How do you get the heart rate up? What zone is your heart rate? What are you doing for cardio?
Look, I get it, these buzz-phrases are all over the internet and in the health magazines and it makes you feel like you are missing something that you should be doing.
These things are annoying, mis-leading and sometimes unhealthy.
When people ask me those same questions, I say: ‘I lift weights…faster.’
Have you ever carried some groceries across the parking lot? Ever picked up a small child and walked with them? Ever shoveled snow?
Did you feel your heart pumping and blood rushing through your veins?
Ta-Da, Heart rate was up and in the zone…Is that not cardio???
Just today I had a 69 year old client perform a squat without weight, with proper alignment and his heart rate went to 158 beats…after 1 squat?!?!?!
The accepted conventional wisdom and pseudo-science logic seems to still ‘think’ (operative word…not, KNOW) that cardio is the way to ‘Burn’ more calories and shed body fat.
It happens all the time. People come in and we run through intake questions: Health History, Medical Concerns, Current Routine, Goal(s) and some others. When we get to the current routine questions, I ask people what they’ve been doing and what are their goals.
I’m usually perplexed when people tell me they want to lose fat and change their appearance/body composition to more muscle and that their routine includes hours upon hours of ‘cardio’ and stretching. I understand, lifting weights seems daunting or ‘too hard,’ yet people will go out and ruin their bodies and joints by running for an hour or taking a 100mile bike ride every weekend, warrior style.
Before I get targeted by the Cooky Cardio Clan, I’m not attacking cardio. If it’s something you enjoy, that great! However, there is a better and faster way to reach your goals and in some cases, too much ‘cardio’ is killing your results…seriously.
Exercise truly is the best form of medicine. Nutrition truly is the best form of health care. Strength training truly cures almost everything that ails you.
Cardio is not the best form of Fat Loss, Body Composition or really anything.
No….It’s not.
Cardio, for our purposes, is defined as a: long duration – moderate intensity – steady state effort like; jogging, running, cycling, swimming, stair stepping, treadmilling and the like.
According to the most important biomarkers in regards to your longevity, Cardio (aerobic capacity) is the least important part of aging well and living longer.
Top Bio-markers
-Muscle Mass
-Strength
-Resting Metabolic Rate
-Body Fat
-Aerobic Capacity
These bio-markers can be affected by too much cardio, causing you to lose muscle, store fat and slow down your resting metabolic rate (# of calories burned during rest.)
Cardio also promotes excessive cortisol (stress hormone) and the longer the cardio session, the longer it takes for your body to return to pre-cortisol levels. Testosterone (we all have some), which peaks at about 30 minutes into your training session, is inhibited by Cortisol.
A higher Testosterone: Cortisol ratio is anabolic (muscle-building) versus a lower Testosterone: Cortisol level which is catabolic (muscle-wasting).
To be fair, all exercise promotes cortisol, even my beloved strength training. Yet, compared to traditional cardio, strength training is superior because the benefits far outweigh the negatives especially if you’re getting your nutrition and recovery game under control.
So think about this: after about 30 minutes of running, cycling etc. your body is in a muscle-wasting environment. Folks training for Marathons and triathlons are losing muscle after training at least 30 minutes…yet, we all know their events can last for hours!!!
In a class here at Bair Knuckle Strength, we ‘warm-up’ the joints and prepare our bodies for strength training with about 20 minutes of various movement drills that are designed NOT to spike cortisol. We move on to about 25 minutes of Strength training, followed by roughly 5 minutes of Metabolic Conditioning (Energy System Work) and topped off with 5 minutes of a cool-down/stretching period.
Our students are educated to replenish their glycogen (energy) stores by consuming fast acting protein and some fast acting carbohydrates almost immediately to within 1-hour post-session, which stops cortisol in its track and promotes Anabolism (muscle-building) not Catabolism (muscle-wasting).
A great example is a study from 1999 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. This study put two groups on a calorie restricted diet, with one doing ‘only cardio’ and the other doing ‘only resistance training.’ Both groups lost weight (28.2lbs and 32lbs respectively), but:
The ‘only cardio’ participants lost 9lbs of muscle and decreased their RMR by 210 calories/day.
The ‘only resistance’ group lost 1.8lbs of muscle (because of the deficit), and increased their RMR by 63 calories/day!
In other words, the ‘only resistance’ group will burn 273 more calories than the ‘only cardio’ group EVERY day going forward, without doing anything extra. Plus, they will be stronger, look better and move with less pain which sets the table for slowing down the aging process on the cellular level.
In conclusion, if you like cardio AND you are getting exactly the results you want that’s awesome and I’m happy for you. If you’re not getting those results and hate cardio, try lifting weights, sleeping 8 hours a night and taking a long walk instead.
Please comment below with your results!
Excellent write-up.
It could have been summed up quicker by saying “Do More Swings!”
There are a few “buzz-words” that are giving the fitness / nutrition industry a serious overhaul. Words like “Paleo”, “Met-Con”, “WOD”, and like previously mentioned “cardio” Not all of these catch phrases are good!
Ex: Making “Paleo – Chocolate Chip Cookies and part of your everyday diet is not a healthy idea. Just because you attach the word “Paleo” to something, doesn’t make it healthy.”
Cadio is often defined as ” any exercise that raises your heart rate.” So: You can drive to your local gym, hop on the hamster wheel (treadmill) and run in place for 30 minutes; OR, grab a 70 pound (heavier?) kettlebell, swing it (One-Handed) 100x times (in under 5 min). Then, let’s see how your heart feels…deal? Both activities will certainly raise your heart rate, but it’s what you get in return is what makes the difference.
I’m sorry if this is long-winded and redundant, I don’t want to steal John’s thunder, but…
I’m with Mr. Bair on this one. Moving weights quickly (safely) is a recipe for success!!!