Long, slow cardio does NOT = fat loss

4 Cardio Myths

Love it or hate it, cardio can be an essential part of a comprehensive fat loss plan when applied correctly. However, the mistake that many make is that they use cardio (and more cardio, and more cardio…) as their #1 tool to lose fat. Long-duration cardio has a poor track record when it comes to fat loss. You might lose weight, but many times you are losing muscle too. To exclusively lose fat, your best tools, far and away, are nutrition and weight training. High-intensity interval cardio brings up the rear at #3. Long-duration cardio is what I call “fun exercise” and really should only be used if a) you are prepping for a long-duration EVENT like a marathon and b) you just love the way it makes you feel (longer duration cardio has shown benefit for mental health) and you just want to do it.

With cardio, I stick to what I call the “One-to-One Workout Rule”: For every cardio workout I do, I must do a weight-training workout. I weight train 5 days per week, so I allow myself no more than 5 cardio workouts per week (I can do less if I want, but no more). This keeps me accountable to my weight workouts, and also puts the emphasis on weights and nutrition over cardio. For this former cardio queen, this rule is a good self-checking tool. Try it!

And without further ado, here are my top 4 cardio myths, and what the real deal is.

FROM JILLFIT.COM

1) “I will just do all cardio until I lose weight, and then I will add weights to tone up.”

I have to admit, hearing this make me cringe more than anything. There is a misconception out there that in order to lose weight you need to just do cardio, since lifting weights can’t help with that (and only makes you “bulk up”), as if the 2 things are mutually exclusive. The good news is that adding weight training to your regimen right out of the gate will not only accelerate your fat loss efforts, but will assure that what you lose is, indeed, fat, and not muscle. Losing weight is easy; just stop eating. But losing exclusively fat is much harder. Adding lean muscle mass while shedding fat allows for your metabolism to work for you, while you are not exercising. Cardio alone burns calories, yes, but the caloric burn stops when you stop exercising, and you might even be losing muscle, which can, in the end, make you fatter. Weight training increases the metabolism’s after-burn, so that your metabolism burns more calories after the workout is long over. Weights is an essential part of any weight loss plan, and yes, you should start with them right now

2) “I just need to burn calories so I will just do extra cardio. My diet is fine.”

Wrong. Your diet is usually not fine. Cleaning up your nutrition will have a much more profound effect on your fat loss efforts than cardio alone. As we say at JillFit, you cannot cardio your way to the stage (or to a sustainably lean physique). In many ways, excessive cardio is just that—unsustainable. In our blog on exercise tolerance and breaking the cardio cycle, we touched upon the fact that the more cardio you do consistently, the less your body tends to respond over time, and the more cardio you will have to keep doing simply to maintain. In other words, the amount you used to do to lose is now what you HAVE to do in order to maintain. It is a nasty cycle and the #1 way to break it is to clean up your diet. Most people can maintain their weight by simply keeping their nutrition clean. And if you are overweight or obese, you should be focusing 100% of your attention on your nutrition, not on adding more minutes on the elliptical.

3) “I want to lose fat so I will do my cardio in the “fat burning zone.”

Ugh. Such a misnomer: “fat burning zone”—and unfortunately it has people all over the world choosing that preset program on their cardio machines thinking they are losing fat like crazy. The “fat burning” zone is essentially a moderate intensity zone that means per calorie burned, more are coming from fat than are from carbohydrates. First off, this ratio of fat use versus carbohydrate use is an individual thing anyway, so assuming a random cardio machine can accurately dictate the amount of fat you are burning during your workout is insane. Second, a moderate/lower intensity workout might burn a relatively higher percentage of fat calories over carb cals, but the overall NUMBER of cals burned is lower. The higher the intensity of the workout, the more total cals burned, which is the key. So instead, choose a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) cardio workout over a long-duration, moderate intensity “fat burning zone” workout for best results. 20 minutes hard beats 60 minutes easy any day. For more info, we blogged on this already

4) “I am an apple (or pear) shape, cardio will help me get skinny.”

