Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Overweight? Why cardio isn't the fix...

Treadmill

Why do people use CV to lose weight?

Cardio vascular training / aerobic training has been used by many to lose weight as a means to burn calories. Many people who adopt this principal state that they do this to burn more calories than they consume.

 

Treadmill_1

What I have against aerobic execise as the primary weight loss technique.

  • boring
  • repetitive
  • causes injury
  • promotes efficiency
  • No progressive effect

If you eat badly, aerobic training will have little effect. Jogging for 45min uses less energy than two chocolate bars, so if your diet is not what it should be you could be wasting your time. Also exercising on a treadmill is boring, repetitive and doesn't stimulate the mind. Your mind should be as excited as the body to replicate real life activity and to promote the necessary chemical reactions and hormones in the body.

After a while your body will become more used to this form of exercise and it will cause you to become more efficient. This meant that you will have to do more and more of this repetetive training to acheive the same effect and that increases your risk of injury through repetitive strain and impact.

 

Ok so what should you do to lose weight effectively?

The best way to lose weight is to combine a healthy natural diet with resistance training. Resistance training can come in many forms but your aim should be to build lean muscle tissue. This training method has several benefits. Not only will this training cause you to you to use energy in the gym, but the damage you will cause to your muscles will cause your body to use energy to repair for 3-4 days, leaving your metabolic rate soaring.

The main reason why resistance training is more effective than standard cardio is it's progressive effect. Over time you will create more and more lean muscle and as living tissue it will consume your energy on an ongoing basis. Thus your metabolism will continue to increase.

 

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