 
**CARDIO EXPOSED!**

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**Why Cardio For Weight Loss SUCKS ...**

**And What YOU Should Do Instead**

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**By**

**Stephen Reed**

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**No 1 Bestselling Author On** **Amazon**

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******http://leanerbydesign.net **

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_Copyright © 2014 by Stephen Reed_
**Your FREE Bonus Gift**

Thank You for choosing this book, for taking an interest in your body, and your life.

Please feel free to share any of the ideas you read here, but please link to, or refer this book to others, do not copy and give it away.

If you need any help or advice, please get in touch.

To say a massive thank-you for downloading my book, **I'd love to offer you another book for FREE**. This book, ' _Intermittent Fasting Made Easy_ ' includes a step by step guide on putting together your own personalized weight loss plan.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD 'INTERMITTENT FASTING MADE EASY' FOR FREE NOW!

_B_ _est Wishes And Good Luck_

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_Stephen Reed_

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**Table Of Contents**

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SECTION ONE - The Cardio Paradigm

  * Introduction
  * What Is Cardio Exercise?
  * Myths Surrounding Exercise For Weight Loss
  * How Cardio Might Damage Your Health
  * Why Lots Of Exercise Can Impact On Fat Loss
  * Why Do 'Some' People Do Cardio And Lose Weight?

SECTION 2 - Metabolism And Energy Expenditure 101

  * Metabolism - The Facts
  * Metabolism And Energy Expenditure
  * The Reality Of Calories Burned During Exercise
  * Why The Sums Don't Add Up
  * Exercise Studies To Blow Your Mind

SECTION 3 - Realistic Strategies For Weight Loss

  * The Best Weight Loss Strategy

SECTION 4 - Appropriate Exercise Planning

  * What Exercise Should I Do?
  * What Exercise DOES Work For Weight Loss?
  * Strength Training
  * Low Intensity Steady State Exercise
  * High Intensity Interval Training
  * Cardio In Context
  * Who SHOULD Do Cardio?
  * Conclusion

SECTION 5 - Additional Resources

  * Would You Like To Know More?
  * Thank You

  * More Books By Stephen Reed

  * About The Author
  * Nutritional Coaching
  * Your Free Gift
  * Bonus Resources
  * Copyright And Disclaimer

**Who This Book Is For**

**Is this YOU?**

Are you looking to lose a bit of weight, shed some fat from around the middle, determined to not let middle-aged spread prevent you from seeing your toes ever again?

Are you one of those 'joggers' I've seen, bottle of water in hand, face as red as a beetroot, with a pair of 3/4 length super tight lycra leggings on, struggling to put one foot in front of the other?

OR, perhaps you are that person, who, after the usual Christmas binge of turkey, roast potatoes, Christmas pudding and chocolate, has exchanged your hard earned cash for a 12 month gym membership, with the promise from the gym manager or fitness staff, that getting on the treadmill, or by doing extra Zumba or spinning classes, that your perfect bodyweight and athletic figure are just round the corner?

You might be someone from the previous group, who hit the gym from January until March, worked your butt off on the treadmill, cross trainer or static bike, dumped 47 gallons of your own body fluids (only sweat I hope) onto the floor, and left after 3 months, more tired and disillusioned, but no slimmer than you were when you started?

And don't forget, that gym membership was probably for 12 months, so although the 5 sessions or more a week are, well....NO MORE, you've still got to pay for another 9 months until you can cancel. They told you that exercise was great for weight loss, you told them that weight loss was your main goal when you signed up and had your face to face evaluation.

**What I would call a WIN - LOSE situation. THEY won, YOU lost.**

**So Why Didn't It Work?**

In this book, I'm going to tell you why IT failed. **You didn't fail**. You did what you have been told to do, what we've all been told to do for our whole lives. And it just doesn't work, for most people.

Of course, there are some folks, outliers, irritating little insects, who shall be mentioned no more in this book (I think) who do respond well to longer duration cardio. But they are likely in the minority, so erase their skinny, untoned image from your mind :-)

**Who This Book Is For**

This book is for you if you meet the following oppressively restrictive and mind-numbingly blasé criteria. Just kidding, you can read this book whoever you are, but it is particularly relevant for the following people:

  * You need to lose some weight to improve your health and self-esteem, but are not sure what to do for the best.

  * You are contemplating starting some form of running or other aerobic training program to help shed some fat.

  * You have been exercising for all you are worth, and not seeing any significant results, and you are feeling fed up and dejected. On the verge of giving up and overdosing on donuts.

  * You are an endurance athlete who wants to lose some weight for improved performance, but all the exercise just isn't bringing you the body composition changes you need.

  * You want to understand what the whole deal is on exercise, weight loss, and build some knowledge to use for the future to actually get the job done.

  * You are a health care professional or trainer who is fed up with the conventional approach that just isn't getting your clients the success they deserve.

This list isn't exclusive, there are probably a wealth of other folks whom this book could help. So let us move forward. _Who the hell is Stephen Reed? Um ... that'd be me._

**Who Am I?**

My name is Stephen Reed (you can call me Steve if you like?) and I run a fitness and nutrition website and blog, Leaner By Design. I help people to shed body fat in a sensible and effective way, one that gets them great results in the short term, and helps them to create better habits for the long term.

I'm not a 'diet guru' or a PhD scientist, or a professional athlete. My goal is not to lecture and preach about being healthy, or to tell you everything you currently do is all wrong. Like you, I have struggled with my weight, and getting a healthy balance in my life. I've had my run-ins with processed food, biscuits, chocolate and cake, I still do on occasions.

I've also had extensive 'run-ins' (excuse the pun) with long duration cardio, culminating in distances of around 50 miles a week for what felt like an eternity. This left me feeling tired all the time, but not a whole lot leaner. I was frustrated as to why all this exercise wasn't giving me the results I was expecting. After all, 'eat less and move more' is what we are told to do, and I was moving A LOT.

Most of all, I like to help people, and to that end, I became a certified personal trainer and sports and exercise nutrition coach. I am also a natural running form coach, circuit training instructor, and kettle bell instructor. So if you HAVE to run, do it with good form, for the right reasons, but not with the idea of getting a six pack or sculpted butt as the central purpose .

The aim of this book is to offer you some simple strategies for weight loss that WILL work, why the conventional approaches don't, and discuss what lifestyle and exercise protocols WILL help you shed fat. Protocols that can _help_ you change your body for the better, and make it something you can do for life. Even if life is busy, the ideas in this book can be implemented with just a little bit of planning and an admission that you owe it to yourself to be as healthy as you can be.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suffering from running induced _cardiophobia_ (an unwarranted and sometimes life-limiting fear of aerobic exercise), but I do think it needs to be used in the context to which it is most appropriate. We are going to consider that later in this book, but to save you the time if you hate reading, this is going to be the crux of my argument ...

**_Using long duration running or cardio as your primary weight loss strategy is just plain ...... ABSURD._**

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**_Running And Cardio Exposed And I Can Prove It :-)_**
**Read This First**

This book is a book about weight loss, or perhaps a lack of it. More specifically, this is a book about the relationship between regular, long duration cardio (or aerobic) exercise, and weight loss.

This book won't appeal to everyone. It won't appeal to those who wholeheartedly believe that exercise for weight loss is the holy grail, and essential for improved body composition. It won't appeal to endurance athletes or recreational runners who love to train for the love of the sport.

It might be somewhat disconcerting to the fitness center managers, who are marketing their butts off to get you to sign up for their high intensity spin classes or some other 'fat busting' workout. Or if you already partake in lots of cardio based training to try to lose weight, this book may grate with you a little too.

I am a personal trainer, nutrition coach, and someone who loves exercise, and strongly believes in the value of daily activity, getting stronger, becoming more mobile and athletic, looking and feeling great. Exercise can help with all those things ... SO DO SOME. Running is a natural human movement pattern, and when used in appropriate circumstances, adds a lot to your fitness levels and health. But most people who are out there trying to run for weight loss are missing some fundamental facts about energy expenditure. I'll reiterate my position ...

**Exercise IS Good - But As A Catalyst For Weight Loss? Em ... Not Really!**

The reality is that it is just not that effective for most of the population. I'm going to consider why the popular forms of cardio are so useless for losing fat, explain the reasons, show you some examples, calculations, research and scientific studies, to prove that I'm not just making this stuff up, and then leave you to decide how you want to live your life.

I'm not intending to preach, belittle, pour scorn on anyone. But I am interested in the truth. The truth that is widely hidden and not talked about enough. Much of our conventional thinking is just that, a product of convention, of years of 'we've always done it that way', of fitness industry marketing propaganda to get you to pay for gym membership, and just from a real lack of understanding of how the body really works.

I hope this book will encourage you to do some of your own research, and make decisions that are safe, sound, effective, and genuinely appropriate for YOU.

**What This Book Will Do For YOU**

**1. Explain the concepts of aerobic and cardio based training, provide verifiable scientific research in relation to aerobic/cardio training and weight loss. We'll also talk about some of the more common myths surrounding cardio for weight loss.**

2. Help you to understand the concepts of calorie intake and expenditure, and. **Knowledge IS Power** after all.

**3. Provide easy to understand, simple, yet powerful advice to help you towards realizing your goals.**

4. Help you to understand why and when cardio based training 'might' be the right thing for you.

**5. Discuss how to implement alternatives to cardio that can help with improving body composition over time.**

If you can give me 60 minutes of your time, you will have an excellent understanding of why certain types of cardio are a poor choice if you are looking to lose weight, and what to do instead. I hope you will agree that the small price paid for this book is money well spent as an investment into your ongoing education and improvement in both diet, performance and ability to reach your goals.

**What This Book Can't Do**

This book cannot get anyone to take action, execute a plan, and stick to it if they don't want to. It takes a little imagination and sometimes, an uncomfortable leap of faith to stop doing what you have always done. Do nothing, and you will see no change. Do as you always have, then don't expect the results to be different this time.

_"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"._

**Albert Einstein**

Check out my website at <http://www.leanerbydesign.com> for more information, or to make contact with me.

Good luck, I sincerely hope that you take action, and realize your dreams.
**SECTION ONE - THE CARDIO PARADIGM**

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**Introduction**

_I used to be a runner, I used to run for miles and miles, often five or six days a week. _

I'd stick a heart rate monitor on my wrist, a chest strap around my chest, and head out for an hour or so, with a longer, 90 minute to 2 hour run on the weekend. And did it make me lean, give me a six-pack, leave people swooning over me in the street as they admired my ripped body and stunning curves? Em, no, none of the above as far as I can remember.

In fact, I didn't really get any thinner at all, just hungrier, more overtrained, more tired, and more disgruntled and disillusioned about all the bloody hard work I was doing with nothing significant to show for it. I did get fitter though, well at least better at running. Still didn't help me get stronger or do pull-ups though :-)

This book, although not criticizing cardiovascular exercise as a concept, to improve your health, fitness, or improve your ability to be competitive in races. Or even to help release 'happy hormones' to improve mood, reduce depression, or just as an activity you love and enjoy doing on a regular basis.

This book is written to demonstrate that traditional cardio clearly sucks as the central tenet of your strategy towards weight loss. And I'll prove it to you with real evidence that is easily understood, and earth shatteringly annoying, at least for those who are trying to run, row, swim, or cycle the fat off their bodies.

And let's be honest, most people you see jogging down the street in their lycra shorts and brand new running shoes, or making a god-damn sweaty mess all over the treadmills in your local gym, are indeed, doing it to try to lose weight. And most of them will throw in their gym memberships, or hibernate those running shoes well before they see any meaningful changes in their bodies. Why? Because cardio is a poor strategy for weight loss. FULL STOP.

In this book, I will be discussing quite a few topics that I think will interest you. I tend to jump around a little bit as I get excited about what I'm writing, and then remember things that I should have said. But don't panic, I will do my utmost to try and present things in a way that is easy to understand, and progresses in a logical fashion.

We'll spend some time discussing the types of cardio-based exercise that people commonly participate in, although the mode of exercise when it comes to using cardio as a strategy for weight loss is not 'that' important, they all suck to some degree!

