Here’s another exceptional article from Tom Venuto. You see, Tom understands that cardio plays a major role in having a fit, muscular physique as well as for your overall health. I sometimes sound like a broken record in saying that the guys who dismiss all cardio have it wrong! And Tom makes a good argument in Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle .
On to the article…
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
BurnTheFat
The controversies over cardio for fat loss are endless: steady state versus intervals, fed versus fasted, long and easy versus short and intense, and so on. Obviously there is a lot of interest in cardio training and how to do it right. Sadly, most people are still doing 2 things terribly wrong and it’s killing their results…… As best as I can figure, there are two major reasons why people are still mucking up their cardio programs for fat loss.
REASON #1: NOT ENOUGH FOCUS ON TOTAL CALORIES BURNED
Most people aren’t burning enough darn calories.
Why? Well, I guess they are too busy worrying about the “proper” type of exercise (which machine or activity), the mode (steady state or intervals), the “optimal” ratio of intervals, or the “best” duration.
Some people coast along on the treadmill at 2.3 miles per hour or some similar sloth-like pace and they think that just by hitting a TIME goal, such as 45 or 60 minutes, that with “X” duration completed, they are assured to get the results they want.
On the other extreme, we have folks who have found or created some mega-intense, super-duper short training protocol like the “4-minute wonder workout from Japan.” Just because the workout is high in intensity and it is performed in intervals, they too think they are assured to get the results they want.
What’s missing in both cases is the realization that total fat loss over time is a function of total calories burned over time (assuming you don’t blow your diet, of course).
AND…
Total calories burned is a product of INTENSITY times DURATION, not intensity OR duration.
Too much focus on one variable at the exclusion of the other can lead to a less than optimal total calorie burn and disappointing results. And remember, intensity and duration are *variables* not absolutes! (“Variable” means you can change them… even if your “guru” says you can’t!)
When you understand the relationship and interplay between INTENSITY X DURATION you will find a “SWEET SPOT” where the product of those variables produces the maximal calorie burn and maximum fat loss, based on your current health condition and your need for time efficiency.
REASON #2: TOO MUCH FOCUS ON WHAT TYPE OF CALORIES BURNED
As best as I can figure, there is one whopper of a mistake that is still KILLING most people’s cardio programs and that is…
Way too much focus on WHAT you are burning during the workout – fats or carbohydrates – also known as “substrate utilization.” This idea comes from the notorious “fat burning zone” myth which actually tells people to exercise SLOWER and LESS intensely to burn more fat.
Hold on a minute. Pop quiz. Which workout burns more calories?
(A) A 30 minute leisurely stroll through the park
(B) A 30 minute, sweat-pouring, heart-pounding, lung-burning run?
Like, DUH!
And yet we have trainers, authors and infomercial gurus STILL telling us we have to slow down if we want to burn more fat??? Bizarre.
The reason people still buy it is because the “fat burning zone” myth sounds so plausible because of two little science facts:
- The higher your intensity, the more carbs you burn during the workout
- The lower your intensity, the more fat you burn during the workout
And that’s the problem. You should be focusing on total calories and total fat burned during the workout and all day long, not just what type or percentage of fuel you are burning during the workout.
It’s not that fat oxidation doesn’t matter, but what if you have a high percentage of fat oxidation but an extremely low number of calories burned?
If you really want to be in the “fat burn zone,” you could sit on your couch all day long and that will keep you there quite nicely because “couch sitting” is a really low intensity (“fat-burning”) activity.
(Of course, “couch sitting” only burns 37 calories per half hour…)
HERE’S THE FAT-BURNING SOLUTION!
In both cases, the solution to burning more fat is drop dead simple: Focus your attention on how you can burn more TOTAL calories during your workout and all day long.
If you want to burn more fat, burn more calories and you can do that by manipulating ANY of the variables : intensity, duration and also frequency.
If you build your training program around this concept, you will be on the right track almost every time.
BUT WAIT – THERE IS MORE TO IT…
Naturally, we could argue that it’s not quite this simple and that there are hundreds of other reasons why your cardio program might not be working… and I would agree, of course. But on the exercise side, the ideas above should be foremost in your mind.
On the nutrition side, you have to get your act together there too.
For example, many people increase their food intake at the same time as they start a cardio training program thereby putting back in every calorie they burned during the workout! Then some of them have the nerve to say, “SEE, cardio doesn’t work!”
