Why Cardio Does Not Work In Me?
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Cardio exercise is such a strange thing. In theory, it should work so perfectly well for all men and women, but as anyone who has tried it knows, the practicality of it just doesn’t add up.
After all, some men and women do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more per week, and still have belly fat to burn. On the other hand, it works just fine for others. British researchers wanted to get more insight into this paradox, and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren’t previously exercising.
The subjects exercised for 12 weeks, 5 times per week. That’s a lot of exercise and it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.2 pounds, but it worked better in young men, who need the help the least!
If we analyse the results we’ll find some surprises. The best subject lost 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, but the worst subject actually gained 3.74 pounds. That’s an inmense variance in fat loss terms.
The scientists analized the results and classified the subjects in two groups. They called the first group the “compensators” and the second one the “Non-compensators”. In the first group there were people who were hungrier after the cardio training. They were eating more after the exercise, therefore, they were consuming more calories and they weight loss was poor. They consumed an extra 268 calories per day.
Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? If it does, research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts. So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your appetite and calorie intake to see if you are “compensating” for your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence Training) for your weight loss efforts.
The Professor Steve Boucher in Australia has shown in his research that interval training increases hormones called catecholamines. As these hormones increase they can reduce appetite, among other fat-burning benefits.
In the real world, few people lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of cardio. Heck, few even achieve an average weight loss of 8 pounds with aerobic exercise.
What you have to do is check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity exercise a go for your next workout program. Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Turbulence Training.