What is important, and something that we will be talking about in great detail, is how the 'cardio for weight loss' paradigm just does not stack up when considered in the context of sports and exercise nutrition, exercise physiology, and the anecdotal outcomes that you can read about on weight loss forums around the world, from friends, family members, and acquaintances, who have all used cardio to try and lose weight, and seen poor results.

What I'm about to say now may seem like a complete contradiction to what I just said, but bear with me for a moment.

' _People who do cardio may lose weight, but it is unlikely to be the cardio itself that is the primary reason for their change in body composition'._

We will discuss the reasons why this could be the case, and consider what could be a better strategy to shed body fat. It doesn't mean that you can't do a little cardio as well from time to time, but you will be doing it from a completely different perspective, a perspective that will allow you to see far better results in your body composition efforts.

Nearly everybody is busy these days, and unless you are involved in endurance sports or love spending large amounts of your precious time doing cardio or endurance training, you are probably going to want to minimize your workout time, and maximize your fat loss results. Losing body fat takes some time and tenacity, but in reality, it's not that hard, if you take a systematic and well thought out approach.

An important point to note as we start this book, is that we are talking about steady state, relatively long duration cardio here. The type of cardio you may do when you hit the gym, jump onto the treadmill, static bike, or elliptical trainer, and jog or pedal away to your hearts content. This is not the same as high intensity interval training, which we will consider later.

I also want to mention that although this book is built on the premise that cardio for weight loss is little more than a waste of time, it would be disingenuous not to concede that for some people, boring, monotonous steady-state cardio can work.

There are of course, some people who actually react reasonably well to aerobic exercise. My argument, one that is backed by many scientific studies (some of which I will be citing in this book) is that chronic aerobic training as a method to manage body fat is at best, dubious in its effectiveness, and at worst, potentially negative for your health and wellbeing.

I have subtitled this book - 'Why Cardio For Weight Loss Sucks', but you will see the word 'running' mentioned a lot. That is because I want to cover the broad spectrum of longer duration cardio/aerobic based training, and running is one of these, in fact, running is the most popular form of longer duration cardio, and the first stop for many people looking to burn some fat. I hope this explains my reasoning somewhat?

So, it's time for me to quit the verbal diarrhoea and stop procrastinating on the topic. Let's get stuck in and learn why cardio exercise for weight loss sucks, and how to make better use of your time.
**What Is Cardio Exercise?**

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There are plenty of different 'types' of cardio based exercise, but before we get into bad-mouthing their usefulness for weight loss, l think it would be useful, no, essential, to outline some sort of definition of what cardio exercise actually is. It would be somewhat pointless if we weren't 'singing from the same hymn sheet' and were thinking of completely different things. So, here goes ...

**Aerobic Exercise (Cardio)**

**Cardio** is often referred to as **aerobic** exercise, and is a form of physical activity that is generally considered to be of a 'relatively' low intensity. When we talk about 'intensity' in the context of aerobic exercise, we are considering a level of 'intensity of effort', where oxygen is used to adequately meet energy demands.

I don't want to go all technical on you.......yet, but when you are walking, cycling, jogging perhaps, moving at an intensity where you can still talk a few sentences at a time, where you can exercise at that level for a relatively long period of time, you are doing aerobic exercise.

'Aerobic' literally means, involving or requiring free oxygen. Marathon runners spend almost all of their race in the 'aerobic zone', as do Tour De France cyclists. Of course, these athletes don't just run or ride at a set speed or intensity, they sometimes sprint, get out of the seat to climb hills (and give their butt a rest after 7 hours in the saddle). When you transition from that relatively sustainable effort level (aerobic) to a much more intense one, a level that you can only sustain for a relatively short period of time, you have gone from aerobic metabolism to 'anaerobic' metabolism.

**Anaerobic Exercise**

Ever been for a jog, all nice and comfortable, sunny morning, watching the world go by, then a bloody massive dog comes out of a driveway, intent on taking a chunk of your buttock home for lunch? Well, neither have I, but I am guessing that if that did happen, you would immediately dump that whole idea of a nice leisurely canter, and break into a sprint to preserve the perfectly formed buttocks you have been sculpting for years?

You would hope that the dog was not an endurance athlete, because you are starting to feel pretty weary after 20 seconds of running for your life, definitely can't keep it up much longer. Luckily the dog gets bored, and scampers off home.

You, on the other hand are bent over double, totally knackered, with the feeling that you are about to spew up your lungs. Red faced, breathing heavily, heart pounding so hard you think you are about to suffer a life changing, or extinguishing, cardiac event.

Well, this was not your day to expire. Things start to calm down, you shout a few obscenities in the general direction of the house the dog came from, and head home. You my friend, have just participated in an ANAEROBIC EMERGENCY! Well, perhaps not an emergency, but you get my point. You had to take immediate, and potentially 'arse-saving' action, and you moved from one form of energy use to another. And you didn't even need to flip a switch.

If you think of short distance running, sprinting, running away from butt-munching canines, lifting heavy weights, in fact any activity that requires very high intensity, short duration efforts, is likely to be fueled by the body's anaerobic system. Walking, long slow running, distance or recreational cycling, Zumba, monotonous treadmill running in the gym. All aerobic based exercise modes.

**Cardio - A Misrepresented Term?**

So, after all that chit chat, and discussion on energy systems, I'm now going to tell you that the long duration cardio for weight loss that this book is going to condemn, humiliate, and 'out' as a waste of your time, is not the only form of cardio that you can do. There are other, much better, less time consuming forms that one can do for some fat burning fun, and we will discuss those later in this book.

The term CARDIO refers to the 'cardiovascular' system, essential components are the heart, the blood, and the blood vessels. The pulmonary circulation system and the systemic circulation system are included. Pulmonary circulation refers to the arteries and veins that loop through the lungs for the purpose of gaseous exchange, collecting oxygen into the blood supply as it goes. The systemic circulation system is a loop that goes through the rest of the body to deliver oxygen to the cells via the blood.

Here's a handy picture that might explain things a bit better.

As you can most likely realize, ANY form of exercise that taxes the cardiovascular system could be referred to as 'cardio based exercise'. So throwing every form of low intensity exercise into the 'cardio' basket, at the exclusion of all other is a little disingenuous and not really based on fact.

In the context of this book, **'Screw Cardio'** , I will be focusing on the longer duration cardio, carried out on an oft too regular basis, chronically, with the sole purpose of losing weight.

I'm going to suggest, and of course back it up with some interesting research, calculations, and examples, to clearly demonstrate that if weight loss / fat loss is your goal, then this form of exercise alone is not going to cut it, and you'll likely end up fed up, overtrained, overeating, and very unhappy with the results of your not insignificant endeavor.
**The Myths Surrounding Exercise For Weight Loss**

Where do any sort of myths come from? They are passed down through the generations, and we just seem to believe that they are true. But when you actually look into the research, it turns out that many of these myths have got little or no substance at all. Just as the myth that _breakfast is the most important of the day_ , and that whole grains are inherently healthy, exercise has its fair share of myths as well. And many of these myths are the ones that are holding you back from achieving your goals.

So because this book is about cardio and its effect on weight loss, we really ought to start with one of the biggest myths of all.

**Myth #1: That Exercise Burns A Lot Of Calories**

As I will be considering in later chapters, where I'll be providing you with some calculations regarding calories burned during exercise and at rest, you will see that even fairly high intensity exercise burns very few calories in comparison to the calories you are actually burning just being alive.

To very briefly touch on this, without getting too into the nitty-gritty quite yet, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate of energy expenditure just to survive, just for your organs to function and all your cellular processes to be carried out.

This is the energy requirement needed just to keep you alive without even moving. A very quick example might be a woman who has a daily energy expenditure of 2000 calories a day. Considering that this number includes her exercise and other daily activities, her basal metabolic rate would probably take up at least two-thirds possibly more of that number. So you burn calories, and a lot of them just by being you, just by being alive.

If you consider that walking for an hour may burn 200 cal, but sitting in a chair for the same duration may burn as many as 70-80, you can see that the actual calorie burn from exercise is quite low.

As I said, we'll be getting into this a lot more deeply in future sections, but another example is running. Running for one hour will typically burn somewhere in the region of 500 - 700 calories. Sounds fantastic doesn't it? But you have to remember that you would be burning quite a lot of calories just lying in bed, quite a few more just doing some hoovering or making the beds at home, so the actual net calorie burn from the running is far less than 'advertised'.

But putting that to one side, you would have to run for in the region of 5 to 8 hours to burn a pound of fat. Are you prepared, able, or willing to do that on a weekly basis just to lose a single pound? I've done it, it wasn't fun, and I found far better ways to shed fat with ease. And what if you have 50-100 pounds to lose? You'll be lucky if you can run safely for 10 minutes a day, let alone 60.

**Myth #2: That Steady State Cardio Exercise Is The Best Way To Burn Fat**

Although with longer duration, low intensity cardio, one can exercise for longer, and perhaps burn more calories than exercising at a higher intensity for a shorter period of time, the calorie burn, even from 60 minutes of relatively arduous activity is not that high. And, as the next myth will discuss, with low intensity cardio, energy expenditure and fat burning pretty much stops within minutes of a cessation of exercise. Higher intensity, but shorter duration sessions do create an 'after burn' effect, but even then, the additional calories burned is not truly significant.

**Myth #3: The Myth Of Afterburn - EPOC**

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**What Is EPOC?**

A Little About EPOC ( _Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption_ )

EPOC has been raved about for years as a great benefit of high intensity training. The basics are that when intense training, or heavy weight lifting takes place, you burn calories for up to 24 hours AFTER the session ends, something that does not happen with low intensity exercise.

Metabolism is increased, but the benefits of EPOC have been shown to be so small that they really aren't worth talking about. Any training system that sees excess calorie burn after training is great, but the additional calories used will have little effect on fat loss in the scheme of things.

And that brings us to the all-important myth that this book is addressing.

**Myth #4: That A Radical Exercise Plan Is The ONLY Way To Lose Weight**

I see people running up and down the street near where I live on a regular basis. Overweight, sweating profusely, bottle of water in hand, and it is obvious that they are not running for the love of it. I applaud them for taking action and implementing exercise as part of their daily life. I would positively advocate this for everybody, but as a means to losing weight, no.

If they want to continue jogging once they had taken up some of my other suggestions in this book, then that is all fine and dandy. What I'm suggesting, is that they should not be using the exercise as the foremost strategy for their weight loss goals.

**Myth #5: Increased Cardio Volume Means You Can Eat More Food**

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This is one I see and hear all the time. So many people are trying to shed some weight, and they ask me if it is ok for them to eat back the calories from the exercise they perform. Well, in theory, yes, but most people don't realize that the amount of additional food they could in fact consume, after say, a 30 min run, is so small it would break their hearts.

I encourage my clients to eat a diet almost wholly consisting of unprocessed foods, so calories tend to be lower anyway, but if you took an example of someone on a standard western diet, who thinks they can eat back their exercise calories, consider this for a moment.

_Done a run? Fancy a Snickers bar? Well, why not, you've earned it. Or have you?_

Snickers Bar - 250 calories. Eaten in under a minute (if you are anything like me), but to exercise those calories off, you would need to

_Walk briskly for 69 minutes_

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_Run for 29 minutes_

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_Swim for 21 minutes_

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_Cycle for 38 minutes_

If you had just skipped the Snickers, and exercised in one of the afore mentioned modes 4 time in a week, you'd have burned 1000 calories. That would result in a little less than a WHOPPING 1/3 pound of weight loss, providing you had been eating at your body weight maintenance calories every day. Are you sure you are doing that?

Trained hard today? Well, go on, reward yourself with a Big Mac at 550 calories

_Sure thing, but did you walk for 153 minutes?_

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_Jog for 63 minutes without stopping?_

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_Swim for 46 minutes?_

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_Cycle for 84 minutes?_

If not, then eating that _Biggly MacBurger Whopper_ is going to cause some weight gain, or at least, prevent you losing some fat.

