Cardio Is A Waste Of Time

While the mainstream fitness media still insists that aerobic cardio exercise is a great way to lose weight, you should know interval training is the better way to burn body fat.

Still not convinced?

A recent study published by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, subjects aged 40 to 75 were instructed to do 60 minutes of aerobic exercise per day for 6 days per week for an entire year.

(Reference...
Obesity 15:1496-1512 (2007). Exercise Effect on Weight and Body Fat in Men and Women. Anne McTiernan*, et al.)

Given the amount of exercise, you'd expect weight losses of 20, 30 pounds, or more, right?

Well, the surprise findings showed the average fat loss for female subjects was was only 4 pounds for the entire year, while men lost 6.6 pounds of fat over the year. That's over 300 hours of aerobic exercise just to lose a measly 6 pounds of blubber. Not time well spent, in my opinion.

So what's the better way? Stick with interval training and strength training to get better bodysculpting results. With intervals, you'll achieve more fat burning results in less workout time.

The next time you are out exercising, perform a session of interval training. If you are walking outside, find an incline that can challenge you for 60 seconds, then walk down for 60-120 seconds, and repeat up to 6 times. If you walk on a treadmill, adjust the incline or speed to safely increase the challenge for 60 seconds, then return to the normal pace for 60-120 seconds, and repeat up to 6 times.

Interval training is better than cardio for fat loss. Cardio just doesn't stand a chance against the faster, shorter, more effective fat loss workouts.

You have permission to publish this article in your web sites, ezines or electronic publication, as long as the piece is used in its entirety including the resource box, all hyperlinks (HTML clickable) and references and copyright info.

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked fat burning interal training workouts have helped thousands of men and women with weight loss and fat burning in less than 45 minutes three times per week. Fat burning interval workouts help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment. Craig's bodyweight interval circuits help you lose fat without any equipment at all.