So, this blog thing is kinda cool. I don't say anything different than I say to people when I'm working with them in the gym one-on-one. But now I have a place to put it, where more people may access it. It's inspired me in a whole different way. I may be "all over the place" for awhile as I get comfortable in this medium and settling into specific topics. Please, bear with me and ask questions and I'll do my best to answer them.
I'm realizing we trainers tend live inside a bubble. Kind of like how, when Washington politicians lose touch with normal, everyday Americans, they are said to have been "inside the beltway" for too long. A similar sort of thing exists in the training world. We acquire the latest knowledge and information. We workout with each other and spend our days conversing with those who can afford our services. So, I guess I'm saying that I'm grateful for the spark I'm getting from the feedback and questions I received from the last post. It allows me to go over information I may not have spoken about in awhile.
So, let me make a few bold statements.
THE SINGLE BEST THING YOU CAN DO TO LOSE BODY FAT IS STRENGTH TRAIN.
STRENGTH TRAINING BURNS ALMOST TWICE THE CALORIES THAN CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY ALONE.
CARDIO IS OVERRATED.
In addition to burning more calories per workout, strength training sets your body up to add muscle tissue, which elevates your metabolism (rate at which the body burns calories) over the long term. Think of it this way: if you add more lean tissue (muscle) to your body you will burn more calories while sleeping! Understanding this bit of information is crucial to achieving the results I know most people are looking for. Often I hear, “I’m going to do cardio for awhile and lose some weight before I bulk up with the weights.” Biggest lie out there. By the way, you think strength training doesn't have cardiovascular benefit? Check your heart rate at the end of a set of 12 deep squats.
Look, I’m not going to say cardio is bad. People who do cardiovascular activity for 30 minutes or more 3 times per week are doing great things for their heart and lungs. But over time, by just doing the same cardiovascular activity the metabolism slows down for two reasons:
- The body has gotten used to the activity. If your body expects the same level 6 elliptical trainer workout every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday it perceives the activity as normal and will burn less and less calories over time.
- Sustained aerobic activity BREAKS DOWN MUSCLE TISSUE! This is a scientific fact that, if people really understood how bad this is for the body’s metabolism, they’d stop doing it immediately.
If we know that having more muscle tissue greatly increases the body’s ability to burn calories, why in hell would you continue to do the very thing that destroys muscles tissue? Understanding this concept is hugely important because if you are not strength training in addition to exercising aerobically then you are working very hard and slowing your metabolism down at the same time! I harp on this point because I know people have heard this information before yet they continue to do the same activity anyway. It makes no sense. It’s like driving your car with the gas pedal to the floor and the emergency brake on. Engine’s working really hard but the car’s not getting very far.
Don’t believe me? Take a look sometime and notice who are the fattest people in your gym. It’s not the people lifting free weights. It’s the people coming out of spin and step classes or zoned out on the elliptical. You'd think people would catch on after awhile!!!
When someone says to me, “I don’t want to get too big and bulky” I ask, “Do you think I’m too big?” “No, you look great.” Well, I’ve been lifting weights for 25 years. I hear you now, “You’ve got great genetics!” Maybe that’s true. But nobody else in my family has the body composition that I do. Not fair to make that comparison because I am a fitness expert and I live fitness. That’s my point. Maybe it's because I have lifted moderately heavy weights for 25 years that I look the way I do. Why not give it a try and see if your body gets too big (I promise you won’t). If you're saying "I don't want to get too big", you might want to ask yourself if what you are really saying is "I don't want to work too hard".
So let me be clear: I am not anti-cardio. If you will absolutely never resistance train, and all you are able to do are 2 or 3 cardio workouts per week then, by all means, do it. Some activity is better than no activity. But resistance training always trumps cardiovascular training alone.
Hey
ReplyDeletewhat balance should you try to achieve between CV and strength training, or does it really depend on a) what you are trying to achieve and b) your body type?
Hey Superjam,
ReplyDeleteGood question. First, I believe EVERY exercise and workout session should depend on what you are trying to achieve. That's probably the number one downfall I see with most people's workout routines: they have no clearly defined goal or have lost the focus of what they are trying to achieve. I'll be talking more about this in future posts. The all important 'motivation' and reason for doing.
Assuming your goal is to be lean, fit and muscular and you are not training for a marathon or triathlon, I'd then ask you what you mean by "CV". Are you talking about a steady state jog on the treadmill for 45-60 minutes? If so, I'd strongly recommend you reconsider your choice for cardio.
I'm a HUGE fan of High Intensity Interval Training for several reasons: You can cut your cardio time in half AND you set your body up to be burning up to NINE TIMES AS MUCH FAT later in the day just in recovering from the beating you gave it (called excess post-oxygen consumption). Wouldn't you rather work out for a shorter period of time and get a greater return? More bang for your buck.
The other reason to avoid steady-state cardio is that it has a catabolic effect (breaks down muscle) on the body, which I talk about in the above post. Whereas, HIIT is very much like strength training -- you are exerting yourself full out for 30-60 seconds much like a set of lunges) and has an anabolic effect on your body.
Now to answer your question about the balance of it. I've been working out consistently for 25 years and I'm STILL trying to find it. I'll tell you what has changed over the years. The days of doing an hour of cardio after my 45 minute weight workout are long gone. It's just not necessary. Over the years, I realized I was wasting time in the gym. That's why my mission now is to teach people to just focus on what actually works.
Having said all that, my ideal week these days usually consists of 3 days of strength training, 1-2 HIIT days (with core/abs work on those days), and MAYBE one day of about 30 minutes at a very moderate pace on the treadmill followed by a long stretch session, just to keep my body guessing. I'm not very good at running for long distances, but I AM very good (and fast) at short distances and all out sprints and I recover quickly (high oxygen uptake). Since I'm not planning to run a marathon, play baseball on weekends (short bursts of all out sprinting involved) and I want to be as lean as possible, I'm pretty confident I'm achieving my objective.
As the great strength coach Charles Polequin said in a recent article, "Genetically, we were meant to throw stones at rabbits, not run around all day after them."
I'll be talking in the future about how to do High Intensity Interval Training.
Why on earth would anyone want to throw stones at bunnies?
ReplyDeletewell, there is another school convinced that its our ability to run long distances that made us so successful. So our superior ability to run down prey is more important than our ability to throw stones. This is described in the following video:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUpo_mA5RP8
I have never heard about cardio breaking down muscle or that building more muscle increases your metabolism. Thank you for that info. I can stop feeling guilty for not pushing myself to do the same boring cardio routines.
ReplyDelete