**Sources -** **calorieking.com**

Well then, these are a few of the more common 'cardio for weight loss' myths considered and bludgeoned to the ground. If you can think of some more, get in contact and I'll include them in the next revision of this book.
**Why Do 'Some' People Do Cardio And Lose Weight?**

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I am sure there are going to be quite a few naysayers who will exclaim ...

_"This book is wrong, I did cardio and lost weight!!!_ "

I'm not in the business of creating bad feeling and getting into bitter disputes with people, but, given the concepts of  basic human physiology, the wealth of knowledge on human metabolism, the known relationship between calorie burn and exercise, multiple well organized and reputable research studies from all over the world, and the admission by the American College Of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and other national nutrition and sports medicine bodies that exercise for weight loss is far from effective, it then beggars the question:

**Why do 'some' people lose weight when they do long duration cardio?**

As I mentioned earlier in this book, some people, who knows how many in percentage terms, respond well to moderate levels of cardio to help them lose weight. I have had a number of clients, who have responded really well to adding in no more than brisk walking a few times per week, and their rate of weight loss has increased.

BUT, if I looked at the actual calories burned from the additional walking, perhaps 3-4 hours per week, not all (in fact not very much at all) of the weight loss can be attributed to calories burned during walking or even jogging. So something else must be going on...

**When People See Results, What Tends To Happen?**

I've seen it again and again. When people start an organized weight loss plan, the first couple of weeks are great. They are super compliant, hardly falter at all, and see some nice returns on their investment in better food choices and more movement. There comes a time though, when dieting gets boring for everyone, which can manifest itself in a number of ways:

  * Completely give up.
  * Slip-ups become more frequent.
  * They doubt the plan, and ask to do a stack more exercise to try to get on track.

Of course, there are all manner of other self defeating directions they may embark upon, but when things start to get a little tough, apart from suggesting they take a free meal once in a while, or build some treats into their weekly schedule to aid with compliance, there is one thing I really push to get them back on track.

**I TELL THEM TO WALK MORE.**

Of course, as we'll discover in the next section, calorie burn from walking is small, unless you are walking for many hours per day. But the act of taking control, doing something positive, usually gets them back on track with their eating plan. And guess what?

**They start to lose weight again.**

In fact, once they get over that sticky patch that everyone goes through a few weeks in, the feeling of control, and the success they are seeing on the scales, leads to them improving their dietary plan further.

And as the results get better, so does their dietary compliance. Not surprising really? Who would stick with something that was clearly not working? Success breeds success, and improvements in weight and body composition breeds even better dietary compliance.

So these last few paragraphs, providing some anecdotal evidence from my nutrition coaching practice, are basically a long winded way of saying.

_When people start to lose some weight, and feel good about themselves and their diet, they become MUCH better dieters._

If you consider this in the context of this book, about cardio and weight loss, it should become obvious that 'some' people, having begun a program of exercise, albeit one that I personally believe can be somewhat detrimental to results, feel good about themselves, feel better from the exercise, and automatically improve their eating habits, resulting in weight loss.

I am sure there are some new runners who stick with the burger and fries diet, and probably see little change in body fat levels. But for many, those who actually stick with their new exercise regime for any length of time, that feeling of achievement will undoubtedly lead to a transition, either planned or subconscious, to better eating habits.

I would again, advocate exercise to anyone and everyone as a great way to improve your health, wellbeing, sense of self-esteem and more. But as I will show as we peruse our way through this book, it's the diet that does the 'hard yards' on getting rid of your belly fat or chunky thighs. The exercise is a nice additional bonus though, and should not be overlooked.

The problem is, that so many people who would like to be a little thinner, are jumping straight onto a cardio based training plan as their first choice for exercise. And for many, this is leading them along a path which, as well as offering depressing fat loss results, could also be causing a number of health concerns you could do without.

Let's consider them in the next section.
**How Cardio Might Damage Your Health**

Conventional opinion, the government, the fitness industry, your doctor, and a whole raft of other institutions with 'your best interests at heart' tell you to move more, get some exercise, eat less at the same time, and 'everything' will be just fine.

In many ways, their advice is not that far off the mark, but in our modern society, with all sorts of marketing pressures, contradictory advice, and just plain 'age old' beliefs, you might think that because exercise is GOOD, more is BETTER. And this is where we get into the positively dodgy realm of endurance exercise. The truth appears to be that it might be a lot less good for you than you may have been led to believe.

I'm not about to tell you that running for an hour 3-4 times a week is going to kill you, or make you sick, but endurance exercise can become a bit of an addiction for many, and if you continue to increase time spent on the road, over time you could end up causing some damage.

This section will take a look at the subject a little, just to provide some food for thought as you consider training for your first marathon or endurance event.

Some of the studies I am going to cite in this section are pretty groundbreaking in what they have unearthed, evidence that many already worried about, but the research was just not there to validate their concerns over endurance exercise.

Let's be honest. Most people, when they want to lose weight, or take up some form of physical activity, gravitate towards some form of 'cardio' or 'aerobic' exercise. The research now shows that this might not be in your best interests. Definitely not for weight loss, but also to the detriment of your long term health.

There seem to be more and more cases appearing on the television of runners dying during marathons or other long distance events. Over here in the UK, there have been a spate of them recently. Apparently perfectly fit people, who have trained for a good while to prepare for a race or charity event, just keel over and die on the side of the road. Terribly sad, but also surprising to most people. Fit, healthy people, dying in the prime of their lives? Shocking!

It's not just wannabe athletes who pop their clogs in pursuit of a personal best time. Jim Fixx, the guy who 'invented' jogging, died alone on the side of the road, having run for years. Thing with Fixx was, that he thought that jogging was the panacea for all his bad habits in the past. He ate a poor diet, had complained of chest pains but refused to get it checked out. Turns out, he had some pretty serious atherosclerosis in his arteries, arteries which had narrowed over time, with 85% of one of his arteries blocked, and another 2 almost as bad.

Fixx was a runner, but not elite by any stretch of the imagination. One person who was elite, and still almost died young was Alberto Salazer, one of the best American marathon runners ever. He'd still have been pretty good at the ripe old age of 50, but unfortunately he nearly died of a heart attack at 49 years old.

We could say that all these people have some undetected heart defect, or have damaged their body through poor lifestyle choices, and sure, some of them have. The concern that I am going to raise, is that over exercising is very possible, especially if traditional cardio is your primary focus.

Many of the conventional paradigms about the amount of exercise the body needs for health have been turned on their heads as research improves, and studies are able to better evaluate their results.

**Study - A Focus On Lifelong Cardio May Damage your Heart**

This study appeared in the **Journal Of Applied Physiology** in February 2011, and looked at a group of extremely fit men, ages ranging from 26 to 67, and all of them had completed at least 100 marathons (heck!)

A control group of 20 healthy men over 50 were used for comparison, none were endurance athletes.

The New York Times article on the research stated that:

_"The different groups underwent a new type of magnetic resonance imaging of their hearts that identifies very early signs of fibrosis, or scarring, within the heart muscle. Fibrosis, if it becomes severe, can lead to stiffening or thickening of portions of the heart, which can contribute to irregular heart function and, eventually, heart failure"._

The results, which you can find online... in The Journal of Applied Physiology, were somewhat concerning.

_None of the younger athletes or the older non-athletes had fibrosis in their hearts. But half of the older lifelong athletes showed some heart muscle scarring. The affected men were, in each case, those who'd trained the longest and hardest. Spending more years exercising strenuously or completing more marathon or ultra-marathon races was, in this study, associated with a greater likelihood of heart damage."_

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**Study - Heart Scarring And Elite Cardio Training**

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This study, published in the journal Circulation, was also a shot across the bows for many endurance athletes. This study was carried out on rats (but they sure were fit rats), and helped answer the question, _'was it extreme training that CAUSED the heart damage?'_

__

The New York Times stated that the study;

_"provides the first solid evidence of a link between certain kinds of prolonged exercise and subtle heart damage"_

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So what happened? Well, as mentioned, the study used rats, and was designed to mimic the daily exercise loads that serious marathon runners subjected themselves to over a 10 year period. Obviously, the rats only 'trained' for 16 weeks or so, but perhaps in rat years, that equates to 10 years if you are human?

All the rats were checked, and deemed to have normal, healthy hearts at the start, but by the end of the most of them had developed _'diffuse scarring and some structural changes, similar to that seen in endurance athletes'._

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The study can be found here, but the conclusions, as published, can be condensed into this rather concerning paragraph, taken directly from the report itself.

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_"Conclusions—In this animal model, we documented cardiac fibrosis after long-term intensive exercise training, together with changes in ventricular function and increased arrhythmia inducibility. If our findings are confirmed in humans, the results would support the notion that long-term vigorous endurance exercise training may in some cases promote adverse remodeling and produce a substrate for cardiac arrhythmias"_

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Now, I'm certainly not suggesting that someone who does a little cardio to keep themselves fit, improve their body composition (it can work, but you need to do a lot, thus perhaps moving along that continuum from healthy > unhealthy levels of exercise) and enjoy a run in the sunshine, is going to end up with structural changes to their hearts, and potentially die early. Maybe you will, maybe you won't, and it'd probably be hard to pin it on the exercise alone. BUT, if long duration cardio is your strategy to lose weight, and you keep increasing volume as the weight loss fails to materialize, you could end up less healthy than you perhaps thought you might.

The take home message is - Be sensible, if you are not a lover of long duration cardio, don't do it. Do something else, do something that will help, rather than hinder your body composition goals, and don't think that if some exercise is good, more is necessarily better.

**Food for thought if nothing else.**

****

**I** f you'd like to learn more, this video will shock you. It is a TEDx talk by Dr James O'Keefe, the director of Preventative Cardiology at a large cardiology practice in Kansas City. He explains how lifelong cardio has given him some warning signs.

Watch the video on YouTube HERE
**Why Lots Of Exercise Can Negatively Impact Fat Loss**

As someone who has participated in endurance training in the past, and as a trainer and nutrition coach, who works with a wide range of clients, I have faced some pretty interesting challenges, experimented a lot, and managed to gain break-throughs with clients whose fat loss efforts and progress had stalled.

And guess what group of people I struggle the most with when it comes to seeing consistent improvements in body composition over a coaching program? Yep, you guessed it... the clients who, in my opinion, over exercise, and almost point blank refuse to cut back on their training regimen.

Many will have reduced calories lower and lower, increased exercise volume higher and higher, all in a vain attempt to lose those last few pounds, or to break a weight loss plateau. They come to me dejected, but also, often stuck in a paradigm that is hard to break.

I've seen it consistently over a number of years. Low calories, and ridiculous exercise levels, and 'Mr Fat Loss' goes into hibernation, just waiting for things to improve. It's a bit of an oddity, something that seems to defy logic. Surely if you reduce calories from food, and burn more through increasing exercise, fat loss MUST ensue?

It appears that some people can get away with it, and everything bimbles along nicely, but for the rest of us less fortunate mortals, this combination of not enough food and too much activity seems to screw us up.

I've battled long and hard with clients, pleaded with them to either eat more, or cut back on their exercise. It often takes a leap of faith on their part, and frequently, the results are mind-blowing.

Other than the treadmill running syndrome that lots of people suffer with, I really feel that another specific exercise activity that has a lot to answer for is Spinning, studio cycling, whatever you like to call it.

The cycling itself is not the issue of course, it is the ideology surrounding it, and often, the mentality of the instructors that is questionable. I'm a studio cycling instructor myself, and I was lucky enough to be trained by a guy who was inherently sensible with his programming. But having seen other instructors in action, where the only direction they take the resistance, and the intensity of the class is UP, apart from the potential for injury, the risk of overtraining is very real.

I have talked with people who have been doing HARD spinning classes 4-5 times a week, adding more classes as their weight remains unchanged, reducing their food intake, and still nothing happens. It's scary.

Often, a reduction in activity, an increase in calories, but preferably a combination of the two, and things start to get back on track. Invariably, the fat loss kicks back in after a week or two. Sometimes a complete break from anything other than a bit of light activity is the best medicine.

