"No one who does only cardio looks good"

of course "looking good" is subjective, but i couldn't imagine only doing cardio. I just love how tight and defined everything is with weights--a result I'd personally never get doing solely cardio.

You can do resistance cardio and build muscle. For example I was a competitive runner for years and during the racing season wouldn't lift weights because we would do sprints, hills, stairs, and other types of speed work which does help tone. Not everyone needs to look like they have muscle to look good - sometimes the lean look works.

Interval training is a bit different and will definiatley add some muscle to you.
I do hill sprints and sled drags/pushes. But not "cardio".

The quote came from a thread that was basically weighing treadmill/elliptical sessions against weight training.
I picked weights over the hamster wheel.

This has turned into a never ending argument. It is a subjective statement; therefore, there is no right answer.

Gonna just agree with this so the thread dies.


Show me 1 runner that doesn't lift weights and looks good, and I'll show you 5 guys who lift weights and don't do cardio that look better.

i think people who do only cardio may be skinny, but they lack the muscle tone i generally find attractive. i think in order to really look good you need strength training AND cardio. just my thoughts though, but the cardio only people always look "skinny fat" to me.

We could revise it to something like

You may look ok doing only cardio but you would look much better if you were strength training as well

This!

I do a lot of Cardio, but I do an restistance to that cardio, by running up hills, Riding my bike up hills or on a harder resistance, hiking and climbing over rocks, kyaking. All of these exercises build muscles, which tones my body, as well as work my heart.

I guess it all depends of a few factors. For instance, looking good is depends on a personal preference. Some people are attracted to those are muscular, others don't. Therefore saying that those who only do cardio don't look good, it is a matter of personal preference.

Also, some people who only do cardio, have a certain level of muscle, so assuming that cardio only equals no muscle mass and being skinny, that is completely wrong. Now, if we're going to make reference to those extra skinny athletes who train for long distance running, then we could say they don't look good, but that's just my personal preference. For others, they my look good.

I didnt touch cardio for 6 months now. Best thing I ever did for my body composition was to stop "pushing" myself with HIT and running,before it was 6 days working out and even twice a day and I did push hard it.
Ended up looking pathetic (my before picture is after P90X doubles and my after picture is 1 month of gym and 4 workout days).
Before I thought more exercise = better body but...... boy was I wrong it just burns You out quicker. First month in Gym i found out how pathetically weak I really was, even thou I could do tons of pushups and few pullups.
I find it easier not to eat 300 calories then to run my *kitten* off for it.
So I am sticking to gym 3-4 times a week heavy weight lifting compound exercises for 45min - 1h and its the way to go.
This is my experience and I pity all the people "burning calories" and exercising for calories sake and not for the pure fun of those exercises.

4 months of only-cardio got me here:
2/23/11 - 150 lbs



1 month of heavy lifting + 1 week high protein diet/no cardio got me here:
3/23/11 - 144.6 lbs
:

Show me 1 runner that doesn't lift weights and looks good, and I'll show you 5 guys who lift weights and don't do cardio that look better.

"looks good" or "looks better" to whom? To say "no one" who does only cardio looks good is a false statement, in my opinion. I know plenty of people who only run and they look great. Perhaps the statement would be better received as, "No one who does only cardio looks as ripped and as toned as they would if they also added lifting". But there are plenty of people who look "good" by only doing cardio.