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The Truth About Cardio: Is It Necessary?

by — Last updated: 2017-02-22 in Weight Loss

Many fitness programs often include long and boring cardio sessions leaving the individual feeling tired and weak. Is cardio however, actually necessary for weight loss? Read to learn the real truth about cardio and getting into amazing shape.

As the clock struck twelve signaling the new year, you became determined to finally stick to your new years resolution goal of achieving the physique you’ve always wanted. Though you’ve tried and failed year after year, you’ve decided that this is the year things change..The washboard abs, chiseled jawline, and v-taper you can’t stop dreaming about seem just months away, and you’re ready to succeed. But only one week into your new fitness regimen, you’re reminded of exactly why every year you fail to stick to your plan, and never get in shape.

The dreaded cardio

Hours every day spent on the treadmill or elliptical, only to result in massive amounts of sweat and you feeling drained and out of breath. It isn’t fun, and it definitely isn’t easy. In addition to feeling tired and weak, you’re failing to see change in the mirror or on the scale, and are beginning to question your ability to get in shape.

The idea of having to run every day or every other day on the treadmill or elliptical for the next several months quickly becomes almost impossible to fathom. Your enthusiasm for getting into shape quickly dwindles, and you find yourself becoming more and more content with your overweight and out of shape physique. Yet everywhere you look; the internet, fitness books and magazines, that fit guy or girl at the gym- cardio seems to be a quintessential component of getting into amazing shape...but is it really?

The truth about cardio

For decades the concept that cardio is not only important but critical to getting into shape has been promoted by various fitness companies in an attempt to sell the next greatest machine that will “guarantee” fat loss results. Even various result-promising fitness programs such as P90x and Insanity revolve around exercises that are cardio-based. In reality however, the idea that cardio will help an individual get into amazing shape is absurd. To put things into perspective, the average person only burns roughly 400 calories an hour from physical activities such as jogging or running. This number of calories is equivalent to only a few pieces of fruit (bananas and apples contain over 100 calories each). In order to lose one pound per week one would need to burn 3,500 calories, so even if you did one hour of cardio every day for a week, you still wouldn’t even lose one pound!

Additionally, because cardio workouts often make individuals more hungry, many people eat more than usual, and will consume as many calories or more than what they burned! This is exactly why people spend months on the treadmill or elliptical only to make very limited, if any, progress at all.

No wonder your six pack isn’t visible yet! So if cardio isn’t useful for weight loss, does it have any benefits at all? Although cardio can seem extremely boring and now even useless, it can be helpful when trying to improve cardiovascular health, or the functioning of your heart and lungs. Performing high intensity interval training (HIIT) such as sprints, can improve endurance and speed, and help the lungs function more efficiently during physical exertion.

Nutrition and Weightlifting are Essential for Effective Weightloss

As mentioned previously, cardio is an extremely ineffective and inefficient way to lose weight. So what is the best way to burn fat? What many people fail to realize is that the vast majority (roughly 80% or more) of weight loss occurs in the kitchen, not the gym. This means that weight loss will be determined by how much you eat NOT by what you eat. Similar to the false concept of cardio resulting in fat loss is that eating healthy foods and simply cutting out all “junk foods” will result in weight loss.

The one and only driver of fat loss is being in a caloric deficit. As long as your body is consuming less calories than your body requires, you will lose weight, I guarantee it.

Fortunately, the body does not process calories from a piece of fruit any differently than from a plate of nachos. This means you don’t have to necessarily cut out your favorite foods from your diet, but rather pay close attention to how much you are consuming, and practice smaller portions and more portion control. Here are a few tips for a perfect portion sizes. 

An easy way to do this is by tracking your calories. To calculate how many calories you should consume for your deficit simply take your current body weight and multiply that by 15. Following this, take the product and multiply that by .8 or .75 (for faster results, but do not go lower than .75 as you can burn muscle as well). The end product will be the number of calories you need to consume every day to lose about 1-2 pounds per week.

Here’s an example: 150 lb man x 15 = 2250 → 2250 x .8 = 1800 calories per day. In addition to a deficit, slight cardio such as brisk walks for 45-60 minutes per day burns calories and can marginally help speed up weight loss, without the negative effects of feeling tired and weak that most cardio routines bring. 

The importance of weightlifting

To achieve the lean physique of a Greek god however, a deficit and brisk walks should not be the only components to your health regimen. By only eating in a deficit, the body will not just burn fat, but will also slowly begin to burn muscle as well, resulting in a physique that can appear skinny, gaunt, and fragile...not the strong and healthy body you’re aiming for.

To avoid this, focus on building muscle on compound movements. A few examples of exercises that will help build an amazing physique are incline bench press, standing shoulder press, barbell curl, deadlifts, squats, and weighted chin ups or pull ups.

These exercises should be split up into two different days that alternate each day, with a rest day in between for a total of 3 days per week. Since you’ll be using heavy weight, you’ll want to have a rep scheme of 3-5 sets containing no more than 5-8 reps per exercise. Although sculpting an envious physique can take time, as long as you track your calories and progress on your lifts, over time, your body will transform from zero to hero.

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