I’ve officially had it with fitness pros who tell people cardio is bad.
I wish I were kidding. But I’m not exaggerating here. There are fitness guys saying all cardio is bad for all people.
In fact, as a result of one of my (former) affiliate partner’s recent blog posts on his site, I am now totally dropping him. Even though he has some great products, I can’t recommend him any more because his approach is so far away from my philosophy. I don’t want to make this personal, so I won’t name him, but you can count on me not promoting his products anymore.
What am I so angry about? (My first draft of this article was so filled with venom that I had to edit it down heavily…!)
This guy (and he’s not the only one, unfortunately) is telling people to “say no to cardio”. He’s not being nuanced – he means no cardio for anyone.
And when I pointed out some other ways of looking at the value of cardio, his response to me was simply “Sorry dude, cardio sucks.”
Oh. Well that explains it. He must be right then. My mistake. After all, if he says so it must be true. [For those of you who are not native English speakers, that was heavy sarcasm...]
Again, this isn’t the only guy who makes such blanket statements about cardio. He (and they) selectively pull a couple scientific studies that prove their point and ignore the thousands of studies that refute it. And even the ones they quote – if you go back to the original publication – don’t say “cardio sucks”. They say that “in situation XYZ, the impact of cardio is less effective than other strategies”.
The problem with saying “no to cardio” is that nothing is that black and white. First off, “cardio” can take many forms:
- steady-state running and biking
- high-intensity interval training (HIIT)
- playing soccer, basketball, and most sports
- certain types of resistance training can be very cardio intensive (for example, my Fat Burn Furnace)
- rowing machine
- brisk walks and hikes
- swimming
- and far more things than I can write down
Plus, cardio is very effective for fat loss – depending on how you do our cardio, what your condition is to start with, and what your other habits are in terms of lifting and eating. Saying no to cardio is simply wrong except in specific circumstances.
And it’s irresponsible to make those blanket statements to people who count on you for guidance.
Look, I’m not perfect. I make mistakes and I’m sure some of the advice I give doesn’t always work for everyone. And I’m not afraid to use hyperbole to make my points. But I also recognize that even while I try to earn income from my efforts I first and foremost have a responsibility to do no harm. Telling everyone to skip cardio is irresponsible because skipping cardio can seriously compromise the potential fitness of most people.
I do agree that for fat loss, there is something far more effective: your eating plan. Everyone knows that if you don’t eat the crap to begin with, then you don’t have to try to bun it off later. But for people who have already committed the sin of eating too many donuts, cardio can be both fun and effective for assisting their fat loss.
And I did say “fun”! The anti-cardio crowd talks constantly about how they hate the actual cardio activity. But people with strong minds can turn any activity into fun.
Could you imagine letting people get away with this statement: “It’s not fun to eat veggies, so I won’t.”? Or “I hate doing resistance exercise, so I should skip it”. No, the right solution is to change your mindset to enjoy activities that are good for you.
Work on strengthening your mind as well as your body and you’ll see a virtuous circle form.
Whether you’re doing HIIT or steady-state, the extra calories burned do help with fat loss. And the additional endurance translates into the weight room as extra energy – if you can lift more intensely, your lifting workouts will be more effective too.
So, I’d recommend people say “yes to cardio” but qualify it that cardio is the last item on the list. My list of “top 10 things to get in shape” would have 7 things related to diet, 2 related to lifting/resistance training, and 1 thing related to cardio. Don’t expect miracles from cardio, but don’t ignore it altogether.
And if you are a fitness instructor, and you blindly tell all people to skip cardio all the time, then shame on you.
Just starting out with weightlifting? Want to get bigger muscles this winter?
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Related posts:
- Skip Cardio??? No Way!!
- The 5 Secrets of Cardio Progression
- Steady State Cardio 5 X More Effective Than HIIT????
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October 15th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Good post Darrin. I agree 100%. As the opposite side of you, I don’t do much cardio, because I can’t afford the calorie loss (You can only eat so much). I also find machines boring. So… I find ways of making what little cardio I do fun, like the speed ladder. But, I am an exception. Most people arent overactive 21 yr. olds, so some cardio is highly recommended. In fact, of all my clients only one of them have I reduced the amount they do.