Usually comments are not voiced in this exact way, but essentially, the myth is that lots and lots of cardio will change your shape and make you into a toned fitness supermodel. The thing is, however, cardio can only make you a smaller or larger version of your current self, depending on how much you are doing (or not doing). Only intense, heavy weight training can actually change the shape of the body: add muscle here, lose inches here, etc—in other words, essentially weights are your ONLY tools to change the shape of your body. An apple that increases their cardio simply becomes a smaller apple. An apple that applies weights intensely opens herself up to a whole new world.

So, a lot of people wonder, what exactly is CrossFit ?  Is it like P90x ?  Is it circuit training ?  Is it just random stuff thrown together ?  I heard that it’s really super intense.

I will tell you what we do at Top Gun CrossFit and our philosophy.

1.  We know that strength work is very important.  Many people come in and are weak in a sense that they’ve never lifted weights before.  Our goal is to make you stronger so that the workouts are easier and you can do them Rx’d.  We want you to set your own lifting records.  To that end, we have a dedicated progressive weight lifting program.  We also focus on strength more in the winter – it’s a great time to get stronger (and bigger, if that is your goal).

2.  Olympic lifts will help you in every other aspect of fitness – power, skill, agility, balance, strength.  We do these lifts at least once a week and really focus on the mechanics of the movement.  We know that if the mechanics are right, the lift will be successful and the weight will follow.  Do it wrong, and you’ll struggle with getting better.  We also have an Olympic Lifting class to focus on these skills.

3.  CrossFit is a metabolic conditioning program, to be sure.  However, doing long metcons day after day will lead to burnout.  We don’t want you to burn out.  We program long, medium, short and  interval workouts in our training.  Remember, intense workouts lead to greater gains in fitness – so the short, less than 10 minute and the interval training will get you fit faster than a long 30 minute slugfest.  We don’t do metabolic conditioning every day – we train the 3 different energy pathways during the week, so sometimes you’ll get just heavy lifting days.  That’s a good thing

4.  Contrary to popular belief, we, as most CrossFit boxes, take mechanics very seriously.  This mysterious “slop” does not exist at our gym.  Mechanics, consistency, intensity.  Poor mechanics are not only inefficient but also lead to injury in the long run.  We will “no rep” you when needed.  Yes, when you get tired, it’s easy to throw form out the window – in fact, that is when you dig down and focus on your form, for the proper mechanics will actually make it easier than sloppy execution.

5.  We have a “GOALS” board, not a leader board.  Not everyone is the best of the best.  But everyone deserves to be recognized for their achievements.  We want you to look at the board, say to yourself ” I’m going to reach the benchmark on that workout so I can put my name up there “.  I’ve noticed the pride and sense of accomplishment when someone has been able to put their name up there – they love it.  Plus, it makes them push just a little harder, which is a good thing.

6.  We know everyone comes from a different starting point.  We don’t expect you to crush the workouts with the prescribed sets, reps, weights.  We scale so that you still get a good workout, but within your abilities.  We expect you to make progress, so that the scaling becomes less and less and you get better and better.  Staying on the pull up bands forever won’t make you better.  But at first, if that’s what you need, then that’s what you do.

7.  We don’t think you need to go balls to the walls in every training session.  Our program gives you designated training days to allow for recovery from those brutal metcons.  Sometimes it’s good to give 90% if you’ve come for 3 days in a row.  Do athletes go 100% in practice ?  No.  They save it for when it’s needed.  For us, our benchmark workouts are where you push yourself.  On the very short, intense wods, that’s the time to push yourself.  During the Open, Spring Fling, and the Top Gun CrossFit Games, that’s where you push yourself.  We want you to listen to your body, focus on form, doing what you can do on that particular day.

8.  Nutrition is the cornerstone of any training program.  Eating healthy pays dividends in the gym and in your personal life.  We do not push any one eating habit (Zone, Paleo, Primal) but we introduce them, and allow you to try them out, see which ones work the best for your life.  We are all different and respond in different ways to nutrition.  Eating healthy should be a lifestyle, not a temporary challenge.

