Stay away from "traditional cardio"

OK, so I've been busy and I know I haven't been posting that much, but I promise that will change.
I am starting a month long "shred" to get ready for my cruise in June.  I plan to do some posts on that, what my daily meals/calories look like, some recipes for healthy delicious dinners (think cod filet's with a mushroom risotto...yummm) but for now onto this post.

I always say to stay away from traditional cardio - meaning the treadmills, stationary bikes and ellipticals.  Unless you want to be a runner, running for an extended period of time is not the best exercise for fat loss.  Adding in some spurts of sprints, or adding 10-20 minutes in addition to your workout will help, but whatever you do, do not spend an hour on those machines, you're just wasting your time.

That's all I' m going to say on that topic, and I will point you in the direction of some more in depth information on why, and other workouts that are better from Mike Geary.  Plus, you can check out some of the previous workouts I have posted on here for some better ideas too.

Check out this article:
The #1 worst workout

Here is the post word for word, but I suggest clicking the link for some extra info.

Work hard and keep moving people!

The worst workout of the year?

What is the #1 worst workout if you want fat loss results?

...CARDIO!

That's right, long boring cardio is officially the WORST workout of the year.

Why?

Well first, it's boring. I mean, who actually enjoys sitting on an exercise bike or running on a treadmill for 45 minutes? Not many people.

But much more important than that, it fails to produce fat loss RESULTS. Are there health benefits? Sure. But you can get those same health benefits (and more) with much shorter, much more exciting, and invigorating workouts. More on that in a minute...

But first, here's what research has to say about cardio:

Utter AC, et al. Influence of diet and/or exercise on body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness in obese women. Int J Sport Nutr. 1998 Sep;8(3):213-22.

-In this 3 month study, women did 45 minutes of cardio a day, 5 days a week, and lost no more weight than those who dieted alone! Seems like a royal waste of time to me!

But perhaps this one study was a fluke? Nope!

Redman et al. Effect of calorie restriction with or without exercise on body composition and fat distribution. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Jan 2.

-In this study, subjects did 50 minutes of cardio, 5 days a week, and once again lost no more weight than those who dieted alone!

Well, maybe if they increase it to a full HOUR of cardio a day, SIX days a week, then cardio will actual product substantial results? No again!

McTiernan et al. Exercise Effect on Weight and Body Fat in Men and Women. Obesity 2007 June - 15:1496-1512.

-Over the course of this one year study, subjects performed aerobic exercise for 60 minutes a day, 6 whopping days a week (who even has TIME for that?) and lost only 3.5 pounds on average in an entire YEAR!

3.5 pounds of fatloss after an HOUR of exercise, nearly every day, for an ENTIRE year. Man, oh man, cardio really is the worst workout ever!

But as mentioned, there is a much better alternative, and that alternative lies in short, intense bouts of exercise.

In fact, a recent study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that 15 minutes of a circuit-style resistance training workout elevated metabolism for a full THREE days! And that's only from 15 minutes!

Other studies have found similar results with interval style workouts as short as 4 minutes producing dramatically more fat loss than long, extended bouts of cardio.

Here's an example bodyweight, short-burst exercise routine that you can try today to boost your metabolism and your fat loss results:

30 seconds of bodyweight squats
30 seconds of push ups
30 seconds jumping jacks

Repeat 4 times.

That workout right there only takes SIX minutes and you'll burn way more fat than you will with those long, drawn out, boring cardio sessions.

But here's the real secret...

NO workout will ever help you lose fat unless you get your nutrition in order. Unfortunately, nutrition is an area where most people really struggle, and sticking to a "diet" long term can be near impossible.

I'm still here....and done my burpee challenge!

I know I haven’t written a blog post in a while, but I’m still here.

I started a new job a few weeks ago, and have just been busy with getting accustomed to working again...I was laid off for almost a year!  It is definitely hard getting back into a normal routine.  I’ve been going to bed earlier, sleeping longer, but am more tired than I used to be!  I will admit I started slacking a little.  I in no way stopped working out completely, but I’ve been doing just enough to get by, and I am sad to say I am not where I was over a summer, and especially where I was a year ago today.  That doesn’t mean I’m giving up.  Getting into this new daily routine and getting back to the normalcy of 9-5 days just means I have to push myself even harder.  Especially because I have a wedding in less than a month, and a cruise vacation 2!!

So, since I’ve written last, I completed my 100 Day Burpee Challenge!  And I can’t tell you how excited I am, haha.  Honestly, by the end I was getting so bored of burpees.  I mean, I spent a third of my year doing burpees!   The easiest way to do 90 burpees a day was to make them my workout, with some other cardio and strength training moves, and it got boring fast. 

First, I do have to thank some people.  I’ll give a shout out to the trainers at Core Fitness (check them out online http://www.core-fit.com/ or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CoreFitness.Smarter Living/) Cindy, Gina and Lauren.  They are an amazing group of trainers, and definitely helped me getting my burpees in, and especially Cindy who did a 100 Burpee Workout on my last day.  I do also have to thank (and apologize to) all the other Core-Fitters who got stuck doing my burpees with me!  Core Fitness is definitely a great group of people to work with, if you’re in the Philadelphia area, I highly suggest checking them out.

I will say though, sticking with it and finishing it made me feel AMAZING at the end.  If you’re looking for something to challenge you, something to motivate you, something to discipline you, I highly suggest doing the challenge.  Now that I’m done, everyone kept asking me what I was going to do, to which I would reply, “the 100 day NO burpee challenge.”  I am actually happy to say I failed at that after about 15 days haha.  If you’re someone who likes to be pushed, and doesn’t mind doing burpees for 2/3 of your year, someone mentioned to me that I should start counting back down after I reach day 100….yea, I don’t think so.

All in all, it was an experience, to say the least, once that I don’t think I will ever do again.  That doesn’t mean I’m not open to other challenges though, let’s see what I can come up with next.