October 15th, 2009 at 11:05 am
It does get very confusing with all the articles and books about the uselessness of cardio. That does seem to be a big trend at the moment…
I look at fitness as being a triangle – one side diet, one side resistance training, and one side cardio. For me personally, the cardio side has been the “longest” side. I would categorize myself foremost a runner. When I’m running 25+ miles a week on a consistent basis, I’m at my leanest. I definitely tend to eat better when I’m in that zone, and I’ve always tried to do pushups on most days. So it’s still a triangle. I’ve had good results with that in the past. If I lift weights with no cardio, I bulk up (and it’s not all muscle…). I’ve not had problems because of a less-than-optimal diet in the past, but I’ve benefitted lately from a cleaner diet.
I’ve had better results the last few months with really focusing on eating, plus adding a good weight-training routine. Part of this is because I’m kind of being a personal trainer for my wife. Her body has not responded to a lot of running as well as mine has – cases like that are most likely why many “experts” are denouncing cardio. So she and I are making a concerted effort to eat better, and we’re lifting weights together. That is helping her, and I’m benefitting too.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Tha cardio that sucks are those 30min for fat loss and so on. People who say that cardio is good are those people that had stopped in the 70´s along with doctor cooper. After you feel the power of the endorphins, you become addicted to it and with adaptation you must run longer distances to feel it again. That is the real shit, the narrow minded people that only says:” do 30 or more for fat loss at low intensity d´oh”. Everytime that i do low intensity cardio my belly stays there and my muscles go away, that is completely shit. If you do it wisely, interval training and hihg intensity cardio, you´re fine. Otherwise, go home and…Here there is a running group, 90% of the runners are fat, and they are running since 2005, and the are still fat. Go figure
October 25th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
I’m surprised there haven’t been more comments here, since this has become such a controversial topic. I’ve given it quite a bit of thought. I do think someone who is fit – slim with reasonable muscles – can stay fit with nothing but cardio and a decent diet (nothing extreme, but not eating tons of calories day in & day out). I think cardio for someone who is fit will somehow allow them to keep decent muscle mass. But I do think it is hard to lose a lot of weight with just cardio or with just cardio & diet. That’s where I think the weight training becomes such a big factor. And I think that’s where the main controversy lies.
I did manage to lose 30 pounds in late 2002 primarily with running (along with pushups & slight improvement in diet). But I had been a runner (pretty decent) off & on since 9th grade, and I had lifted weights very regularly for six years until late 1999. So my starting point was pretty good. But I can definitely see where someone who is starting from a less-fit point would have trouble losing weight with only cardio.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
@Jeffrey343 – yeah, you never know who will comment on what! And I really appreciate your comments. I might disagree slightly with your conclusions about only cardio being sufficient for anyone (you mention that possibly someone who is already fit might not need weight training). Part of this has to do with how we define “fit” – I define “fit” as “look-feel-do”. You need to look good, feel (and be) healthy from a doctor’s point of view, and be able to do everything in life you want to do. For a while, you can achieve all of these with only cardio. And for a while you can make do with only weights. But long term (especially those of us over 40 and even over 60), you need both. Cardio won’t slow sarcopenia (the term for muscle loss as we age). A lot of cardio-only people start to really have problems as they age because they lack any muscular strength.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Good point about the age thing. I should clarify my remarks by saying that the vast majority of folks who are more “cardio-only” and look really good are the younger ones. Those under 30 can get away with it much more easily. I could, and I still can do OK at 43. My wife (now 42) used to be able to easily walk off a couple of pounds over a week. I think a big difference between her and me (other than her being a woman and thus naturally having a harder time losing fat for no reasons other than gender stuff) is that I have never gone too long without working out intensely. Just 2.5 years of nothing but very occasional running between 1999 and 2002; other than that, I’ve been good at running frequently and / or lifting weights pretty hard. She and I have been able to work out together with increasing consistency the past year (the kids are now old enough to stay at home alone, or they’re at swim practice). I think she needs the weight lifting more than I do, although I certainly benefit from it. And I had forgotten how much I enjoy lifting weights in addition to running.
I think I’ve hit upon a pretty good routine – do some bodyweight exercises (pushups, pullups, single-leg squats – stuff like that), then hit the weights hard for about 45 minutes (concentrating on the Big 7, although we may start doing lower body one day and upper body the next day), then run 2 – 4 miles. I’ve been very surprised how I actually run very well after weights. I’m definitely fairly zonked, but that doesn’t at all make me struggle to get in a good run – quite the opposite. I suspect it is partially because I’ve burned through all the muscle glycogen and have primed my body to burn fat. Plus my muscles are definitely warmed up. Whatever it is, it is working for me. As for my wife… I think she’s a bit more zonked than me, and she isn’t having that effect – yet.