For decades we've been encouraged to add up to 1 hour of cardio per day to our already busy schedules. However, not only is this recommendation unrealistic for most people, it's completely unnecessary and downright unhealthy!
Conventional cardio does NOT strengthen our heart and lungs as we've been led to believe - it actually does the OPPOSITE!
Here's why...
Long 'steady state' cardio workouts forces your body to adapt and become more efficient to the excessive demands we've imposed on our body...and it does this by gradually rebuilding our heart, lungs, blood vessels and muscles as small as possible.
The end result of this 'downsizing' is that we're robbed of vital reserve capacity.
What is "Reserve Capacity?"
Reserve capacity is the ability of your heart and lungs to withstand a sudden increase in cardiac demand.
In real life there are and there will be circumstances that put our bodies under stress and require our heart and lungs to be up the task.
Heart attacks don't occur because of a lack of endurance, they occur when there is a sudden increase in demand that exceeds your heart's capacity.
And here's the problem...
Conventional steady state cardio does NOT build reserve capacity!!
Exercising for long periods might make your heart more adept at handling a 60 minute jog, but it's at the expense of providing you with the ability to rapidly provide cardiac output when you really need it.
Bigger, faster, more readily available cardiac output is what we really need. So when we push for greater and greater endurance using conventional cardio, it actually produces the opposite to what we really require in the modern world.
But there's even more BAD NEWS...
A ground-breaking study of long distance runners showed that after these workouts, blood levels and oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglycerides is markedly increased.
They also found that prolonged running disrupts the balance of blood thinners and thickeners, elevating inflammatory factors and clotting levels, both signs of heart distress.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism also found that long distance runners had reduced bone mass and an increased risk of osteoporosis.
Conventional long duration cardio can even make you age faster!
(If you've made the observation that a large proportion of endurance athletes have more wrinkles and age faster than most, it's no coincidence...)
It all has to do with the fact that long duration cardio produces free radicals at an alarming rate. Unless these free radicals are 'mopped up' by antioxidants in our diet, (endurance athletes and heavy exercisers need to pay very special attention to their nutrition and require many more antioxidants than the average person) our immune system can become compromised and make us more susceptible to colds, flus, illness and even degenerative disease.
"What about burning bodyfat? I thought low intensity cardio and working out in the 'fat burning zone' was the answer?"
The myth of the 'fat burning zone' has been around for a while. While it's true that a greater percentage of fat is burned when working out at a lower intensity, it's the total calories burned that really matters!
For example, it's been proven that if you work out at a higher intensity using interval training (but for much less time) you'll burn significantly more calories after the workout has finished. Up to 9 times more to be precise!
In other words, each calorie your burn from interval training burns up to 9 times more bodyfat than a calorie burned during steady pace exercise. Therefore, interval training has MAJOR fat burning potential!
To put this in perspective, to match the results you'd get from a 12 minute interval workout, you'd have to burn off 9 times as many calories jogging! (easily 1 hour or jogging or more)
Long duration steady state cardio breaks down precious muscle tissue and diminishes our fat burning ability...
Long duration, low intensity cardio training produces high concentrations of a hormone called cortisol.
Cortisol promotes excessive muscle tissue breakdown and a lowered basal metabolic rate (the rate at which you burn calories.) This is why, over time, long duration steady state cardio can actually make you FATTER!
Will long duration cardio burn some bodyfat? Of course! Just nowhere near as much or as efficiently as interval training.
The Marathon Runner Versus the Sprinter
Due to the nature of their training, long distance runners experience muscle wasting, have a low reserve capacity, and they are more likely to suffer from joint and bone problems.
Contrast this with a sprinter whose training focuses on short bursts of intensity, the sprinter tends to be more muscular, has a much higher reserve capacity, and has greater bone density.
What about fitness? Interval training is vastly superior for improving fitness!
Interval training has been demonstrated as one of the most efficient means of improving fitness. One study in particular (Tabata studies 1996) compared 2 groups of exercisers.
In Tabata's study, one group did a full 60 minutes of low to moderate intensity exercise 5 days per week. Group two also trained 5 days a week except that this group performed up to eight 20-second sprints of high-intensity cycling with a 10-second rest (pedaling at a much slower rate) in between. This was preceded by a warm up and followed by a warm down.
Total exercise time? Just 4 minutes! (No, that's not a misprint!)
The results were extraordinary. Tabata found that athletes on the high-intensity interval training programme increased their fitness levels much faster than athletes on a typical endurance training regime, all this despite the VAST difference in the amount of time each group spent working out.
Participants in the studies who did the 4 minute workouts not only increased their ability to do anaerobic exercise (the type of exercise that features bursts of high intensity) but also their aerobic capacity (typically performed at a steady pace with the idea of developing endurance.)
Whereas group 1 showed no anaerobic fitness increase and a 10% increase in aerobic fitness, group 2 showed a 28% and 14% increase respectively...and all with only 4 minute workouts!
Unbelievable but TRUE!!!
Granted, the intervals used in the Tabata studies are too intense for the majority of us, which is why Body Blueprint Personal Training has designed specialised workouts that uses timeframes of 12 minutes up to a maximum of 20 minutes.
Not only is interval training incredibly time efficient and excellent for fat burning and fitness, it builds crucial heart and lung reserve capacity.
Some final words about conventional cardio
Here's a very important question to ask: "In light of the information presented, can we really say that the human body is designed to cope with the demands of repeated, long distance cardio training?"
Based on numerous studies citing the detrimental effects of conventional cardio on the human body in terms wear and tear, loss of muscle tissue, the decline in heart and lung reserve capacity and more...
Despite what you may have been led to believe, the answer is a resounding NO!
Is low intensity, long duration cardio ok from time to time?
Of course! Exercise will always be better than no exercise at all. However, steady state cardio should be used in moderation. The real problem is when steady state cardio is the ONLY type of cardio exercise you do! From a health perspective, it's potentially damaging. And from a time perspective, it's incredibly inefficient and time wasting...
Introducing the AMAZING benefits of Interval Training!
If you're tired of spending hour upon boring hour doing conventional cardio workouts, (and potentially jeoparding your health in the process) it's time to to experience the AMAZING benefits of interval training! For more information about interval training, visit: http://www.bodyblueprint.co.nz
Mark Woodgate is a leading personal trainer and has successfully transformed over 1000 people with his Body Blueprint 12 Week Challenge and Ultimate Transformation System. To find out how to achieve AMAZING results in MINIMAL time using interval training, download Mark's FREE 12 week challenge information pack at: http://www.bodyblueprint.co.nz/12-week-challenge.html.
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