Is Your Cardio Working For You?

September 15, 2010 admin 5 comments

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Hi,

Many people use and think that cardio is the only real way to lose body fat. But, is your cardio working for you?

Turns out that cardio obviously does have fat burning properties. However, it is not the most efficient way to burn body fat.

First off, you have to do a lot of cardio to burn a lot of fat. And you will almost never get any kind of after burn effect.

However, some people seem to do quite fine with just cardio, while others can do cardio for several hours a week and not lose any fat.

What gives? Well that is exactly what some British researches wanted to find out.

So they designed a study where 35 overweight men and women (non exercisers) did the same cardio protocol 5 times per week for 12 weeks.

The average weight loss was 8.2 pounds. But, that is only part of the story.

One person lost 32.3 pounds and one gained 3.74 pounds. That is just over 36 pounds in difference.

Why did this happen? Turns out that there was a diffence in the participants that lost a good bit of weight and in the participants that didn’t lose so much weight.

This is a compensation mechanism. And it is something a lot of people are guilty of.

The over compensators actually raised their calorie intake by around 250 calories a day. The cardio sessions were making these people extra hungry.

Those that lost the most weight did not experience an increase in hunger from doing the cardio.

Many people have a tendency to think that if they exercise a certain amount they are entitled to an extra treat.

This is a sure fire way to sabotage your fat burning. I think this is the single biggest reason that many people don’t get the full benefits of their exercise program.

To make sure your cardio is working for you, make sure you are not an over compensator.

Thanks,

Mike Val