9.  CrossFit is a community.  It is the global CrossFit community, the local community, and the community within our box.  We strive to make our box a very tight knit community.  We want you to feel comfortable coming in, we want you to have fun, we want you to make great friends.  It’s fun to struggle together, learn new skills and meeting new, very cool people.  We want you to judge our competition.  Your involvement in our training is what makes this a great place.  We have several events through out the year that are as much about the social aspect as they are about doing the workout.

10.  Training should have a purpose.  Some people just enjoy coming in, getting their sweat on, getting better everyday, and leaving knowing they accomplished something.  However, in the long run, your training should be focused on goals.  Your training takes on a new dimension when you train for a specific event.  Our training reflects that.  For the most part, it is VARIED, not random.  When we have an event coming up, we start to focus on that event a month ahead of time.  You will notice more specific workouts to allow you to perform better.  We want you to do your best and succeed, and our programming reflects that.

11.  Competition can be serious and fun at the same time !!!  Competition is a whole different animal than simply training.  You will push yourself farther, harder, and faster than you would in training.  There is a part of you that exists that comes out only in competition.  But we know not everyone wants to be a “Games” competitor.  Sometimes it’s just nice to kick your own ass.

12.  We do the programming, training, and teaching.  But really, it is up to you.  Your success ultimately depends on you, your effort, your training.   If you show up once or twice a week, and do what is asked, without any real objectives, then your results will reflect that.  If you come in 4 days a week, with a purpose, work on skills and weaknesses before and after the workout, then your training will reflect that as well.  Look where you started and look at where you are – and take note.  If you’re not succeeding, then you look back and try to determine why.

Skill Work. Why It’s Important

Working On Skills…by Pat McCarty

Here’s a fact.  For the most part, your strength and skills will NOT improve while doing the WODs.

Chelsea’s one-armed hand-stand.

Whoa…come again? That’s a pretty bold statement.  Let me be more specific: You will get more fit doing the metcon WODS, no doubt about it. But your strength and skill will stay about the same.

Meaning, if you don’t work on pull ups outside of the normal WOD times, if you’re using a band now, you’ll probably always be using a band. You’re not going to “get” double unders by trying during the WOD to do double unders. You will only get your double unders by working at them outside of the WODS.

Let’s put it another way. Any athlete in any sport spends time practicing, and then they have the game. The WOD is the game. If you don’t practice, you will never get better at the game.

Have you seen someone in the gym with a beautiful kipping pull up (Chelsea, Michelle Knowland, Michelle Gearhart, Katie Ramey)? All of them spent time working on that specific skill, relentlessly. You will usually see Michelle Knowland, after EVERY WOD, chalk up, get up on the bar, and do 10-20 pullups. Practice.

It was about a year ago that Larry Ramey got his first muscle up. His goal became to get 10 unbroken muscle ups…many of us remember how many times Larry would get up on the rings after a long workout and start cranking out muscle ups. One day, it was 4, then up to 8, finally 10. Now, he does as many as he chooses. Practice.

Last Thursday night, something magical happened at CrossFit Power Performance. After the 5:30 workout, which was the Crossfit Total, suddenly, everyone was working on skills. Brittany, Sarah and Kellene were working on climbing the rope. Mike and Chris were working on Muscle Ups. Erica was working on a legless rope climb (and got it). Karen was working on pullups, Lyndsay on toes to bar. EVERYONE was workign on something, without prompting. EVERYONE was improving. And have you seen Anita’s pullups? If you knew how many hours she’s spent on the bar after a WOD practicing, you’d understand why she’s a badass now.

There are two paths you can travel on at CFPP. Or at any CrossFit box, for that matter. One is the path to fitness through the daily workouts. You will get more fit, your endurance will improve, you will feel better, and so on. The other is the path to elite fitness. This is the path that leads you to do things you never thought possible, get more fit and strong than you ever imagined, and to become a leader. To become one of those atheletes that everyone else looks at with admiration and respect because of your drive. To become athlete of the month, a games-team participant, or just to be the person who achieves every single one of your goals without fail.

