You Can Have A Fat-free Body - But Aerobics Is Not The Way!
Are You Trying to “Aerobicize” That Fat Off Your Body? You Can Have a Fat-Free Body in Just Minutes a Day - But Aerobics is NOT the Way!
All of us are trying to watch our weight and take care of our health these days. Unfortunately, many of us still believe that “aerobics” or “cardio” workouts are the holy grail for maximum weight loss, and for having a slim, fit, well-conditioned body. Believe me, I know about long duration, low intensity workouts. Just check out my bio below.
If you are still one of the “aerobics” faithful, read on, because all those boring hours on the treadmill or stair stepper are probably taking you in the wrong direction. Remember, those who don’t learn from their mistakes are destined to repeat them. Science Clearly Shows — Aerobics Won’t Help You Lose Weight
Research shows that aerobics is working against you. Researchers at George Washington University analyzed 25 years of study results to learn how diet alone compared to a program which combined diet and aerobic exercise as a tool for losing weight. Here’s the surprising result of their study.
Those who used diet alone to lose weight lost an average of 10.7 pounds. Those who used diet and aerobic exercise together lost an average of 11 pounds. [ Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1997; 21(10): 941-7]. Hmmm? Kind of makes you wonder if all those hours doing aerobic activities, which are usually extremely boring, are worth the effort, doesn’t it?
This probably helps explain why you feel frustrated and disappointed with your weight loss efforts to date. The fact is, it’s not you who is a weight loss failure, it’s the tool you are using! Aerobics or cardio workouts have been shown repeatedly by scientific studies to be poor weight loss tools.
OK, So What is “The Way?”
If it is weight loss (or more correctly, fat loss) that you seek, what works is a totally different kind of activity. It has been shown that high intensity - short duration interval-type workouts are far superior to moderate intensity, long-duration, workouts.
One such study showed that the members of a group who did 19 high intensity, interval workouts over a 15 week period actually increased their aerobic capacity by 30% and lost nine times more fat than the other half of the group who did five 45 minute moderate intensity (aerobic) workouts per week over a 20 week period. [Metabolism 1994; 43(7): 814-18]. Basically, the “interval” group spent significantly less time exercising, and got nine times better results.
Now that’s the kind of efficiency I’m looking for! How about you? Life is busy enough these days. In fact, that’s one of the main excuses you hear from people who are not exercising - “I don’t have time.”
So, just what is an “interval” workout? An interval workout in its simplest terms is a period of exertion followed by a period of recovery - usually repeated for a certain number of sets. For example, you might do a strength exercise for 30 seconds or a minute at a weight and speed that gives your heart, lungs and muscles a challenge. Then you would rest for a preset time - maybe one minute or even two minutes. The recovery period should be long enough for your breathing and heart rate to calm down somewhat. Then you would repeat the “work - rest” cycle for say, 5 sets or repetitions. This could also be done on a stationary bike, rowing machine, etc. The point is to tax you heart, lungs and muscles, then rest.
The recovery periods are just as important as the exertion periods. They’re more than just wasted time between sets of exertion. Training your body to recover from the effects of exertion is one of the keys to your success, and vastly increases your overall health and ability to function successfully in your everyday physical activities. You should focus on allowing your heart rate and breath return to their resting states. As you become more fit or if you want to be more scientific in your training, you can actually begin to measure the amount of time between intervals that it takes your heart rate to return to a specified rate per minute.
A word of caution. If you are new to exercise, DON’T jump right in to high intensity, interval workouts. They do put considerable exertion on your heart, lungs and muscles. That’s what makes them so effective. But if you haven’t worked out in a while, or if you have any medical conditions, you will want to take it easy as you start and build up gradually.
In summary, if you want to lose that fat around your waist, hips, thighs, or wherever, forget the aerobics. Don’t take my word for it. Ask yourself, “Is aerobics working?” Just do a study of one - yourself. Find yourself a simple, short, high intensity workout and do it for a couple of months. Take some measurements before you start (weight, bodyfat, resting heart rate, waist measurement, hips measurement, biceps measurement, thigh measurement, chest measurement, calf measurement, etc.). These will be extremely useful in analyzing your results after several months. If you don’t know where you started, you won’t know how much you improved. It might also be a good idea to take some measurements of your present ability to do standard exercises. How many pushups or chin-ups can you do now. Then measure again at intervals. If you’re including strength based interval workouts, you’ll be surprised how fast you improve, especially if you haven’t been working out for a while.
Good luck, and don’t be discouraged about the failure of your aerobics workouts to help you achieve your fat loss goals. You were just using the wrong tool. Now you know better.
To Your Health,
Lee Page
Lee Page,
59 year old writer of articles on health and fitness.
Finisher, Ironman World Championship Triathlon (1.2 mi. swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mi. run).
Finisher, Spenco 500 mile bike race, Austin, Texas.
Finisher, Dallas Marathon. Dallas, Texas.
Finisher, Rocket City Marathon, Huntsville, Alabama.
Finisher and Scab (Entrant who ran unofficially. There are 100s each year.) at the Boston Marathon ;-).
Finisher, shorter triathlons too numerous to mention.
http://12minutehealth.com
http://centeredhealth.net
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