**So, What Is Occurring?**

There could be a multitude of things going on here, but one area that has seen a lot of research, as well as much anecdotal evidence, is hormones, in particular, the stress hormone cortisol.

**Cortisol**

Every man and his dog has probably heard about cortisol in recent times, it gets talked about quite a bit. So lets take a look at cortisol, what it does, and how too much of it could be a major player in whether we lose weight or not.

Cortisol is a stress hormone. Not a bad thing I promise. Whenever the body undergoes some form of stress, cortisol is released. There appears to be a general consensus amongst those in the know, that short pulsing releases of cortisol are good, whilst long term, 'chronic' elevations are a bad thing indeed. This would make sense from an evolutionary perspective, cortisol being released at times of high stress (being chased, hunted etc) would be a good thing.

Counter that with modern lifestyle, busy, stressed, over-exercising (training is a stress of course), and you could end up with chronically elevated cortisol levels.

Combine this, with high insulin levels (perhaps from your super high carb diet of processed junk food, your elevated blood sugar levels, etc) and fat accumulation might just be the result.

Dieting is a stress too, don't forget that. So extreme dieting combined with extreme training, and cortisol could go through the roof. And if you are the type of person who finds yourself in this situation, the chances are you obsess about your body image, your calories, and your exercise routine. I definitely see a correlation between diet/exercise obsessives and problems with fat loss. Could there be a link? :-)
**SECTION 2 - METABOLISM& ENERGY EXPENDITURE 101**

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**Metabolism - Some Facts That May Surprise You.**

_"I can't lose weight because I just have a sluggish metabolism, it's just not my fault!"_

That is the cry that you'll hear from plenty of people worldwide who are just not seeing results with their weight loss efforts. Perhaps you (or they) were doing well for a while, but things just stalled and you've been stuck in the same place for what seems like an eternity?

**Let's Understand Metabolism?**

This next section is taken from my Amazon bestselling book The Lean Fast Diet. I didn't want to regurgitate it all again, or try to fool you by just rewriting it, so I include it here in its entirety, with only a modicum of shame and self-loathing.

_"But Steve, this is a book about cardio, why do I need to know all this metabolism stuff, it is really relevant?"_

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To understand WHY cardio, and exercise in general, is not the weight loss king it is often said to be, we need to at least have some understanding of our energy requirements, what those energy requirements are, and how planned exercise interacts with the most basic of human functioning.

Without a foot dipped into the murky waters of metabolism, the other arguments I am making become a lot less clear. So, bear with me just for a few minutes, it is actually quite interesting stuff.

Metabolism is a complicated beast, but in its simplest form, we can define it as the sum of all the energy use of the 100 trillion cells in your body, the energy your body needs to just survive, let alone do anything. You haven't even got out of your bed yet, but your organs and cells are still using energy. This most basic functioning is referred to as your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), and does not take into account organized or planned exercise, or even low intensity movement like gardening, doing the housework, tapping your fingers. BMR is just about keeping you alive and functioning.

**Metabolic Speed / Rate**

The term metabolic rate and metabolic speed can, for the sake of this discussion, be used interchangeably. Metabolic speed fluctuates over time due to a range of factors which we will discuss in a moment. But suffice to say, if you burn fewer calories at rest when compared to a previous data point, your metabolic speed, your basal metabolic rate, can be said to have gone down, or slowed.

The flip side is that if you burn more calories at rest when compared to some previous period, your BMR has risen, or, to put it another way, your metabolic speed has increased.

When considered in the context of weight loss, the faster your metabolism is at rest, the more calories you burn at rest, and the more weight you will lose, obviously, providing you are not overeating. Metabolic slowdown, as you can imagine, makes weight loss harder.

There is no argument that some people have faster metabolic rates than other people. I am sure you have a friend or family member who seems to be able to eat anything they want and still stay slim? " _Screw them_ " I hear you say! For these irritating people, staying lean may appear comparatively easy, but gaining weight, perhaps muscle mass, may be hard. Being thin is not always a bed of roses.

As I alluded to earlier, the actual range of metabolic speeds is remarkably small. A study at the University of Vermont found that in the group they studied, the BMR range was very small indeed.

_"In humans, the coefficient of variation in the components of total daily energy expenditure is around 5-8% for resting metabolic rate"._

University Of Vermont Study | <http://bit.ly/vermont-bmr-study>

To try to put this into context, let's use a female with a BMR of 1500 calories per day as our example. This 5-8% variation above or below the average would result in the person with a 'slow metabolism' exhibiting a BMR of 1380 calories per day (which is 8% below the average of 1500 calories per day), and the lucky person with the faster metabolism would have a BMR in the region of 1620 calories per day.

The research found that almost 70% of people fell within the 5-8% variation. I've calculated on 8%, so for most of the 70%, the variability would be much less. If one was to look at the whole Gaussian Curve and Standard Distributions, we would see that most of the population are fairly comparable as far as their basal metabolic rate is concerned.

**So What Gives? My Friend Can Eat A Horse And Still Be Thin**

I know, I know, these people really get to you don't they? Slim as a beanpole, look great in anything, gorges on pizza and chocolate every single day? How do they do it?

Well, they 'could' be one of those outliers I mentioned, with a metabolism so speedy that if they didn't gorge they'd waste away and expire. In reality, they most likely have a metabolism that is not dissimilar to your own. So what else could be going on?

Before we find out, let us quickly (I promise) take a look at some definitions that relate to energy expenditure, just to put things into context.

**Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) Defined**

You may have heard of TDEE? Hit some of the popular fat loss forums and everyone is panicking about what their TDEE is, and how they are eating so many calories below it, and still not losing weight. Well, before we discuss TDEE and its components, I need to let you know that most of those calculators are rubbish, and even if they are remotely accurate, you should only use them as a starting point from which to begin your journey, and then assess and evaluate your progress. I'll be covering all of that later, so chill for now.

**TDEE has a number of components which are:**

** • Basal Metabolic Rate** – We've talked about this one. The energy (calories) required for all the cells of your body to perform all its life-preserving functions, organ function, respiration, cellular functioning, and all that other groovy stuff. It's often considered the calories you need just to stay alive, if you were lying in bed and not moving at all.

** • NEAT** – _Non-exercise activity thermogenesis_ (heat production) – includes moving about, tapping your toes, fidgeting, twitching, walking, housework, gardening , etc.

** • Thermic Effect Of Activity (TEA)** \- _the energy utilized during planned exercise_ – This is not just the everyday low intensity movement such as walking and shopping, this is when you are carrying out constructive, planned exercise.

** • Thermic Effect Of Feeding (TEF)** – _The energy that is utilized to breakdown your food_ into its constituent parts for circulation around the body. As an interesting side note, protein breakdown has the highest energy demand, then carbohydrate, then fat which has very little. So fat can make you fat, don't believe anyone that tells you different. Don't go all 'low fat diet' on me though ... not necessary.

So, we can now express _Total Daily Energy Expenditure_ (TDEE) as **BMR + TEA +TEF + NEAT**

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**Back To The Irritating Friend. Why?**

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1. We talked about NEAT a moment ago. If you've forgotten already, go back up a couple of paragraphs. This is energy used during non-exercise activity. A lot of those naturally lean people are the ones who are always on the go, sitting around and doing nothing is just not in their DNA.

You see it in animals too. We have a tall, lean Border Collie, and a lazy, fat, cross Bassett/King Charles Spaniel. One is a ball of energy, always up and moving, you could throw the same ball to him 1000 times and he'd never get bored.

The other, likes to sleep a lot, will play, but loses interest easily, walks a lot more than he runs, much calmer than the other dog.

One burns a lot more calories just being a Border Collie, the other burns a lot less being half Bassett Hound. NEAT in action.

You see this in humans. Different body shapes, different personalities, different activity levels. Sure, some may be slow because they are fat, but plenty will be fat because they just don't move around as much as their 'always on the move' counterparts.

Genetics are obviously playing a role here too, but there is another reason your friend may be lean.

2. The slightly speedier BMR of the 'annoying one' and their increased NEAT will account for some of their leanness, but they may not actually eat as much as you think.

Unless this friend lives with you, and you know exactly what they eat, you could easily be fooled into thinking that they stuffed their faces all the time. I eat some massive evening meals, and could easily fit in a 1000 calorie pizza every so often, but I don't do it every day, and they probably don't either.

To conclude this section, BMR, metabolic rate, metabolic speed, whatever you like to call it, does have an effect on your ability to lose weight. But investigations into your metabolic speed should really only be a consideration AFTER you can confirm that your dietary plan and compliance are solid. Put these things in order first, for a good length of time, and you will likely see things moving in the right direction.

There are a few things that do affect metabolism, and lean muscle mass is one of them. Lean muscle is highly metabolically active, which means it burns more calories at rest than other body substrates, such as body fat. Metabolic slowdown occurs as people age, but this is generally highly correlated with the loss of lean muscle mass, which starts to disappear (atrophy) in the late twenties.

All is not lost, you can get that muscle back, and preserve a good level of muscle well into later life. I implore you to consider some form of resistance training as part of your life. Bodyweight exercises, barbells, dumbbells, suspension trainers, anything to get some meat on your frame, and to keep it there. Cardio, of the type that I am imploring you to keep well and truly at arms length, actually promotes muscle loss, another good reason for avoiding it for the most part.
**Metabolism And Energy Expenditure**

As I write about in pretty much all my books, ' **Metabolism and energy expenditure 101** ' is an important topic. You might know it already (clever clogs!), but I am convinced that to be able to have a reasonable idea about how our bodies work, how we use energy, how to manipulate our energy intake and expenditure to bring about positive changes in weight, body composition or even athletic performance, we need to touch on some basics.

Of course, we shouldn't NEED to do any of this. But the unfortunate reality is that the 'foods' we have available today, and the activity levels we see in modern, Western society, are fundamentally different from those of our ancestors. Food is abundant, the need to move at low intensities for long periods, and to move at high intensities for short periods, is just not there any more. We have to purposely decide to do these things, and to decide to distance ourselves from modern foods.

If energy metabolism is 'your thing', feel free to skip ahead, or to carry on reading just as a quick refresher. It's damned fine and interesting stuff :-) Rest assured, by the end of this section, you'll be wanting to enroll in a university course in sports science. If I've judged you wrong, just tell me to, " _Shut up and get on with it_ ".

To start with, before we get into the serious stuff, where we can play with numbers, and chat about some examples, how about making a start and looking at some terminology, and how it applies to us human beans beings. (You'll get the 'human beans' thing if you ever read or watched The BFG by Roald Dahl)

Back on track. When we discuss energy in versus energy out, in relation to the 'energy balance equation' you have likely heard of, we are really talking about the following, easy to understand, definition.

**Energy Intake** = Energy (calories) that enter your body via dietary intake, food and drink.

**Energy Expenditure** = Energy (those pesky calories again), that are utilized by the body (generally considered on a daily basis)

If energy intake exceeds energy expenditure, the result over time will be WEIGHT GAIN

If energy expenditure exceeds energy intake, the result over time will be WEIGHT LOSS

IF energy intake is equal to energy expenditure, the result is weight stability.

Of course, the body should regulate energy intake and expenditure to some extent, but with modern, processed foods, that task appears to be getting more and more tricky.

Let's quickly recap on the areas that make up your TDEE, you likely have forgotten what we were chatting about just a couple of minutes ago, such is the captivating writing style that I possess.

• **Basal Metabolic Rate** – The energy (calories) required for all the cells of your body to perform all its life-preserving functions, organ function, respiration, cellular functioning, and all that other groovy stuff.

• **NEAT** – Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (heat production) – includes moving about, tapping your toes, fidgeting, twitching, walking, housework, gardening , etc.

• **Thermic Effect Of Activity (TEA)** \- the energy utilized during planned exercise – This is not just the everyday low intensity movement such as walking and shopping, this is when you are carrying out constructive, planned exercise.

• T **hermic Effect Of Feeding (TEF)** – The energy that is utilized to breakdown your food into its constituent parts for circulation around the body.

