Slow and Steady Does Not Win the Race After All

Over my 16 years in fitness I have seen many different “theories” on how to burn body fat and lose weight.  By far the most common way people try to achieve the body of their dreams is by cutting calories and doing cardio.  They go for 45 minute runs, or jump on the elliptical for an hour, etc.  This is what I call “slow and steady cardio”…and it is a HUGE mistake.  While I have many thoughts on calorie cutting as well, I will save that for another day and focus only on cardio for this article.

Just to be clear, this article is for people who are looking to burn body fat and change their physiques for the better.  It is not for long distance runners or people who thoroughly enjoy running.  For these folks, slow and steady is the answer.  Just not if you are looking to drop clothing sizes and get Jennifer Anniston’s arms and legs.

So, I have come up with my top six reasons that “slow and steady” cardio needs to hit the road (no pun intended):

1. I have better things to do.  What I mean is that slow and steady cardio takes too darn long.  When I do cardio I don’t want to be doing it for an hour or more.  I want to get in, get out, and get on with my day.  To get any significant calorie burn from slow and steady cardio you have to do well over an hour a day.  I don’t have that kind of time…do you?  That brings me to reason number 2.
2. Minimal calories burned.  An hour of slow and steady cardio MAY burn 300-350 calories on a good day.  That is 1/10 of a pound of body fat.  That means you would have to do 10 hours a weeks of cardio to burn one pound of fat.  Sound fun?  Sound efficient?  And there is another problem here.  When you do hours of slow and steady cardio, you don’t just burn fat and that brings me to reason number 3.
3. Too much cardio burns muscle.  Lean muscle tissue is the fat burning furnace in the body.  That means that lean muscle is THE physical location where fat is burned.  Knowing this, we must do everything we can to hold on to that lean muscle.  Slow and steady cardio robs our bodies of lean muscle.  When you run for long distances, you burn muscle and SOME fat.  Burning muscle slows down your metabolism dramatically.  This is the opposite of what we want.
4. Very little fat loss.  Because the body burns muscle during slow and steady cardio it doesn’t need to burn much fat for energy.  Minimal fat loss is not what most people are looking for in an exercise routine.
5. No prolonged metabolic benefit.  When you partake in slow and steady cardio you get a bit of a metabolic boost while performing the exercise.  However, metabolism returns to baseline levels immediately after completing the exercise.  Contrast this to higher intensity exercise where you can get a metabolic boost and burn additional body fat for up to 48 hours after completing your workout.
6. BORING! Long distance cardio enthusiast should stop reading now because you will not like what I am about to say but… slow and steady cardio is boring!!!  “Hey, do you want to jump on a treadmill and stare at a wall for an hour???”  Thanks, but no thanks!

So, if slow and steady cardio isn’t the answer then what is?  As I alluded to in reason number 5, high intensity exercise is the best way to burn body fat, maintain lean muscle, and boost your metabolism for days instead of minutes.  Two examples of high intensity training are resistance training and interval based cardio.

If you know how to design a high intensity based program for yourself then it’s time to get rolling.  If you need help in this area contact a fitness professional in your area today!

Jason Goggans, B.A., ISSA Certified Fitness Trainer, graduate of the University of Florida and fitness professional located in Kennesaw and Marietta, GA. Goggans is the owner of BodyBack! Women’s Fitness Boot Camps and has posted more information on his website, www.BodyBackBootCamps.com.  Log on to receive a copy of Jason’ s latest report, “10 Quick Ways to Weight Loss…How to Look and Feel Better FAST!” or call Jason @ (404) 452-5208.

“It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car.” ~ Michael Pollan