Why Long, Steady-State Cardio Keeps You Flabby, Weak & Injury Prone

by shin Otake

All that time spent pounding the pavement and what do you have to show for it?  Maybe a pair of worn out sneakers and a little weight loss, but certainly nothing to get overly excited about.

I know, it doesn’t seem fair.  Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but slaving away on the treadmill, bike, or elliptical day after day is a surefire way to make your body retain fat. (Yes, you read that correctly!)

Here’s why…

Long, moderate-paced cardio activates destructive hormones that eat away at your muscle tone, which increases your body’s affinity to hold onto your existing fat!  You see, when you do long cardio, your body uses glucose (sugar) as it’s first source of energy and once that’s used up, it turns to your muscle and starts breaking it down for energy use.  Fat is the last energy source to be utilized.  This is really bad…

You see, muscle is metabolically active, which means it burns calories just sitting there.  So when you lose muscle, you burn less calories.  And here’s the real kicker: doing long cardio forces your body to protect your “fat” from getting burned for energy (as a survival mechanism).  So essentially, you’re programming your body to go into survival mode, causing it to protect the last source of energy, which is your FAT!

Worse yet, steady-state cardio also increases your cortisol production which enhances your insulin activity.  Insulin is your fat storing hormone and it loves to target your stomach, hips, butt and thighs.  Makes you think twice about cardio, doesn’t it?!

Not only is “traditional” cardio an ineffective way to lose fat, but it can eventually lead to overuse injuries. When you repeat the same movements over and over for long periods of time, you put too much stress on certain areas of your body, which can eventually become repetitive stress injuries.

So if you’re already putting in the effort, now all you have to do is redirect that energy into doing the right things so you can start burning fat faster…

The good news is there’s a right way to do cardio that will “trick” your body into naturally producing a flood of fat-burning hormones—and it’ll take you half the time of a “regular” cardio workout…

I’m talking about high-intensity interval cardio.

Interval cardio triggers your anaerobic metabolism, which will skyrocket your heart rate and melt the fat—without eating away your muscle tone.  Remember, you need to keep your lean muscle so you can keep burning more fat and calories throughout the day.

With interval cardio, you perform short bursts of high-intensity cardio (like sprinting, biking at a fast pace, rowing, etc…) followed by a short rest period.  Then, you repeat the set for a number of rounds and you can even vary the interval times and intensity levels.

With high-intensity interval cardio training, you can cumulatively work at higher intensities for longer, which produces a triple whammy when it comes to fat-burning:

1. It triggers the “Afterburn”, which is a physiological effect that creates a metabolic deficit in your body, causing you to burn calories even AFTER your workout is over…for up to 48 hours (this is scientifically proven, not just a bunch of hooey!)
2. It maximizes all of your fat burning hormones, so you lose more fat while maintaining your lean muscle (essentially doubling your calorie burn!)
3. It greatly improves your speed, power and endurance all at the same time, making you fitter, faster and stronger—all while sculpting a lean, athletic physique.  Even if you’re an endurance junkie, you’re going to reap the benefits when it comes to your specific event.

Better yet, these short, high-energy workouts dramatically reduce the stress on your joints.  Since each bout of high-intensity exercise is alternated with a short rest period for recovery, you won’t be banging away at your poor inflamed joints for hours on end.