Great, consider yourself well and truly recapped and ready for action. How about an example:

**Client A**

• Male

• Aged 40

• Height 160cm

• Current Weight 95kg

• Target Weight 65kg

To start with, we need to try to get a best guess estimate on how much energy that person expends each day BEFORE they start building any exercise into their program. As everyone is different, it's pretty hard to do. Luckily however, we have some scientific equations that have been thrashed out to help us set our 'ballpark' starting point.

This is just a close guess, we use this number to set our program variables, and then watch, measure, and adjust as required. On the exercise issue, it's also remarkably hard to calculate, or even estimate, the energy expenditure in calories, from various forms of exercise, so it's best to ignore the numbers on your heart rate monitor, the step counter, or the digital display on the cardio machines at the gym. They also lull you into a false sense of optimism that I think is generally ill-conceived.

We can use a number of formulas to get a 'close' but not exact BMR estimate for ourselves. There are a number of formula including.

• Harris Benedict (Revised 1984)

• Men - BMR = 88.362 + (13.397 x weight in kg) + (4.799 x height in cm) – (5.677 x age in years)

• Women - BMR = 447.593 + (9.247 x weight in kg) + (3.098 x height in cm) – (4.330 x age in years)

There is then an activity factor which is used to multiply the BMR calculation by the relevant activity level for the person.

Little to no exercise | Daily kilocalories needed = BMR x 1.2

---|---

Light exercise (1–3 days per week) | Daily kilocalories needed = BMR x 1.375

Moderate exercise (3–5 days per week) | Daily kilocalories needed = BMR x 1.55

Heavy exercise (6–7 days per week) | Daily kilocalories needed = BMR x 1.725

Very heavy exercise (twice per day, extra heavy workouts) | Daily kilocalories needed = BMR x 1.9

OR

**Mifflin St Joer Equation**

• BMR = 10 * weight(kg) + 6.25 * height(cm) – 5 * age(y) + 5 (man)

• BMR = 10 * weight(kg) + 6.25 * height(cm) – 5 * age(y) – 161 (woman)

Then, use the activity factor to multiple your BMR number as for Harris-Benedict. Interestingly a lot of people like Harris-Benedict, although the Mifflin formula has been shown to be somewhat more accurate over a larger range of people, but as mentioned, the numbers are but a start point to build a nutrition and training program, and to then monitor and modify when needed.

There is another formula, and this is named, again, after the two clever dicks who researched, tested, and devised it, it's not as cool a name as the Mifflin St Joer, which to me, sounds REALLY COOL, but it's got a bit of a 'catch' to it (poor, poor joke). Oops, by the way, the reason I like, and use this one as a matter of preference is that it needs an estimate of body fat% to do the equation, something that I always look at, and measure with all new clients. If you have that number, this is the one to use.

My preferred formula – Katch-McArdle Equation (did you get the joke about the 'catchy' name?)

• BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg).

You see it asks for LEAN MASS in kg, hence the need for a body fat %. Before I continue, any of these calculations will give you a reasonable best guesstimate, probably within 100 cals per day, 50 cals either side of your true BMR, but if body fat % is known, I like to use it.

**Back to CLIENT A. Remember their vital stats?**

• Male

• Aged 40

• Height 160cm

• Current Weight 95kg

• Target Weight 65kg

BTW, they are sedentary, so their BMR gets a boost x 1.2. Many people overestimate their activity level. To be lightly active, you need to be doing some moderate intensity exercise a few times a week (irrespective of what the activity table says), not just wandering into town to the chip shop, then tapping your toes whilst you devour your saveloy and chips (oh, and get me a pickled egg). Here is our guy's BMR ,and their TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) based on that sedentary level.

So, you can see, this guy is going to be expending somewhere around 1900 calories a day, just to function, and to do some pretty menial, everyday activities, he's not even contemplated doing any REAL exercise as yet.

As you can see, they expend 1601 calories per day at rest, and around 1921 per day sitting around, walking a bit, sitting at the computer, tapping their toes , etc. If they add in some exercise, surely they are going to burn a whole stack of calories, and make fat loss a breeze?
**The Reality Of Calories Burned During Exercise**

Unfortunately, we are all led to believe that exercising burns a stack of calories, when the reality is that this isn't the case for most people. Sure, do a whole day in the saddle on the Tour De France, or run a marathon, and you are going to burn a lot of calories. But most of us don't do that type of activity on a daily basis, if EVER.

When you consider the previous section, and look at the calories burned in a normal day for our example person, you'll see that the vast majority of their energy usage is just staying alive, oh, and perhaps moving around a bit doing everyday activities, some energy usage digesting their meals, that sort of thing.

You utilize a stack of calories doing everything other than planned exercise. When you decide to add some exercise in, to try to shed that little extra fat so you don't need to change your diet, you would expect the numbers to be far more significant than the measly numbers in the table below wouldn't you? Ponder on them for a moment if you will.

If you'd like to examine some more 'energy expenditure' comparison tables for a variety of exercise modes, I've included these links for you.

Harvard Medical School - Calories Burned In 30 Minutes Of Exercise

An interesting article on the Livestrong site. If you can run 8 minute miles, you could even burn 930 calories per hour. But let's get realistic, few people can run a single 8 minute mile, let alone let alone 7.5 of them in a week.

But if you can, you only need to run that hard for 3.5 hours a week, congrats, you'll lose a single pound :-)

Livestrong - What Cardio Burns The Most Calories?

Let us assume, just for now, that you are actually managing your food intake with some form of calorie counter, or some other method that ensures you eat somewhere close to the amount of food required to maintain your current body weight, and you opt to perform some 'meaningful exercise' to shed those few pounds you have to lose (Doctor's orders!!)

You are the 155 lb. person in the middle column of the table above, and for variety, you decide that you are going to try out a few of these fun looking activities. Let us consider how many hours (yes, it's going to be hours not minutes) it will take you to lose a pound of fat from your midriff.

For want of a better method, we'll use the age old adage that 1 pound of fat contains 3500 calories of energy, so to shed a pound, we need to eat, or in this case, exercise to create a 3500 calorie deficit below our maintenance calorie requirements.

**Hours Of Exercise Required To Shed ONE Pound**

**Golf** (using cart ... Lazy!) = 260 cals/hr - around 13.5 hours to shed a single pound of fat.

**Walking** = 300 cals/hr - 11.6 hours to shed that elusive pound of lard.

**Kayaking** = 370 cals/hr - A mere 9.5 hours to lose 1 pound of fat.

You skip softball and baseball, not your thing, but the calorie burn is the same as kayaking, so nothing exciting there.

**Swimming** , this must surely be a great way to shed some weight?

Em ... no. Swimming = 440 cals/hr - Well, things are looking better, ONLY 8 hours or so to lose 1 lb. Remember, that is 8 hours of CONSTANT swimming. Hell, I can only swim for 15 minutes without drowning.

**Tennis** \- 6.73 hours to lose a pound

**Running** \- Looking good, just under SIX hours of activity and you'll be able to mark another pound down.

Same goes for **basketball or soccer** , just under six hours, great!

Well, not exactly enticing is it. If you are able to run for an hour without stopping, and choose to take just a single day off per week for recovery, you are going to be able to rave to your friends about the SINGLE pound you have lost for all your efforts.

And, let us not forget. That is only if you have managed to keep your daily food intake at levels to maintain your weight without the exercise. I am sure that six hours of running your heart out isn't going to make you any hungrier than normal, no desire to scoff a packet of biscuits? **If** that is the case, you are definitely a better man than I Gunga Din!

Oh, and let's not forget, although you burned 600 calories during that hard run, you'd have still burned some of those if you had sat on your arse for an hour, or did a little housework.

Don't forget the energy expenditure from BMR and NEAT, that would happen anyway.

To put that into a little context, if you are an average sized female, your total daily energy expenditure without exercise is likely to be around 1800 calories or so.

The previous section looked at a sedentary 95kg male, his TDEE with no exercise was 1900 or so. If we divide that by 24 hours in a day, we end up with an hourly expenditure of ...

**Almost 80 calories per hour. (1900\24)**

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Depending on size, weight, sex etc, most people burn 60-80 calories per hour without doing anything other than living and doing everyday tasks. So all that running only accounts for a net calorie use of around 520-550 cals per hour. Not a lot is it?

When you consider, that with a little careful planning, some improved food choices perhaps, and a modicum of tenacity, you can build most of the deficit you would get from running or whatever your mode of exercise is, into an eating plan that is free from hunger and is satisfying to boot. If you want to add in a little walking or even some strength training or cycling, just to burn a few extra calories, then go for it, but make the diet the 80% effort, and keep the exercise as the other 20% of the plan.
**Why The Sums Don't Add Up**

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_Well, perhaps the wrong title for this section, because unfortunately, the sums DO add up, and they add up to the following conclusion ..._

_Exercise, whatever the mode, is a pretty poor utilizer of calories, and therefore, pretty sucky when it comes to losing weight. This does not mean that doing any form of meaningful exercise is pointless, of course it's not._

But if you are getting ready to lose those few extra pounds, or have been out to the sports store to buy yourself some slick running gear to start your new health, wellness, and weight loss campaign, just be prepared for the fact that after weeks or months of sweating your wotsits off pounding the streets, you probably won't have much to show for it in terms of reduced body fat. Irritating? Yes, of course, but the facts, both anecdotal and scientific speak for themselves.

And don't panic, I have a raft of scientific studies coming up in just a few minutes to support my wild and unconventional claims.
**Exercise Research Studies To Blow Your Mind**

We've talked about what cardio is, some myths surrounding exercise for weight loss, had a warm hearty chat about metabolism and energy expenditure, talked about calorie burn from exercise, and a whole lot more. For me personally, the previous chapter on _potential_ health concerns is telling. That said, there may be many people who have read books like Born To Run, about the Mexican tribes that run for hundreds of miles.

Looking at that from a logical perspective, these 'ultra endurance tribal runners' have run since they could stand up, it is their culture and heritage. I would strongly suspect that this lifelong pursuit will have impacted positively on their ability to sustain the sort of mileages they incur.

And remember, they don't run hard all the time, a lot of their activity will be light, low intensity, fun and community based activity. Very different to the 'cardio junkie' who is always pushing themselves to the limit to become more competitive.

I've harped on about the reality of exercise for weight loss, why I think it is a poor option if you have weight to lose, and I've done my utmost to demonstrate EXACTLY why the sums just make no sense.

If the previous section on some of the potential health risks longer duration cardio can have on the body hasn't stirred you up into a frenzy (probably good for that non-exercise activity thermogenesis we just discussed), this section of the book is going to baffle, amaze, and probably piss you off too. Especially if you've been running your 'pretty li'l ass off' for months on end, hoping to see a sleek, trim, athletic body emerge from the somewhat rotund version of you.

Of course, as with any study, unless it is conducted under the strictest of laboratory conditions, it can have many confounding factors that can, and often do, influence the outcomes. From a pre-experiment bias on the part of the researchers, to poor monitoring and measuring protocols, to the participants lying about what they've been doing, not doing, eating or not eating.

So when you look at these studies, use them as a starting point to consider, not necessarily a definitive 'cardio is good/bad' sort of thing. Some people may well be able to find studies elsewhere that offer differing viewpoints, but one thing that I have found, in almost all the studies and reports on weight loss through aerobic exercise I have browsed is this:

**_The weight loss in the study participants, many who have been participating in a trial for up to 12 months, is frankly, laughable._**

**__**

I could throw a plethora of studies at you with regard to the effectiveness, or lack of it, that exercise produces for weight loss. A couple spring to mind though, and these, although small in participant size, clearly demonstrated that exercise, and in these cases, not just cardio, provided some very mediocre changes in scale weight over the span of the study.

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**STUDY No.1 – UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS**

  * Comprised of 12 weeks of programmed exercise; 3 strength training sessions per week, 2 interval sessions per week.

  * Only 1.5 lbs of fat was lost on average

This study consisted of 100 participants, and important to note is that, their dietary habits were purposely not monitored during the 12 week study.

