muscle. i lift 3x a week so anything that will break my hard earned muscle down, i am not for it. i do strongly believe in strength training and interval cardio ONLY. yes cardio burns fat, but did you know strength training does too? and it strengthens muscles too! did you know you burn up to 48hrs after a strength training session where cardio is only 6-8hrs? the benefits of strength training outweights cardio TREMENDOUSLY. but it depends on your goals and what you want to achieve. sure i want to lose weight and be smaller...but do i want to be skinny with no muscle, NO. there have been MANY people, even a few trainers on here that look AMAZING that dont do cardio, they only do strength training. and with that, it doesnt have to strickly be lifting dumbells and getting on the weight machines. how about burpees? or push ups? those are all targeting multiple muscle groups, all using your body weight and getting your heart rate high (the point of burning calories) and yet it stays with you longer WAY after you leave the gym and strengthens and tones muscle, how could it get ANY BETTER!. to me i'd rather do pushups than get on that treadmill anyday! but to each their own.
eat less + burn calories=weight loss. but the finished product of reaching that goal has different factors of getting there.
so i agree with what he is saying in the basis that you dont need cardio to lose weight, but am i all for never doing it, of course not....but i will be doing high intense INTERVAL training to make sure it doesnt attack my muscle, and to burn more calories at the end of the day. who wants to walk on a treamill for more than an hour anyways! they say 30min is long enough to get a good, hard workout in and burn more than if you were there for an hour and a half! GOTTA LOVE IT!
good luck to you!
Just wanted to say, i think this is a great post xx0 -
A trainer should know better than to dismiss cardio entirely or call it a waste of time.
I mean, yes, he is correct in the strictest sense but some people enjoy doing cardio and you can certainly combine cardio with resistance training 3x/week.
For weight loss, people should do either only resistance training or both resistance and cardio.0 -
Thank you all! I'm going to look into that New Rules for LIfting Book. I've decided to devote 2 days to resistance training and 4 days of cardio to start and work up to 3 and 3.
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Thank you all! I'm going to look into that New Rules for LIfting Book. I've decided to devote 2 days to resistance training and 4 days of cardio to start and work up to 3 and 3.
yea i got that book on hold for me at the library. looking forward to reading it. also check out "you are your gym" by mark lauren.0 -
My thought is BullSh*t!!! I'm a cardio gal. For more than half a century it's kept me thin and in shape. You need some strength training for good muscle tone, but lifting heavy and other hard core strength training is about vanity, not fitness or weight loss. There is nothing at all wrong with it, but anyone that tells you that you can't lose weight without it is wrong. Cardio burns a lot of calories and works your muscles and that means weight loss. Plus, it keeps your heart healthy (that's why they call it cardio, after all).0
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I haven't read all the replies, so others may have already hit on this, but traditional cardio and strength training serve different purposes. If all you care about is the number on the scale, then stick to cardio and a sensible diet. Just be prepared for the fact that you WILL lose muscle and will ultimately find yourself either having to steadily increase the amount of exercise you do or rely very heavily on your diet to maintain your weight loss because your metabolism will drop with the loss of muscle.
If you care about losing fat as well as weight, you have to add strength training. I did only cardio (six to seven days a week) for an entire year, and I lost some weight but not as much as I expected, and I was still flabby. After doing a ton of research and agonizing over the whole "Will I look like a dude?" thing, I finally decided to add heavy weight training. My body changed seemingly overnight. I was smaller and tighter all over. I don't do any straight cardio anymore. Everything I do involves weights or some form of resistance. I've seen people get great results from bodyweight training, too, if the idea of lifting serious weights bothers you.
It is total garbage to say that heavy weights and "hard core strength training" are about vanity and not fitness or weight loss. For me, strength training did in less than 3 months what cardio couldn't do in a year. And if you're not getting a heart-pounding workout from weight training, you're doing it wrong.0 -
Correct - he started off the conversation asking what I had been doing for workout. My answer "brisk walking, running, arc trainer, etc" and he said that for the "results I want, I need to get off the cardio and focus on the resistance training because doing the cardio is doing nothing but burning muscle along with the fat which in turn was killing my metabolism and making it difficult to lose even on a low calorie diet". He said cardio is important for heart heath and important to build bone in his older female clients but given my age and my fitness goals, I wouldn't get there doing cardio and I needed to focus my energy on weight training.