Incidentally, this is the exact reason that a few studies show that adding cardio or aerobic training to a diet “did not improve fat loss”: It’s not because the cardio didn’t work, it was because the researchers didn’t control for diet and the subjects ate more!!
It should go without saying that nutrition is the foundation on which every fat loss program is built.
Choose the combination of type, intensity, duration and frequency that suits your lifestyle and preferences the best, and WORK THE VARIABLES to get the fat loss results you want, but whichever cardio program you choose, remember that a solid fat burning nutrition program, such as Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle is necessary to help you make the most of it.
Train hard and expect success,
Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Lifetime Natural Bodybuilder
BurnTheFat
About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: BurnTheFat
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June 4th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I am a huge believer in medium intensity cardio for burning a lot of calories. But, I also believe in cycling the amount of cardio you do throughout the year so your body doesn’t adapt. I also believe in cycling several different activities so your body doesn’t adapt that way either. The HIIT community doesn’t believe in medium intensity cardio BUT I think they have it all wrong. HIIT is a great tool but I don’t think it should be the main tool for burning fat…because it does NOT burn as much fat directly.
June 5th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Tom,
If you want to increase your muscle mass, should you still do cardio? The reason is because I read somewhere about the “interference effect” – where given the choice to adapt to endurance training or resistance training, the body would tend to adapt to the endurance training making it difficult to put on mass?
June 5th, 2009 at 5:30 am
i have the same as jhon question
June 6th, 2009 at 8:51 am
I am stuck on the 2.3 mph treadmill speed because I have 2 hip replacements and bad knees. It’s the highest I can go without significant pain. My only option, as I can figure out from your article, is to increase the duration and frequency of my workouts. I also do strength training mixing machines and free wieghts. How can I increase weight loss? Thanks for your help and keep up the great work.
June 6th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
@John and @Teddy – I’ll see if I can get an answer right from Tom, but here’s my take: the so called “interference effect” is validated for the most part, in my opinion. But it’s complicated. There are many, many scientific studies on this but they are all each slightly flawed. For example, several show with good evidence that doing cardio before weight training is nowhere nearly as effective as just weight training for muscle growth and strength. But they didn’t test the reverse order. Others had alternating days (resistance on day one, cardio day 2, resistance day 3, etc.) Some used cycling for the cardio, some used jogging. Some used low intensity (essentially a fast walk) others were a fast jog. Some used a hypertrophy-style training program, others were more strength training (really heavy weight, low reps). But there is no single study. All I’ve read had very small samples. But in the aggregate, it’s still safe to say that STRENGTH is reduced in a mixed cardio/resistance program compared to a pure resistance program. I’ve not seen any that focused on muscle growth, but lots of people draw that conclusion anyway.
Now with all that said, I’m going for overall health and a killer physique. And I believe that is far easier to reach in a combined weight training + cardio program. Especially for those of us over 40. So do your free-weights. Then do your cardio. Then rest.
You can grow muscle and burn fat at the same time. Cardio might reduce the muscle growth a little but if you follow the types of programs I recommend, you will absolutely still see muscle growth.
p.s. anecdotally, every champion natural bodybuilder I know of uses cardio regularly for at least several months every year and they are still huge! but remember, we’re not going for “huge” here at WFN
June 6th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
@Bruce – that’s great that you are doing some free weights. You want to keep that muscle and grow more (some research shows that every pound of muscle burns up to 50 more calories every day – even days you don’t work out – because extra muscle mass increases your metabolism).
For cardio, if you can’t increase your treadmill speed, can you increase the incline without pain? If not, then you can play with duration and frequency but generally you don’t want to go more than about 45 minutes to 60 minutes per session because at that point your body may start to burn muscle and inhibit muscle growth. So if you are already at 45 minutes each time, then better to do more days than to increase duration.
Two other ideas:
- can you use a bike? the airdynes are great for really increasing intensity and are gentle on the knees; not sure about the hips though
- can you shorten your rest periods between weight lifting sets? See http://worldfitnessnetwork.com.....-training/ .
June 7th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Woah – and I totally forgot a huge point in my response above about cardio vs weight training – DIET. These studies never account for different nutritional timing. For example, I always have a protein shake after weight training (before running). But no science has studied the what/when questions of carbs and proteins in relation to the issue of whether cardio training interferes with strength or hypertrophy training. If anyone knows of such a study please share. Until then, I’ll stick with my plan!