The study was run by Dr John Berardi of Precision Nutrition, you can read more about it here.

**STUDY No.2 – UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA**

  * Comprised of 10 weeks of exercise, including 3 endurance sessions per week, plus 2 strength training sessions per week.

  * Again, only 1.5 lbs of fat was lost by participants

The Oklahoma study can be found here.

It is incredible to think that there are people all over the world who are pouring money into personal training, gym membership, and for what? A 12 week, 3 times per week personal training package is likely to cost upwards of $3500. You also need to count in all the other walking and exercising those clients would be expected to do unsupervised.

Imagine it, 50+ hours of hard graft over a 12 week period, for under 2 lbs of weight loss. Would YOU be satisfied?

At least these studies were carried out for a long enough period for a conclusion to be reached. If you had been training alone, with a trainer, or at the gym, I am confident that you would have given up long before the 12 week mark having seen such dismal progress. I know I would.

Why are we all ignoring what is black and white, right in front of our noses? Are we so indoctrinated, so unaware of how our body works, or do we just not want to admit that we need to acknowledge that our diets are central to how we look, feel, and perform? Is food such a personal and emotive issue that we would prefer to try to out-exercise our poor diets? I hope not.

**More studies to disturb you!**

**Effects of the amount of exercise on body weight, body composition, and measures of central obesity: STRRIDE--a randomized controlled study.**

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This study was an eight month randomized control study, so the results are likely to be more valid than many other less well-managed studies. 120 participants completed the study over the 8 month period. They were not counseled on food intake or to change their diet.

Results were gleaned from body weight, skin fold testing and waist circumference. The participants were in 3 groups, doing either:

  * High amounts of physical activity at vigorous intensities, equating to jogging 20 miles a week at 65-80% of their peak oxygen consumption.
  * Low amounts of vigorous activity, equivalent to 12 miles of jogging.
  * Low amount of low intensity activity, around 12 miles of walking per week.

Here is the study link again, if you are tempted to find out what the outcomes were.

Ok, ok! Here is a snippet from the conclusion, just to get you all excited.

_'These findings strongly suggest that, absent changes in diet, a higher amount of activity is necessary for weight maintenance...'_

How about a little look at what the _premier_ fitness and sports medicine organization in the US say. They also advise national policy on exercise levels for the population, etc.

**American College Of Sports Medicine (ACSM)**

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**Position Stand - " Appropriate intervention strategies for weight loss and prevention of weight regain in adults"**

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Well, would you believe it? The **top sports medicine organization in the US** states that there is actually little evidence that an 'exercise only' approach to weight loss is effective. Not surprising really, but that is what many cardio junkies are doing. "If I exercise A LOT, I can eat what I like".

The ACSM admit that dietary calorie deficits provide the best weight loss results, and combining diet and exercise produces the best results overall, not just in terms of weight loss, but a whole array of other health benefits too.

Read the position stand abstract here or get a quick breakdown on the ACSM media page.

Here is a little heads up, courtesy of the ACSM website.

  * _Greater amounts of physical activity are likely to be needed to achieve weight loss and prevent weight regain in adults. The panel recognized the amounts in these categories:

Prevent weight gain_ ** _\--_** _150-250 minutes/week of moderate-intensity physical activity is associated with prevention of weight gain. More than 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity physical activity is associated with modest weight loss.

Weight loss -- 150-250 minutes/week of moderate-intensity physical activity provides only modest weight loss. Greater amounts (i.e.. >250) provide clinically significant weight loss.

For weight maintenance after weight loss -- There is some evidence that >250 minutes/week of moderate-intensity physical activity will prevent weight re-gain._
  * _Energy/diet restriction combined with physical activity will increase weight loss as compared to diet alone._

**WOW!** So the top sports and exercise organization in the USA are telling you that just to PREVENT weight gain, you need to exercise for 150-250 minutes a week. A mere 2.5 - 4 hours a week, and you can maintain your weight.

**Well, shucks, that sounds fab.**

It gets better. If you would love to achieve something more than MODEST weight loss (whatever that means, but it's likely to be that pound or two over a 3-4 month period as per the studies I provided earlier), then you should really get out there and work out at a _moderate_ intensity for at least FOUR hours a week. Are you doing that?

And once you have smashed yourself into the ground for months on end to lose those pounds, then to maintain that loss, just keep going with a mere 4+ hours a week to keep the weight off, and be thankful :-)

They also state that a combination of diet/exercise is better than diet alone for weight loss. Sure it is, but if you are overweight, you are much better creating the required calorie deficit from your diet (which can be simple and painless with appropriate food choices) and treat the exercise calorie expenditure as a nice little bonus. Sure, 3-4 hours a week of moderate exercise is great, but getting your body down to a more appropriate weight and fat level will surely help you to exercise for longer too?

I wrote this book not to piss you off, but to try to do my part to help people around the world to understand exercise and nutrition, to feel empowered to live the best possible lives they can, and to be confident in their own ability to eat and move in an appropriate way for their own body and lifestyle.

But nutrition is key, and although this book is not about diet per se, I'm going to quickly cover a little on nutrition, food choices, and how you can implement something that will dramatically change your body for the better. Let's look at 'The Best Weight Loss Strategy".
**SECTION 3 - REALISTIC STRATEGIES FOR WEIGHT LOSS**

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**So What Is The Best Weight Loss Strategy?**

I've suggested to you that cardio is not a good strategy for losing weight, and that your hopes may well be dashed if you start, or continue using this approach. So it makes sense that I should try and provide you with an alternative solution, rather than just telling you what won't work.

I've read a lot of reviews in a number of other books about cardio and weight loss, and the consistent complaint appears to be that those books fail to give the reader information as to the WHY cardio is poor for weight loss, and then spend the whole of the book telling them what they SHOULD be doing instead.

My job, and actually, my desire as a writer and coach, is to provide easily deciphered information that you can put into practice right now. So to that end, and with no real surprises here, the most important strategy for effective weight loss and sustainable weight maintenance is ......

**NUTRITION**

The unfortunate thing is, and you will probably start to explode into an _ungovernable rage_ , or reach for the refund button on the Amazon website, is that **diet** , your **nutrition** and **daily eating plan** has to be at the center of your weight loss strategy.

It is often said, and with good reason, that nutrition accounts for 80% of a person's body composition whilst exercise accounts for the other 20%. As I discussed in my previous book The Lean Fast Diet, the more sedentary you are, the closer that number moves towards 100%. And for people who are extremely overweight, or not used to exercising, it is far better to get your diet dialed in, so that you can see some immediate and sustained results in the early stages, and just start to implement some exercise for fun as part of your daily routine. Don't go mad too soon.

If you head over to Google and do some research regarding ratios of diet to exercise for weight loss, you will most certainly find that 80/20 rule or possibly 70% to 30%, but it will be somewhere in that ballpark.

If you are able to consider this as fact, if it makes sense to you, then it also makes sense to aim your efforts in these ratios. 80% of your effort should be focused on your dietary plan and adherence to that plan, and dedicate the other 20% to quality, but enjoyable exercise.

By focusing in this way, your nutrition and eating plan can be sustainable, enjoyable, and something that will see real results in your body fat levels. Ignore nutrition in favor of more and more exercise, and as well as spending most of your time exhausted, you'll likely get no nearer to your goals.

**Calories Really ARE King When All Is Said And Done**

I know a lot of folks are on their high horses at the moment, shooting down the idea of calories being important for weight loss, gain, or weight maintenance.

I fundamentally agree that prolonged dieting and calorie restriction usually results in rebound weight gain, when the dieter has just had enough, and often goes into a cycle of diet/binge/diet/binge.

That said, what are the alternatives to a sensible, relatively short term, well planned and monitored calorie deficit for those that really need to lose a lot of weight to get healthy, let alone aim for an athletic body composition?

I use a number of protocols with my nutrition coaching clients, which, in simplistic terms, go from intuitive eating with an emphasis on food choices (unprocessed foods are generally calorie sparse, but nutrient dense, and make up the lion's share of my dietary planning), and progress through an intermediate stage of minimal weighing and recording of daily intake, to a more stringent approach which involves counting calories with a phone app, but focusing on the macronutrient (protein, fat and carbohydrate) targets, without the emphasis on calories per se.

I really don't know of any other way to approach this, not one that gets consistent results for my clients. In the early stages, we may need to be super strict, maybe just for a month or so. As soon as one is ready, and more confident in their ability to make better food choices and exercise appropriate portion control, I get them simplifying the system.

Unfortunately, if you eat modern, processed foods, you are going to have a hell of a time eating intuitively. The decision is yours!

So, my advice would be this. If you just want to get leaner, hopefully improve your health, and move away from the avalanche of processed foods that are being thrust upon us daily, then a simple change in food choices might be all you need.

**Food Choices**

One of the most important things you can do, but most people fail to do, is to make better food choices for your daily eating. Moving away from processed foods and aiming for a diet that is based on whole foods is going to make a massive difference on your weight loss progress. Even if you don't get into counting calories, intuitive eating following these guidelines will probably get you most of the way to where you need to be in your search and journey towards a better looking and feeling body.

I always advocate eating meats, fish, eggs, vegetables, salads, a few nuts and seeds, a little fruit, and some starchy carbohydrate such as rice, sweet potatoes, yams or white potatoes in the post exercise window.

I won't be talking too much about nutritional programming in this book, as the focus is on why cardio for weight loss is not the greatest, but if you have learned anything from my rantings so far, you may well get the gist, but I'll reiterate it:

_'What you eat, or don't eat, is going to have the most significant role on your body composition, especially if you have a fair bit of fat to lose'._

My previous book, The Lean Fast Diet, advocates a daily fast as a really good system for shedding body fat, but it's not the only way. Ultimately, for weight to be lost, a calorie deficit of some sort needs to be in place. You can build that calorie deficit from exercise alone (not very effective as you just need to exercise too much for it to be sustainable), from dietary means alone (very effective, although I strongly advise building at least some progressive exercise or movement into your daily life), or a combination of the two (GREAT, but still make the focus of your energy deficit and planning the dietary aspect).

If you really want to get into the nutrition and eating plan stuff, as you should, then pick up my book on Amazon. It's cheap, covers everything you need to know to set up your own personalized eating plan and lose body fat without hunger .... or cardio.

Even if daily fasting is not your thing, you can still use all the concepts in that book to build your plan, so go to it, make the change that you deserve !

Ok, enough of the self promotion. I kind of hate all that stuff, but I genuinely feel the books I write offer incredible value, information, and all set out for normal folks like you to learn from and act on. I guess I shouldn't be so coy in mentioning them?

So, now we have established that 'diet is everything' (well almost everything), and you are going to push your food choices and eating plan to the forefront of your strategy to shed some fat, let's look at some exercise options that will get you the best results in the shortest time.

I'm not talking about these being central to weight loss, but wouldn't it be just fab if, when you have lost some weight (from your top notch eating plan), what is revealed underneath is fit, strong, athletic and lithe. A body you can be proud of, and most of all, one that allows you to enjoy your life more, to do more things, to run, skip, jump, climb and act the fool, at the drop of a hat.

It's time to consider some exercise ...
**What Exercise DOES Work For Weight Loss?**

Since I've told you that longer duration, endurance type cardio training is not so great for weight loss, due to the relatively poor calorie expenditure for the time and effort expended, I assume you are hoping/expecting that I am going to offer an alternative?

Bottom line, NO exercise offers huge calorie burn for little time/effort, which creates a bit of a conundrum doesn't it. You either work out for hours, risk overtraining, injury, screwed up metabolism and hormones, OR you dial in your diet, get MOST of your results from that, and then add in some sensible, well planned, meaningful exercise to:

  * Take advantage of a little extra calorie usage, a little is better than none. No, don't get into chronic cardio, but a little walking, generally increasing your activity levels from sedentary to more active will certainly mobilize a little fat. Combine with diet, and you are onto a winner.

