Why Cardio Sucks Worse than the Economic Stimulus Bill

Feb. 16, 2009 - PRLog -- "Cardio" is the "Economic Stimulus Bill" of the fitness world. You can put your hopes in it, but generally it isn't going to do anything for you, only wasting your time and resources.

So here are the top 5 reasons why I think the term "cardio" is lame and see what I think you should be doing instead at www.turbulencetraining.com.

1) People hate doing cardio.

Have you ever met a person who smiled when they said, "Oh, I have to go do cardio now." (That's not the same as the excitement an endurance athlete gets when they go "training".  Endurance athletes don't call their workouts, "cardio".)

NOTE:
If you are a runner, and you love to run, and you tell me (with a smile), "I'm going out for a run", then that's cool by me. Nothing wrong with that. But if you don't like to run, and you tell me (with a pout), "I'm going out for a run because I have to get my cardio", then I say, "Boooooo to that". Life's to short to hate your workouts!

2) People mistakenly believe 30 minutes of half-assed cardio (which is what most people do) will help them lose weight.

But it won't. It just wastes their time. People are obsessed with the calorie counters on machines. I truly believe this is how folks become obsessive compulsive with cardio...because all they can think about is how many calories they have burned, and how much food that means they can eat.

"Cardio" does not promote healthy relationships with food.

3) People think you have to do "cardio" (i.e. go to a gym and exercise on a machine that doesn't go anywhere) for 30 minutes in order to be healthy.

You don't have to do "cardio" to be healthy. There is so much more to health than 30 minutes of "cardio". Your diet is more important for your cardiovascular health than your exercise regime. Plus, as long as you're active each day (doing manual labor, "cardio", playing sports, or lifting weights); you're doing enough to meet the minimum required amount of exercise for cardiovascular health.

4) People think "cardio" will help them with sports performance or their short, burst fitness (like climbing stairs).

It rarely does.

In fact, the guy who does "cardio" in preparation for his basketball, soccer, hockey, or Ultimate Frisbee league is going to be sorely disappointed by how slow he is - and by how he lacks sports-specific fitness as much as all the guys who just lifted weights all off-season. Plus, doing traditional "machine cardio" does not prepare you for sports-specific movements or speed of movement, so you're just as likely - if not more likely - to get injured early in the season.

5) It signifies a waste of time, inefficiency, and a sheep-like mentality towards doing something just because everyone else is doing it.

Seriously, if you were from another planet and you came down to earth and went into a big commercial gym and looked at the "cardio" section, pardon me, the "cardio theatre" section, you'd smile to yourself and say, "wow, this planet is going to be easy pickin's".

"Cardio" is also lame because people use cardio as a time to catch up on their magazine reading and TV watching (and now Internet and email time). That about says it all. Workout time is not multi-task time.

So what should you be doing instead if you want to sculpt your body, burn fat, lose your belly, and get lean before summer?

You should skip the "cardio" (let's not ever use that phrase again) and focus on total-body, multi-muscle resistance training and interval training exercises to help you build "everyday" strength and fitness (like the ability to carry groceries or children, or climb 3 flights of stairs as fast as possible).

Plus, with these total body workouts, you'll save time and get more health benefits than you will with straight "cardio". (Sorry to use that term again.)

Helping you get more results while saving time and money,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training  
www.turbulencetraining.com

PS - If you want the best, fastest, and most effective fat burning workouts that you can do at home...

... (without the indignity of driving to a gym to use a sweaty, disgusting "cardio" machine), then grab your copy of Turbulence Training for Fat Loss.

Click here for a $4.95 Trial Offer of Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

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About Turbulence Training:

Craig Ballantyne is a leading Men’s Health fitness expert and author of Turbulence Training, a fat loss system designed specifically to help busy men and women get better, faster results in the least amount of time. He is also a contributor to Women’s Health and Oxygen magazines.