Well, he could be correct, depending on what your goals are. For weight loss, cardio will do the trick on it's own, but will do it more efficiently with some strength training. But if your goals go beyond just weight loss then what you need to do to accomplish those goals could vary greatly.0 -
I did not know that about not doing cardio and strength on the same day. Good to know.0
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Correct - he started off the conversation asking what I had been doing for workout. My answer "brisk walking, running, arc trainer, etc" and he said that for the "results I want, I need to get off the cardio and focus on the resistance training because doing the cardio is doing nothing but burning muscle along with the fat which in turn was killing my metabolism and making it difficult to lose even on a low calorie diet". He said cardio is important for heart heath and important to build bone in his older female clients but given my age and my fitness goals, I wouldn't get there doing cardio and I needed to focus my energy on weight training.
He was 100% right. Cardio is totally unnecessary, and actually inefficient for fat loss in general.
Read this:
http://members.rachelcosgrove.com/public/The_Final_Nail_in_the_Cardio_Coffin.cfm
Good information, but there's plenty of studies listed as well.
Second...look at these:
That's 37lbs, three months, ZERO traditional cardio, minimal HIIT intervals (tabata style), 100% strength training (only less then 3hrs a week) and and a very loose diet (the last two months I've lived on fast food...Taco Bell in specific...seriously).I haven't read all the replies, so others may have already hit on this, but traditional cardio and strength training serve different purposes. If all you care about is the number on the scale, then stick to cardio and a sensible diet. Just be prepared for the fact that you WILL lose muscle and will ultimately find yourself either having to steadily increase the amount of exercise you do or rely very heavily on your diet to maintain your weight loss because your metabolism will drop with the loss of muscle.
If you care about losing fat as well as weight, you have to add strength training. I did only cardio (six to seven days a week) for an entire year, and I lost some weight but not as much as I expected, and I was still flabby. After doing a ton of research and agonizing over the whole "Will I look like a dude?" thing, I finally decided to add heavy weight training. My body changed seemingly overnight. I was smaller and tighter all over. I don't do any straight cardio anymore. Everything I do involves weights or some form of resistance. I've seen people get great results from bodyweight training, too, if the idea of lifting serious weights bothers you.
It is total garbage to say that heavy weights and "hard core strength training" are about vanity and not fitness or weight loss. For me, strength training did in less than 3 months what cardio couldn't do in a year. And if you're not getting a heart-pounding workout from weight training, you're doing it wrong.
AMEN.0 -
love this thread! i was asking the same thing recently. this is the conclusion i got. cardio is good for you, esp your heart. does it burn fat and muscle, depends. like someone mentioned before, it does at a steady pace. so i recommend to do anything in intervals or HIIT. you can do that with a stationary machine or a body weight workout like FOR EXAMPLE the program INSANITY (not selling or promotting, i dont even sell beachbody products, but i am a firm believer in them!).... but getting on a treadmill and walking or running for straight an hour i dont believe is that great for you. bad on your knees and breaks down muscle.
as for me...i am trying to define and tone my muscle. i lift 3x a week so anything that will break my hard earned muscle down, i am not for it. i do strongly believe in strength training and interval cardio ONLY. yes cardio burns fat, but did you know strength training does too? and it strengthens muscles too! did you know you burn up to 48hrs after a strength training session where cardio is only 6-8hrs? the benefits of strength training outweights cardio TREMENDOUSLY. but it depends on your goals and what you want to achieve. sure i want to lose weight and be smaller...but do i want to be skinny with no muscle, NO. there have been MANY people, even a few trainers on here that look AMAZING that dont do cardio, they only do strength training. and with that, it doesnt have to strickly be lifting dumbells and getting on the weight machines. how about burpees? or push ups? those are all targeting multiple muscle groups, all using your body weight and getting your heart rate high (the point of burning calories) and yet it stays with you longer WAY after you leave the gym and strengthens and tones muscle, how could it get ANY BETTER!. to me i'd rather do pushups than get on that treadmill anyday! but to each their own.
