Cardio Exercises are A Joke By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS Turbulence Training
Strong statement, I know, cardio is a joke, but I really believe that cardio for fat loss is a joke. Although, not a very funny one... One woman wrote, "I started out doing 5 hours of cardio per week. No results. So I upped it to 7 hours per week. Still nothing. Do you suggest I do more? I'm worried if I use your program, I won't get any results because you don't even have an hour of interval cardio per week. Please help!" And from a gentleman on the Men's Health forum, "I took up running and didn't take up stretching until it was almost to late and almost destroyed a knee. What happened was that my IT bands got really tight and my inner quads didn't gain any strength so my knee cap got pulled out of place. I had an MRI done on my knee and have found that my knee cap has bruised my femur. " Cardio horror stories are a dime-a-dozen. So here's the bottom line on cardio... Long slow aerobic training remains the biggest practical joke in fitness. Marathon running for the average overweight person? Why don't you just tell someone to go play in traffic...oh wait, that's exactly what they are doing - all while crushing their joints with excess weight and repetitive pounding. If you do long, slow cardio, its only a matter of time before you end up in a physiotherapist's office with all the others that do too much of the same thing...whether its running or spin classes, overuse injuries are far too common in the cardio world. After all, what's easier to overdo, total body strength training done 3 times per week for 20 minutes, or the same cardio activity done for 6-9 hours per week? Heck, I once knew a physiotherapist who was so addicted to spin classes that she had overuse injuries that prevented her from walking normally! Physio, heal thyself! Cardio is a joke... But cardio fits our "more is better" mentality, doesn't it? We go right from a 3000 calorie meal at the Outback Steakhouse to our 60 minute cardio confessional sessions on the elliptical. More, more, more, more. And yet get less results?
There is a better way. Take a peek at the weight room when you are in a gym. Then compare the bodies there to the bodies on the elliptical. You'll find the sculpted, toned physiques lifting dumbells and doing pushups, and the plump, "never changing physiques" spinning their tires over on the cardio equipment. No matter what the city, no matter where the gym, its the same old story. Burn fat, get lean, and boost your metabolism with resistance training. Finish with short interval training or even bodyweight circuits (described in my DB-BW Fusion TT Workout Bonus from Turbulence Training) and you are off to the fat burning races. Or get left behind on the cardio equipment that is getting you nowhere, CB PS - Turbulence Training is Guaranteed. If you aren't thrilled with the decreased workout time and increased fat loss and energy from the Turbulence Training system in 8 weeks, let us know and we'll refund your order. Your satisfaction is guaranteed. Turbulence Training has already been trusted by the biggest fitness magazines in the world (Men's Health & Shape), and I guarantee it will work for you too!
Bodybuilding Cutting Exercises Don't Work For Getting Ripped If you do a lot of cardio trying to get ripped, you are wasting your time. Same with high repetition sets. High repetition sets do not get you cut or ripped. This is a myth, and there's a much better way to sculpt your body, get ripped, and finally achieve the elusive 6-pack. But again, let me repeat, you won't succeed with high-repetition sets using light weights. And don't even worry about the "pump", but that's another article for another day. Getting ripped is all about nutrition and intensity. We want to be able to see our wellearned muscles and our 6-pack abs. And that's why we get lured into the belief of the cutting exercises. Because it causes a burn in our muscles, we generally think, hey, this must be burning fat. But it's not! It's just a fatiguing sensation. If you are using a high-rep, cutting program, I doubt you are getting the results you want. You don't need to be in the gym too long. There is a better way to burn fat. A faster way. And a smarter way. It doesn't involve
"toning" workouts or "Cutting exercises". What you need to do for fat loss, and getting cut, is to focus on the same exercises that helped you build muscle in the first place. So forget the pec-dec, and stick with dumbell presses. Say goodbye to leg extensions, and keep using squats and lunges. Next up is the shocker! Use intervals to cut fat fast! Instead, we'll use interval training to burn fat and boost our metabolism in less than half the time as a normal cardio workout. Only 20 minutes of interval training done 3 times per week resulted in weight loss in one Australian study. On the other hand, three 40-minute cardio sessions did not cause any weight loss in the same study. Shocking results, but it just goes to show you the power of intensity. No more slow boring aerobics. That means saying goodbye to light weights and high reps and long slow cardio. Goodbye, nice to know you! If you want to get ripped muscles, diet hard? First, you need the proper dietary changes to promote muscle gains and body fat reductions. Nutrition is the most important factor for fat burning and getting cut. If your nutrition sucks, and you eat fast food or skip meals, you are in big trouble. There is no workout good enough to overcome bad nutrition. Next, focus on multi-muscle strength exercises and finish with interval training to burn more calories out of the gym. Basic exercises such as squats, pushes, rows, and pulls done for 3-4 sets of 8 repetitions. If you did a squat, a press, and a row in each workout, and then did intervals, you'd get ripped if your nutrition was good. Work hard! Diet harder. Forget about slow boring cardio. You need to do short burst exercise instead. Consistency is key for getting cut. Work hard, and diet harder!
About the Author Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training
Boost Your Fat Burning Program Immediately with the Research-Proven, Time-Tested Turbulence Training Workouts You can download the program within minutes and get started today with a better way to workout for fat loss. No more slow boring cardio, no more long trips to the gym. Check out the this jam-packed, downloadable Turbulence Training package: • •
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When I write montly workouts for clients, each 4-week program costs $100. But in the Turbulence Training E-book, you get access to four Advanced Fat Loss Workouts, and three introductory workouts that progress you from Beginner to Advanced. That 26 week package would easily be worth more than $397 if you were a private client of mine. Plus, if you trained with me one-on-one, you would have to schedule your appointment 3months in advance (my training schedule is booked solid~) at $150 per session. And if you had questions about Turbulence Training (like the ones I answer in the one hour MP3 audio program), an hour phone consultation would cost you $165. But instead, you get this in-depth audio interrogation for FREE as part of the Turbulence Training package. •
Total Value of the Package is over $550. But you'll pay only $39.95. BUT WAIT, THERE’S EVEN MORE!
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Week (Retail Value By combining able to do before. Just the combinations.
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