For me, it’s been muscle ups and squat snatches. I work on those constantly. Next up is pistols and hand-stand walks. What do you want to master? Your dead lift 1 rep max? Overhead squats? Your rowing skills? Practice.

The trainers are almost universally willing to stick around after a work out to work with you. We have “Rest/Skill/Makeup” days twice a week. Choose the skill on those days.

One of the very best CrossFit certs I attended was the Olympic Lifting cert held and run by Coach Mike Burgener.  He ran a fantastic class – he was in control of 50 people, teaching us the most technical of lifts.  And you didn’t talk when he was talking !!!  You didn’t drop the pipe until he told you to drop it.  The way he talked and the way he carried himself – he commanded respect.  And best of all, you learned.  You practiced the basics over and over, then at the end, we were allowed to attempt to lift with weights.

I had the great ( and I mean great ) pleasure of talking with him during lunch one day.  He saw I was riding my Harley to the cert – He’s a motorcyclist as well and we got to talking about trips, where we had been, where we’d like to go, etc.  A very cool interaction with someone so respected in the CrossFit and Olympic Lifting community.

If you ever get the chance to attend a Mike Burgener Olympic Lifting Cert, do it.  Even if you’re not coaching.  You will learn a ton.

The following is from Again. Faster.  A CrossFit affiliate.

Attitude is everything.

http://www.againfaster.com/en/blog/2012/01/14/attitude-everything/

I imagine at some point, all this was brand new. I imagine the bumper plates high against the walls were clean once, not the weathered memories of colors they are now. Reds, blues, yellows and greens–indicators of accomplishments as much as they are numerical values.

Michelle Kinney and Stacey Kroon lift on the front platform, the California sun slipping in under the canopy of the open garage door. They speak in colors–Add a yellow and a green, or simply, Blues–and alternate turns on the bar. A gym full of kilos means neither knows fully what they’re lifting, but the calculator hasn’t been pulled out just yet. Not knowing is an advantage somehow.

There aren’t many places a CrossFitter wishes to see before he dies. The original gym in Santa Cruz, perhaps, shuttered though it is. The dust and hills of the Ranch in Aromas, where the first three CrossFit Games were held, is another. And then there’s this place, this two-car garage with a name so obvious it was probably less christened as it was simply unquestioned: Mike’s Gym.

Fading from years of exposure to Southern California weather, the pictures on the wall tell the story. Posters of the young Burgener clan–Beau, Cody, Casey and Sage, all accomplished Olympic-style weightlifters–are nailed up next to glossy photos of skiers and track and field athletes, the latter with handwritten thank you notes. From one volleyball player, the reminder: “Attitude is everything”.

Coach Mike Burgener and his wife built the house in 1985, when both were school teachers. Surveying the expanse of dry hills stretching out in front of the property, Coach B says they were virtually alone up here when they moved in, though it’s easy now to spot the handful of other rooftops amongst the surrounding trees. He says the first thing they added to the house when they could afford it was the gym

For two days, Coach B stands along the edges of his namesake and orchestrates a cacophony of ten athletes and five barbells. He tells us he’s had upwards of twenty lifters in here at one time, and it’s hard not to wish you could’ve been there to see it happen. To the uninitiated, it must have looked like chaos.

Watching Coach B work, though, you know chaos doesn’t live here. Each of the four workouts the athletes from the Again Faster Competition Team are put through starts with the same warmup, and each ends exactly when Coach says it ends.

The mark of a great coach doesn’t come in the minutia of technical knowledge, though that’s necessary. It comes when the coach believes in the athlete before the athlete believes in herself. You can hear that in the way Coach Burgener barks his cues. You can see it on the faces of the athletes. They want to prove him right.

If they can ride that wave of confidence as the bar lifts off the ground, they can make the lift, because nobody is allowed to attempt anything more than they’re capable of making. There are no five kilo jumps once you near your maximum, and there aren’t endless failed attempts at ninety-five percent. There is no ego allowed on these platforms, only discipline and patience and attitude.