Will Doing Cardio Really Make Me Fat

Does cardio make you fat

If you want to blast body fat to reveal a set of ripped abs. Or you’re just looking to lose a few pounds. Cardio immediately comes to mind.

Pick your poison. Running on the treadmill, jumping in on a spin class, or climbing the equivalent of the Empire State Building on the stairmaster, it all get you to the same place. Your heart rate increases, you breathing intensifies, and you burn more calories.

Don’t tell me thisdoesn’t work.

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a million times. Cardio makes you fat.

Cardio may be the worst thing you can do if you are trying to lose fat. In fact, if you want to gain weight, you should get on the treadmill or go out for a nice slow jog.

or how about this one…

It’s a Fact, Cardio Makes You Fat, Tired, Unhappy and OLD
That’s exactly why cheeseburgers are better than treadmills for fat loss.

I bring this up because last Monday they held the 119th running of the Boston marathon. It is amazing how fast and in shape they are.

In the men’s race, Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa was the first to cross the line. Not a record but still plenty fast with a of time of 2:09:17. That’s a sub 5 minute mile pace maintained for the entire 26 miles. Just incredible.

Take any 1 mile portion of the race and these guys are running faster than most people can run just one mile.

They’re so fast…

the top speed of most treadmills would slow them down.

And good luck finding a fat or overweight competition.

It’s beyond me how anyone can say cardio makes you fat. Or it doesn’t help drop blubber. But they do. (Even Oprah had success when she was training for her marathon.)

I don’t know if it’s cool, or it’s the popularity of fads like Crossfit that make cardio bashing so in vogue.

But the truth is…

it works.

Spending hours running, biking, or any other form of cardio will increase your heart rate and demand for calories. Many of which will come from your fat stores.

Add in [thrive_2step id=’5904′]tasty recipes that support weight loss[/thrive_2step] and you’re guaranteed to see results.

 

What Is Cardio

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about cardio but we never wehn over what it is exactly.

Cardio comes from the Greek word kardia, meaning heart.

You’ll find it mentioned anywhere there’s talk of the heart. But for our purposes cardio refers to exercise that raises your heart rate for an extended period of time. Sometimes it’s referred to as aerobic exercise.

Technically weight lifting and intervals can be classified as cardio because they raise your heart rate. But when the Fitness Fugayzies talk about cardio and weight gain they’re referring to any and every light-to-moderate intensity activity that is performed for extended period of time.

The common methods are:

  • distance running
  • jogging
  • swimming
  • cycling
  • walking
  • stair climber

 

Cons Of Long Slow Cardio

There are a few drawbacks to those long runs and other marathon cardio sessions.

  • It takes a big chunk of your day.
  • Your joints will take a beating.
  • Doesn’t do anything for muscle.

But it works. No if, ands, or buts about it. You’re going to burn calories and cut into your stubborn fat stores.

While cardio is good at burning calories it does nothing for building muscle. Cardio is so good at burning calories that if you do too much you run the risk of losing muscle. Not what you want . Muscle is sexy.

Muscle is what gives you shape. It’s what turns heads when you walk into a room and makes both men and women take a second look at you.

If you’re not interested in that. Fine.

Cardio works so if you love it keep on trucking.

But if your looking for your best physique ever and next level sexy…

mix it up.

Add in weights and intervals.

They’re less time consuming so you get better results in less time.

The perfect mix is a couple of days of strength training. A couple days of interval training, and a day or two of the long stuff.

That’s excitably what I show people how to do. If you’re interested join the Fitness Doctrine Newsletter.  It cuts through all the hype to give you the straight goods on how to get a beach body.

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Stay strong my friends,
Jason, CSCS