  * Regular exercise is known to combat, and to be a preventative intervention in a range of health conditions and diseases. Improved insulin sensitivity, reduced blood pressure, reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and even certain types of cancer. Exercise is GOOD for you (within moderation)

  * Enjoy the feeling of improved mood. Exercise is known to stimulate chemicals in the brain that make you feel happy and relaxed. Exercise can be a great strategy if you suffer from mild depression, anxiety, or just find yourself 'down in the dumps' on a regular basis.

  * Sleep Better. Physical exercise, and indeed, just regular activity can really help with sleep. I love going to bed feeling tired, a little achey, and ready for 8-9 hours of awesome sleep.

  * Exercise can be fun. No, you don't have to hit the gym. How about heading over to the local sports field with a frisbee and your kids, or some friends? An hour of frisbee fun will have you laughing and happy, you won't even realize you've done some exercise.

So, no excuses! We are here together to change our lives for the better. To look and feel incredible, to be better versions of our present selves. To nourish our bodies and our relationships, to offer ourselves up as examples of what we can become with no more than a little knowledge and effort. Good food, a positive outlook, and some extra movement in your life will change EVERYTHING for you, try it, and email me to share your successes.

_What follows is a short discussion on exercise. The Why, the What and the_ _When_ _How Much._
**SECTION 4 - APPROPRIATE EXERCISE PLANNING**

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**What Exercise Should I Do?**

Exercise is fantastic for health, longevity, to help you live an exciting and vibrant life, to raise your mood and reduce depression, but let's be honest, it's not that great for losing weight. I've harped on about that enough now, I think you get where I'm coming from?

As I mentioned earlier, if we take the ratio of approximately _80% diet to 20% exercise_ as being responsible for defining your body composition then we know but we need to focus in those ratios to achieve success.

So, you take these principles on board and adjust your exercise levels, and diet accordingly, and start to see some impressive results over time.

Problem is, once you've lost all that surplus fat what is your body going to look like underneath? You see many people who go on conventional diets who lose a lot of fat, but also lose a lot of lean muscle mass along the way. If you are not dialing in your protein, fat, and carbohydrate ratios and quantities correctly, and taking part in some sort of strength building training protocol, muscle loss is a very real risk when you go on a weight loss diet.

Lots of cardio and super low calorie dieting is a recipe to strip the muscle you do have from your frame, along with some fat of course (hopefully). But why is this a problem? You'll end up looking thinner, and that is what you want isn't it?

It may well be, and I hear from lots of people (mainly women) who recoil at the very idea of building a little muscle, getting more toned, or at least, hanging onto the muscle they already have. It's this media driven and societal/cultural stigma that women should be thin as rakes and have very little muscle mass, that is at the center of the problem. Throughout history, women have not always been that way.

In many cultures, going back for thousands of years, women partook in physical activity, hunting, gathering, climbing. The waif-like creature that embodies the picture of the 'perfect' female form is a relatively new phenomenon, and one that needs adjusting.

**But Why Build Muscle?**

As I likely mentioned in the earlier stages of this book, muscle is the most metabolically active material in the human body. This means it requires more energy, even in the resting state than say, fat. If you can shed some fat and build some muscle, even at the same given weight, with that altered muscle/fat composition, you will burn more calories whether sitting, walking, running, or sleeping.

Let's not get carried away here though. The broscience that implies that if you gained 20 lbs of muscle, you'd burn an additional 1000 calories per day is pretty much nonsense, with no strong evidence to back that up.

In fact there is not a lot of detailed research out there on the subject, but renowned obesity researcher, Claude Bouchard, did do some research, and came up with the notion that a pound of lean muscle burned around 6 calories per day at rest, whilst its equivalent in fat burned only 2. Other, lesser respected folks have cited 50 calories per day for muscle, which would be super cool, but it probably just isn't true. Still, muscle burned 3 times as many calories as fat, so I'll take it. But it also does some other cool things, which can also help in your battle against the flab.

Increased muscle mass is strongly correlated with improved insulin sensitivity, and studies have shown this correlation quite clearly. Now, remember, this is a correlation, not necessarily cause and effect, more research needs to be done. But this study showed a distinct relationship between muscle wastage (sarcopenia) and insulin resistance.

People with better insulin sensitivity in their cells (less insulin resistant) have better glucose control (their bodies manage their blood sugar levels more effectively) and lower rates of diabetes. So taking epidemiological studies into account, it would appear that low levels of muscle mass show an increased link to insulin resistance and poor glucose control. Not surprisingly, Sarcopenia is strongly linked to obesity.

I always like to take a somewhat cynical approach to research, particularly research that is not backed up by controlled studies. But, when there is an obvious physiological mechanism which makes sense, and explains the results of the study, we can generally have a greater degree of confidence in the conclusions the study reports. It is still only a hypothesis, one requiring more detailed research, but at least the outcomes make sense.

Anyway, back to the subject in question. Building muscle. We've mentioned the WHY, now it's time for the HOW.

Strength training of some description should be at the core of any body's exercise programming. It doesn't mean that you have to be in the gym pumping iron, grunting and groaning, pressing barbells above your head, etc. But some sort of training that will put your muscles under stress and allow for an adaptation to take place over time is definitely the way forward, and the training ideology that nearly everybody should embrace.

So, whether you use resistance machines, barbells, bodyweight exercises, or kettle bells, putting together a structured, regular training program to increase your strength and lean muscle mass is very important. And hell, when the fat melts away you will be left with an attractive, toned, and athletic body for the whole world to see (or at least, your nearest and dearest).

So get into strength training. It's long been associated with increases in longevity, and certainly provides for a better quality of life. As little as three 30-45 minute sessions per week can provide great results. Progressive overload is the key, just increasing loading, preferably in every session, and you'll be looking awesome in a few months.

As I've alluded to multiple times already, cardio exercise of long duration is not a great vehicle for fat loss. That said, low intensity steady-state exercises such as walking, cycling, and even doing fun stuff at the park with your kids is, and should be, something that you participating on a regular basis. One can burn a couple of hundred calories an hour taking a brisk but enjoyable walk, and the cool thing about this low intensity exercise is you can do it multiple times per week without being overtrained and exhausted.

Walking is at the centre of what human beings had done for hundreds of thousands of years. We became bi-pedal (walking on two legs) to become efficient at covering long distances, and it's something that we should be doing today on a regular basis. I appreciate that many people have super busy lives, but if you can build in some walking you will see great benefits. Not necessarily huge reductions in body fat as a result but it will certainly help along the way.

Because people are busy, it's important to make the best use of our time. Many people do not have time to do long regular sessions at the gym and this is where high-intensity interval training (HIIT) comes into its own. You may have heard of HIIT training, the training system which alternates between short periods of extremely high-intensity activity, followed by longer periods of rest and recovery.

I'll talk about HIIT training later but suffice to say one can get great benefits from HIIT training in as little as 20 to 25 minutes per session, with most of that time being the warmup and recovery periods in between your high-intensity sessions. So let's move on and talk about strength training, low intensity steady-state training, and high-intensity interval training in a bit more depth.
**Strength Training**

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Having trained a wide variety of individuals, from those with some athletic potential all the way through to overweight men and women who just want to lose some weight, it's surprisingly how many people ignore the whole concept of strength training as part of their exercise plan.

I'm not sure why this is, it certainly seems that the press, fitness industry, and government bodies want to push the concept of aerobic exercise as being the 'be all, end all' of fitness training for an individual.

Nothing could be further from the truth. There has been quite a bit of research done into longevity and the ability to overcome serious illness, and its correlation with levels of lean muscle mass in the individuals concerned. Since AIDS became such a terrible epidemic, there was some good opportunities for doctors and researchers to study the effects of muscle mass, or lack of it, in AIDS patients.

They found, as you will see in some of the studies that I have listed below, that there was a strong correlation between longevity and ability to overcome disease or to live longer through a given disease, with the lean muscle mass of the person affected. When that lean muscle reached critical levels the person generally had a heart attack and died.

Take some time to have a look at these studies and articles.

**American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition - The under-appreciated role of muscle in health and disease.**

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**Abstract - courtesy** **ajcn.nutrition.org**

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_Muscle plays a central role in whole-body protein metabolism by serving as the principal reservoir for amino acids to maintain protein synthesis in vital tissues and organs in the absence of amino acid absorption from the gut and by providing hepatic gluconeogenic precursors. _

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_Furthermore, altered muscle metabolism plays a key role in the genesis, and therefore the prevention, of many common pathologic conditions and chronic diseases. Nonetheless, the maintenance of adequate muscle mass, strength, and metabolic function has rarely, if ever, been targeted as a relevant endpoint of recommendations for dietary intake._

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_It is therefore imperative that factors directly related to muscle mass, strength, and metabolic function be included in future studies designed to demonstrate optimal lifestyle behaviors throughout the life span, including physical activity and diet._

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**Medscape**

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Wasting and Lipodystrophy in Patients Infected With HIV: A Practical Approach in Clinical Practice

**Clinical Infectious Diseases - Oxford Journals**

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Weight Loss and Wasting in Patients Infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus

**NAM - Aidsmap**

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Decreased limb muscle and increased abdominal fat linked to higher mortality in people with HIV

**Muscle Mass Linked To Longevity**

One could also assume that as lean muscle mass atrophies (wastes) with age, people who lose an awful lot of their muscle are more likely to be unable to look after themselves at home, and/or die prematurely.

These things alone are good reason to participate in some sort of strength training routine, a training routine that will maintain, and ideally increase your muscle mass. As well as looking freaking FABULOUS, you might just live longer too.

**Scientific American - Podcast**

Muscle Mass Beats BMI as Longevity Predictor

**The American Journal of Medicine**

Muscle Mass Index as a Predictor of Longevity in Older-Adults

**Princeton Longevity Center**

Article - Get Off The Treadmill

**UCLA Health**

Article - Older Adults: Build Muscle And You'll Live Longer

Ok, hopefully the above articles and studies may have got you thinking, and considering the huge benefits of some muscle building and retention strategies. Getting adequate protein in your diet is important, I discuss that in my previous book, The Lean Fast Diet, but if you don't want to splash out the small cost to read it, I have free articles on my website at <http://www.leanerbydesign.com> which cover all the numbers, calculations and more.

The idea of starting a strength training program might seem scary, but it is super easy.

There are a number of ways you can do this and it doesn't have to be lifting heavy weights in the gym. You will see many bodybuilders these days performing isolation exercises targeting specific muscle groups such as the biceps or triceps, you do not need to do any of this if you are just looking for all-round athletic ability and increased muscle mass.

Compound exercises are exercises that utilize multiple joints at one time, and are closely linked with 'integrated exercises' which use multiple muscle groups in one particular exercise. An example of this would be a bodyweight squats, a push-up, pull-ups or chin-ups, an overhead press. Many people confuse the terminology of compound and integrated exercises, but it is no big deal, you now know better :-)

There are a number of compound exercises you can do that will provide you with a sufficient stimulus for your body to adapt and get stronger over time.

So with just a few short sessions per week, your body can start to increase its muscle mass and leave you looking and feeling better at the same time. Training options include resistance machines in the gym, free weights, which would include barbells, dumbbells, etc. Free weights are the method of choice, but use what you have access to.

You could use bodyweight exercises as your chosen resistance training plan, to increase your strength, muscular endurance, and lean muscle mass.

A program that I would recommend, which is available as a book, or as an iPhone or android app is 'You Are Your Own Gym' by Mark Lauren. This simple program, which includes photographs, video, and written descriptions provides ten-week training programs that will get you from unfit to exceptionally fit in a relatively short period of time.

Check out the iPhone app at the iTunes Store or Google Play store if you have an android phone . It retails for a couple of dollars and is money well spent. Everything you need is there to make impressive gains and become far more capable than you currently are.

If you're looking to use barbells or dumbbells in some sort of free weights program there are number of minimalist routines you can use.

Starting Strength is one such training routine that uses mainly squats, deadlifts, and bench press as the central focus of the training. The Lean Gains protocol, as devised by Martin Berkhan, used intermittent fasting as a nutritional method to provide adequate calories to support recovery and growth after training, as well as a calorie deficit on rest days, if required, for weight loss. Martin's routines involved big compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bench press and chin ups and could be squeezed into a three days per week protocol, taking only 40 minutes to 1 hour to complete each session.

