bullshit! slow to medium intensity cardio is pure MAGIC!!! been doin it and it is incredible…ok?? you young guys dont know shit!
Kris
Over the next week or so we’re going to be talking quite a bit about metabolic resistance training (i.e. “cardio with weights”), but before we do I want to address something that slightly concerned me when reading through some of the comments that came in on yesterday’s “empty stomach” cardio post.
Apparently, many people are still stuck doing long duration, low-intensity cardiovascular exercise — yikes!
Here’s the deal: if you’re looking to achieve maximal benefit from the time you put into your workouts, long duration “slow-go” cardio is NOT the way to go, and for many reasons.
Here are my top 5:
1. Minimal calories burned — 45 minutes on the treadmill may burn a whopping 300 calories if you’re lucky, the equivalent of ONE TENTH of a pound of fat. Exercise ten hours a week and you might just lose a pound!
Which brings me to my next point:
2. Way too much time involved — I don’t know about you, but I don’t have hours and hours of my time to pour into working out each week. In fact, very rarely do I ever exceed three hours of exercise weekly, and you know what? That’s ALL you need.
Beyond that, slow-go cardio is:
3. BORING as heck — Sitting on an exercise bike staring at the wall in front of me for 45-60 minutes? No thanks.
But perhaps even worse is the fact that slow-go cardio provides:
4. No prolonged metabolic benefit — Did you know that with higher intensity exercise it is possible to continue to burn calories for up to 48 hours post workout? It’s true (and we’ll be discussing this “afterburn” effect in another post very soon). But you know what else is true? Long duration, low intensity cardio provides virtually NO prolonged elevation in metabolism. In fact, with slow-go cardio, metabolism returns to baseline almost IMMEDIATELY following the exercise session.
And finally, the reason that trumps all the others:
5. Minimal fat loss — Minimal calories burned during the session and virtually no additional calories burned afterward = minimal, if any fat loss results. And let’s be honest, the only reason anyone is doing cardio is for the “result”.
So if slow-go cardio isn’t a great solution, what is?
Short duration, high-intensity exercise. Less time, faster results — THAT’S what it’s all about.
And keep in mind, “high intensity” is relative to you. I don’t care if you’re already in great shape or if you’re 40 lbs overweight, you can exercise with intensity.
So what about you? Are you stuck doing slow-go cardio or have you embraced the benefit of much shorter, higher intensity sessions?
Give me at least 750 comments and I’ll be back to talk about short duration, high intensity exercise in more detail tomorrow.
Talk to you in the comments section,
Joel
P.S. Want to learn 3 other specific fat-burning tips that you can start using today? Check out the below link:
==> What “special” foods can boost fat-burning by 207%?
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Big fan of HIIT or implementing active recovery in between sets….IE jumprope, burpees, mountain climbers. It helps me to peak my conditioning, save time and regulate heart rate.
@ Julie:
stop all interval training and trust me…do a slow to med. duration cardio session before sleep on an empty stomach dont eat afterward go to bed..and watch those pounds melt!!
Kris khilljac@hotmail.com
The heck with the treadmills, what works for me is 2+ hrs of high level singles tennis 3-4x per/wk. Of course I’m talking high level. At a higher level, you and your opponent are consistent and each point is a series of explosive sprinting over and over where nearly every point has to be earned. Some points may be 15-20 stroke rally’s; lots of running and sprinting for each ball. Combine this with some weight training and some Power 90…you get in shape in no time.
You still have to eat clean. And yep, I’m 50.
Hi Joel,
What exactly is the high intensity interval training. Can you give us some exercise tips/examples to follow? the other day I spent 40min on treadmill for the distance of 5 kilometres, and burned 400Cal. How can I improve on this? It is kinda of boring ….thanks
I agree with Howie’s post. A lot of people forget that a good aerobic base is required in order to recover between the work bouts during HIIT. If you get someone who has not developed an aerobic foundation, I would not encourage this approach.
HIIT is a great form of training for the reasons you mentioned such as increasing the amount of calories which are burnt during and after a session. I would agree that if you do not have a lot of time, this approach is very useful. However, this form of training can interfere with other goals such as increasing lean mass due to the high intensity nature of the exercise.
Thanx but newer comments should be seen on the front page for us to make sure that it got registered or the commentor has to scroll to the last to see it there….BB
Hi Joel,
Can you tell us what kind of high intensity/low intesity exercise that we can do?
I usually do 15mins. on a treadmill, then do my push and pull weight training then 5mins walk on the treadmill again to cool down my body…
Hi Joel!
Please please please tell me what exactly I need to do to get into a high intensity work out!! I’ve been doing cardio for years and all I’ve succeeded in doing is remaining the same size that I’m not happy with! I do 30 mins on the eliptical or 45 mins in spin class or a 30 min workout video at home almost every day. I also do resistance training and weights, yoga, pilates and take a hip hop class. I have lots of energy but I’m still the same size I’ve been trying to get away from for the better part of my life. I’m at my wits end and I’m bored!