eat less + burn calories=weight loss. but the finished product of reaching that goal has different factors of getting there.
so i agree with what he is saying in the basis that you dont need cardio to lose weight, but am i all for never doing it, of course not....but i will be doing high intense INTERVAL training to make sure it doesnt attack my muscle, and to burn more calories at the end of the day. who wants to walk on a treamill for more than an hour anyways! they say 30min is long enough to get a good, hard workout in and burn more than if you were there for an hour and a half! GOTTA LOVE IT!
good luck to you!
Just wanted to say, i think this is a great post xx
I agree completely.
For the record, the first three months of my weight loss efforts (starting in April), I did strictly bodyweight workouts...the results from the last month have been very small, as compared to those first three. But, being as I have less to lose now, that makes sense regardless.0 -
Pure cardio does burn both muscle and fat. I'd guess that for an individual, the nature of your goal is the key. Right now, I have a brutal BMI, so cardio is useful. I need to be a healthy WEIGHT. I DESPISE being thin and muscle-free, though, so half of my cardio is interval training (which builds muscle). I use weights to do calisthenics as part of that, but I'm not power-lifting, because I build LOTS of muscle UNDER the blubber when I do that. As I get into a weight-level that is less of a health risk, I'm willing to slow down pound loss to start more muscle-building, but right now, I am limiting it to being part of my cardio routine.0
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Pure cardio does burn both muscle and fat. I'd guess that for an individual, the nature of your goal is the key. Right now, I have a brutal BMI, so cardio is useful. I need to be a healthy WEIGHT. I DESPISE being thin and muscle-free, though, so half of my cardio is interval training (which builds muscle). I use weights to do calisthenics as part of that, but I'm not power-lifting, because I build LOTS of muscle UNDER the blubber when I do that. As I get into a weight-level that is less of a health risk, I'm willing to slow down pound loss to start more muscle-building, but right now, I am limiting it to being part of my cardio routine.
Here's the question...why would you want to burn ANY muscle, just to get rid of a little fat? Muscle is healthy, useful, will help you burn MORE fat, and is altogether a desirable thing. Additionally, BMI is a useless guage of health...to be honest, for one reason because it causes people to do just what you're doing...shed the one thing that's going to help them reduce the weight quickly and effectively, just to reach a point on a chart. The other thing is, if you're eating at a calorie deficit, you're never, ever...ever going to be building LOTS of muscle under that fat. What's happening, is what muscle you do have is swelling for repair, making you think you're bulking, when you're not. The thing is, the act of that repair, is part of what makes the strength training so desirable. You won't get that with cardio (even HIIT, to any real extent), period.
If you limited the cardio (note, I didn't say remove...being overweight to that level, heart and lung health and development is very important!) to interval type work, and focused on the strength training, you'd end up with faster, yet still healthier results. Strength training promotes growth hormone production...which tells your body to burn strictly fat. So does the high intensity interval work...while at the same time still providing cardiovascular benefits. Why would anyone ever want to do steady state cardio, losing both muscle and fat...unless they simply enjoyed running?
For fat loss, it's pointless.
Now, as a disclaimer, I'm not putting you personally down, nor your choices. I'm pointing out what flat works, in my experience as well as that of other people I've known and worked with who have made incredible gains, with relative ease. The information is there for the taking, and I am a perfect example of it working in reality, not just theory. I'd never have lost this kind of weight (the vast majority of which was fat), nor been this healthy, doing 'mostly' cardio. And the funny thing, if you notice...is, I'm no 'bigger' than in my before picture. I'm slimmer everywhere, faster, and LESS bulky.
I just flat look better is all.0 -
I've been having issues losing the past couple months and I can't figure out why. A friend told me that I needed to weight train (which I do, she was assuming I don't) because "cardio will do nothing for weight loss."
I immeditaley pointed out that previously, I lost 34 pounds over three months with "just cardio."
It's a ridiculous thing to say. Though weight training is a good thing to do, anyway.0
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