Why Cardio Sucks

I hate cardio. There I said it. In fact, I will go even further. I think cardio is way overrated. For years we have been told that we need to do 20 - 30 minutes of cardio everyday (or at least 3 - 4 times per week). So we the American public went out and dutifully bought treadmills and exercise bikes and rowing machines and lately ellipitical machines. Some days we donned our running shoes and headed out for a job around the block while other days we jogged in place on the treadmill staring dilligently at the wall in front of us. We did all of this to burn carlories and lose weight.  And where has all of this gotten us? Today 64% of Americans are overweight and 25% are obese.

Now I know the great defenders of cardio are saying out loud that if the obese people would have been doing cardio then they would not be obese. But herein lies part of the problem. Let me explain as I give you my five reasons why I believe cardio sucks.

One of the reasons obese people stay obese is because they have been told to do cardio. They tried and they failed. Why did they fail? One of the main reasons is because of pain. The extra weight takes its toll and the tendons and joints is the knees, hips, and ankles. It becomes a painful exercise just to jog. I am not obese nor overweight and it still hurts me to jog. My knees just don't handle it anymore. The constant pounding is too much. There has got to be a better way.

For many cardio is too expensive. How expensive can it be to slap on a pair of shoes and head outside? Well, many of us don't live in the southern part of the U.S. I am writing this on the train out of Chicago. I froze my butt off on my walk to the train. I have no intention of going for a jog in 15 degree temperatures when I get home. Therefore, I must buy a treadmill or some other expensive piece of cardio equipment or join a gym. For many this is not possible. There has got to be a better way.

Look I am not the most exciting guy in the world but cardio is flat out boring.  Doing the same thing for 20 minutes, 30, minutes or even an hour is very unappealing.  I just threw my old treadmill away.  In each of the houses that I have owned it has faced a wall.  I cannot begin to describe the sheer pleasure of staring at a painted wall for 30 minutes.  The very fact that cardio is boring and doesn't motivate us or challenge us to get back and do it the next day.  It never becomes something that most people enjoy.  There was got to be a better way.  

There are other forms of exercise that are more effective. What? You have got to be kidding me? If there are other forms of exercise that burn more calories per minutes, are less painful to the body, are more exciting and don't necessarily require a gym, then why in the world would I do cardio. In fact, a simple program of bodyweight exercise can be much more effective than "steady state" cardio. If body weight exercise and other forms of exercise are more effective at burning fat and losing weight, then there is a better way than cardio.

The point of cardio is to get rid of fat but often it gets rid of as much muscle as it does fat.  If weight loss is all you are after then I guess that is OK.  If fat loss is what you are after then its not.  If you don't think that cardio eats muscle, I challenge you to go find one muscular cross country runner.  From what I have seen they don't exist.  I don't want to lose muscle, we are in this to burn fat.  There has got to be a better way.   

The good news is there is a better way. If you want to increase mass and decrease your waist size then I would recommend you check out Turbulence Training and Warp Speed Fat Loss Programs.