I totally agree with you Joel! Even years ago when everyone was on and on about the slow cardio, I wasn’t doing it, mostly cuz I hate cardio and never had the time. I’ve done the interval stuff (hard and fast with slower stuff to catch my breath for the next go of hard and fast) for as long as I can remember. And I agree…way better results. And I love the sweat and burn you get when you do cardio and weight training together…way better results in way less time!
While i’ve been aware that walking (strolling !!!) for 30 min 2x/day was better than nothing (I used to walk to & from work); now that i’m in better work-out shape, is there a less TIME-consuming way to get my ENDURANCE in line for 8-hr hikes? and carrying a pack? other that doing that more often (which the weather has NOT been cooperating for lately)? I’m doing a fairly moderately intensive martial art, and I’m good for the 2-hr classes, but I’d like to be more confident about staying the course for a whole WEEK of training coming up.
i do prefere hiit because of its efficiency but i wouldnt say slow duration cardio is completely useless.
you could get incredible results by doing only slow duration cardio so i wouldnt write it off completely but if i had to pick out of the 2 id go with hiit. i dont like doing more than 3 hiit sessions per week though and when im trying to get really ripped like 7% body fat or something i always do 6 cardio sessions per week and that is were the slow duration cardio is a blessing for me cos i can 3 steady state and 3 hiit.
both work its as simple as that. hiit is more efficient cos it only takes 20 minutes. steady state takes a lot of time but it still gets the job done. if youve got an exercise bike or something at home then steady state cardio is a great way to catch up on some tv whilst you are exercising
Hi Joel,
I was one of the guilty, doing upto 3 hours of cardio a day/7 days a week! I was plateaued and frustrated. I met with a very smart trainer who said I was doing too much cardio and not eating enough food. Since then, I’ve changed things up to a short warm up cardio, weights then finishing with a 20 min intense cardio workout, I am starting to see a difference already!
Hi Joel, I am training at the moment for a half Marathon and therefore have to run long distances. I run from 10KM to 14KM around 3-4 times a week. Is that not good enough and intense enough exercise? I do love running and I should state that I run outside and not in the gym. Running is my main exercise and I do not lift wights or such, will I never see results or burn fat? I can feel that I burn a lot of calories also 48 hours after. Does that mean that I only burn calories and not fat?
I love the intensity. Twice up and down the trails around the Rock here and I KNOW I’ve had a work out. I keep going as fast as I can as long as I can, then decrease intensity until I catch my breath, then back up to the high intensity. I vary the trails for up and down as well as walk/hike other trails that have varying inclines so my body doesn’t acclimate too much.
Weights at home with an excellent seris of tapes for weight/intensity workouts both with and without “aerobic”. Scale hasn’t moved, but the clothes are fitting much more loosely around the middle. That way I don’t have to depend on the weather to cooperate.
Hey Joel,
I have just done the Xtreme Fat Loss Diet and decreased my body fat from 43% to 31%, in the 25 days. I have since continued to follow that regime – changing the HIIT each time. I’d have to say it’s working for me.
I believe that 100%. Quite a few years ago -should I say decades – while I was in high school and college, I spent my summers on my bicycle, only ate as much as necessary not to be hungry, and even if I spent 6 to 8 hours a day for 2-3 months in a row racing the bike path from one end of the city to the other, it took me 3 years to lose around 35-40 pounds. I think I lost more fat during the 3 months a year I lifted weights.
I would love to see the research on this topic. Also…why do you have a fast day combined with 3 workouts (XFLD) if fasted training is a bad idea?
Uh…Joel, you recommend lower intensity cardio in your EFLD so Im not sure what you are talking about here…
Yes you only recommend it as an additional workout at the end of the day, but it would seem that it still has its place.
Also, I think 300 calories in 45 mins is a rather low estimate.
can i do interval training in my front room without any equipment?
Hi Joel,
I have been using a skiers edge machine, which simulates side to side skiing action. It is no impact and easy on the joints. My maximum time is about 5 to 6 minutes, and I go all out then rest 10 minutes and do it again. It is hard at least for me to go slow on it, and still get the movement, but I feel a great workout in about 20 minutes. But I dont know if I could call in HIIT because I stop for a period of time and then go all out again.
Looove.. love, love, HIIT workouts… they are great! I feel as though ive done something for myself afterwards.. and I hate spending a ton of time on workouts as a mother of a two year old.. he wouldnt allow that anyway. This is the best advice ever!! thankyou Joel!
Joel,
Couldn’t agree with you more, especially the part about being boring. In addition to that, isn’t the rush you get from doing a sprint a lot better than the feeling you get for running mindlessly for minutes at a time a whole lot better!
Chris
Shaun T has a new workout called Insanity. It is marketed as HIIT and is awesome! The workouts are 30-45 minutes. He says to do 6 days a week but I do 3 times alternating with my lifting days. I’ve lost 3 inches off my waist in 2months!
Slow cardio has a place in my life — but in the form of activities that I enjoy and/or are part of my everyday life. If I walk a few miles in the course of my daily activities, ride my bicycle on errands or for fun (and before you ask, riding intervals in city traffic doesn’t work very well), or go out for an evening of dancing, that’s a slow cardio session, and I factor that into my total daily activity to avoid overtraining. But it’s not a couple of hours spent exercising for the sake of exercise; you’re totally right, that’s boring and pointless.
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...