Surely everybody can dedicate this much time to their own health and well-being?

In a future book I will be looking at some specific routines you could utilize to increase your strength but for now let's move onto low intensity steady state 'exercise', and the benefits it may offer when used conservatively, before finally discussing high-intensity interval training, and consider that as an option to help replace your long duration cardio for weight loss.
**LISS - Low Intensity Steady State 'Exercise'**

Low intensity, steady state exercise is, as the name suggests, exercise that is carried out at a low, but consistent intensity, and usually for a longer period of time.

**Here are some examples:**

• Brisk walks or slow jogging

• Walking up hills or on an incline on a treadmill

• Steady swimming at a low intensity

• Walking up stairs on stepping machines

• Steady rowing on a rowing machine

• Steady cycling or using a static exercise bike

Now, as you can see, some of these may well fall into the 'chronic cardio' group, and LISS is often associated with increased muscle wastage when compared to weight training or high intensity interval training.

That said, there are some benefits to 'some' of these training modes, but I want to add a precursor to the discussion.

_What I suggest here, for health, and perhaps a little calorie burn, is very low level movement, NOT an organized exercise session as such._

When you have a lot of weight to lose, diet will play the major role. The leaner you get, when you are looking to have a very small calorie deficit and small fat loss per week, some non exercise activity (remember the NEAT discussion) can actually be quite appropriate.

Consider this. You are a male, at 11% body fat, looking to lose only 2-3 pounds of fat over a 2-3 month period. You may only want to lose 1/3 pound of fat per week, a mere 1000 calorie or so deficit being appropriate.

You could create that deficit from your diet, but you may be fed up with dieting, and prefer to eat at maintenance levels instead. By adding in 3-5 hours of brisk walking per week, you could create that deficit with ease, without affecting your daily food intake.

Now of course, walking for 4-5 hours for most people is going to be hard. Time constraints, family life, we live in busy times. I work from home as a nutrition coach and writer, with a few personal training clients visiting my studio. I have to, by the nature of my work, sit a lot, which is itself an independent factor for poor health. There is however, an alternative, and it is something I am working on right now.

**The Treadmill Desk**

Sounds crazy doesn't it? But more and more people are using treadmill desks these days, to keep their NEAT levels up. Physical movement of the non-exercise kind is something that has taken a dive in recent times, and by standing and moving, rather than sitting, we can actually burn quite a few calories over a day.

I'll show you a couple of pictures of treadmill desks. Firstly, the super expensive custom made ones, and then, a DIY model, using an ordinary treadmill adapted to suit the purpose. You can build one of these really cheaply.

  *

Exerpeutic 2000 WorkFit High Capacity Desk Station Treadmill

Treadmill desk images on Pinterest

Even if you don't use it as a desk for your home business, or at work, you could use a small treadmill whilst watching television, listening to music or podcasts, or whatever else you like to do in your free time.

If you fancy making a treadmill desk of your own, this Instructables article shows you how.

Low intensity movement, for longer periods of time can offer some great health benefits, and even help a little with fat loss. Don't rely on it to shed 50 lbs, but it all helps.

The biggest benefit is, of course, that you can do a lot of it, and not get injured or burned out. And if you have a friend or two, get out the house, walk, skip, laugh, share your stories and have a great time.

Anything that gets you moving. Walking, swimming, recreational cycling, frisbee, hill walking, low intensity static bike in front of the TV, it all helps, but keep it super easy, don't enter that 'chronic cardio' arena!

Make walking and low intensity movement a larger part of your day. Add in some strength training and you'll be gaining some useful muscle mass over time. One last thing. Occasional high intensity exercise to round off your week will get you much fitter, perhaps aid some muscle retention, and all in super quick time when compared to traditional cardio training.
**High Intensity Interval Training - HIIT**

There have been a wealth of studies looking at the benefits of high intensity interval training (HIIT), comparing it to other forms of aerobic exercise for both weight loss, and improved aerobic fitness. This is good for us, because:

_1. It allows us to let go of the paradigm that we need to exercise for long periods of time to get fitter and leaner._

__

_2. It makes life a better place for those of us who want to get fit, and perhaps get a little leaner, but don't want to dedicate hour upon hour per week to do it._

If you REALLY love jogging for hours on end, then that is super cool, carry on. Hell, I even enjoy a gentle canter on a day when the sun is out and the birds are singing. Aerobic exercise can be fun, great for one's mental state, and a whole lot more things. But that is not the premise of this book.

IF you have been to the gym, or read the little instruction manual when you purchased your all-singing-all-dancing heart rate monitor, you may have seen some reference to heart rate zone training? The monitor, or the cardio machine work it all out for you once you have punched your age, height, weight, and date of birth into the machine or watch in question.

It does its 'magic' and spits out some target heart rate zones for you. At lower exertion levels, you are deemed to burn more fat, or be in that 'fat-burning zone'.

I'm not going to lie to you, there is some truth in this, well, at least in the idea that at lower levels of exercise intensity, the ratio of fat/sugar utilized favors fat as the primary fuel source. But, let us take a bit of a deeper look here, and by the end of this section, I am sure you are going to be strapping your self into your cardio contraption of choice (rower, static bike, treadmill, cross trainer) and planning your training sessions very differently.

**Fat and carbohydrates are both burned during exercise, and the intensity of the exercise will determine the proportions. **

**Increase Intensity Activity** = INCREASE in sugar usage / DECREASE in fat usage.

**Decrease Activity Intensity** = DECREASE in sugar usage / INCREASE in fat usage.

To put this into context, walking for example, will utilize fat as the main fuel source, although some sugars (glucose) will still be burned. If you get chased by the same dog I mentioned at the beginning of this book, and run for your life, glucose utilization will ramp up and fat burning will go down.

When you are working at around 60% of your maximal possible exertion rate, so 6/10 in the effort scale, you are burning roughly half fat/half glucose. This is why the 60 - 70% of your maximal exertion rate is often deemed as a good place to exercise, and not surprisingly, is the place that a lot of the 'chronic cardio junkies' spend most of their time.

So, as a quick example, referring back to the chart on energy expenditure for a number of given exercise modalities here, if we walk for say, 30 minutes or so, and burn off 100 calories, around 80-85 of them will come from fat storage, not bad er? We could in theory, get a better calorie (and fat) burn by running for the same period of time. A lot harder work, but you'll burn more fat along the way.

It sounds like I am favoring running over walking doesn't it? I'm not. When looking at the 'potential' to run rather than walk, we also have to consider the ability of the person in question to actually do that run, their general physical state and the possibility of an injury that is going to lay them up for a while, and lead them to overeat perhaps, and additionally, the time available for such exercise. No point having a great plan if you don't have the time to do it.

Remember, you are going to need to do A LOT of it to see any meaningful movement on the scales.

Ok, back to the plot. If you decide not to walk or run, then some form of sprint intervals is worth your consideration. Sure, it's hard work, but you can get a lot more work done, and subsequently, calories burned, in a relatively short time frame.

If you were to spend that same 30 mins or so doing sprint intervals, remembering that you will include a warmup, short 20-30 second sprints, a good recovery period, and a warm down too, you could see up to 500 calories burned during the session. Sure, more from sugar, but still increased fat use to the tune of 150 calories worth of fat. Better, and more effective use of your time? Most likely.

**Are Calories Burned The Only Consideration?**

****

It was always thought that low intensity steady state cardio (LISS) was the premier fat burning system of training, and it DOES utilize more fat relative to glycogen (glucose). The ratio of fat to sugar utilization is known as the respiratory exchange ratio  and when calculated, provides the respiratory quotient, or measure of fat vs glycogen utilization at given exercise intensities. By monitoring the ratio of carbon dioxide to oxygen expelled, exercise scientists can calculate how much carbohydrate (glycogen) or fat is being used.

The fat burning zone does support higher levels of fat burning during the exercise, but HIIT provides more relative fat burning, even though the fat to glycogen ratio is somewhat lower. A number of studies have looked at this. Read a couple of them here, and here. Another useful study can be found here:

High-intensity aerobic interval training increases fat and carbohydrate metabolic capacities in human skeletal muscle. \- Perry CG, Heigenhauser GJ, Bonen A, Spriet LL.

Calories matter, but getting too tied up in them is only going to make a gibbering head-case of you. Research still needs to be done, but there also appear to be quite a few rather funky benefits to high intensity interval training.

In this study, scientists isolated some interesting benefits, which included:

  * Post exercise appetite suppression (really important to those wanting to get lean)
  * An increased metabolic rate for up to 24 hours
  * Improved insulin sensitivity in the muscles
  * Spikes in growth hormone levels, which aid in fat loss

There are a whole raft of other potential benefits to HIIT, and the following studies showed increased fat loss in the study sample carrying out this type of training, when compared to those doing steady state cardio on a treadmill.

Want some more? How about these potential benefits:

• I **mproved insulin sensitivity** – after a HIIT session your bodies will be more able to store glucose. You will be depleting muscle glycogen during HIIT, so taking some carbs onboard after your session is a great plan to allow replenishment of glycogen ready for the next session. Depending on the training, glucose can be taken up without the presence of insulin, in a process called 'non-insulin mediated glucose uptake'.

• **Increased anaerobic / lactate threshold** – working at high intensities conditions the body to handle lactic acid buildup in the muscles and raises the threshold at which your body utilizes mostly sugar for energy. By pushing these thresholds up, you can exercise at higher intensities for longer.

• **Raised Aerobic Capacity** – Your body makes cellular adaptations that allow you to utilize oxygen more efficiently, like increased mitochondrial density. Your maximal oxygen uptake increases, and you become 'fitter'.

• **Anabolic effect** – there have been some studies that appear to show that combining HIIT with a slight increase in calorie intake, you body becomes more anabolic, and this may help to put on a little extra muscle. I think that the benefits, although useful if true, are probably relatively small, and obviously shouldn't be relied upon. Here is a study that researched this.

**Click the links to go to the studies.**

University Of Western Ontario Study

Small sample size, only 10 men and 10 women - the study results found that over time, shorter, higher intensity sessions resulted in more fat loss than longer, easier sessions.

Laval University \- East Tennessee State University \- similar results found.

I'm not telling you that HIIT is the holy grail of fat loss, because it is not. If you just dump your cardio and replace it with HIIT, and do nothing different in the kitchen, you are still not going to see significant results.

**Why HIIT Can Be Useful - Some More Benefits**

Here are a few more reasons why I believe that a HIIT routine is better value than long duration cardio.

****

**1. Time Efficiency Of HIIT**

As I will discuss later, steady state cardio (at appropriate intensities) is still a viable and effective option for 'some' people, but when you are short on time, HIIT will allow you to condense your workouts into 20 minutes rather than 45 minutes to an hour. You are going to get a lot done in a short time.

With a HIIT routine, you are going to be performing a few bursts of intense effort, and then allowing a rest period to allow you to recover for the next burst. It might look something like this.

  * 5 minute warmup
  * 8 x 30 seconds of all out sprinting with a 2 minute walk break in between for recovery
  * 5-10 minute cool down

If you can't manage 8 sets, you could start with 4 and build up over time. Alternatively, shorten the work periods to 20 seconds and build time as your fitness improves. This can be performed with running, stationary bike, rower, or elliptical, the mode of exercise is less important than the intensity.

It definitely pays to start gently and build up over time. HIIT requires some pretty full on high intensity bursts, which many beginners find hard to sustain. As you improve and gain experience, you will be able (and willing) to work harder for longer. Tabata protocols call for 20 seconds of all out effort, and 10 seconds of rest. This is good, but for the beginner, it may not allow adequate recovery.

**2. HIIT Training Can Be Done Anywhere**

This is one thing I really like about HIIT. The mode of your intervals is not important, providing you are able to reach the intensity required. So a home stationary bike, even using a kettlebell for swings, jump rope intervals, burpees, sprinting on a nearby hill or at the local park, HIIT is quick and versatile. There is no excuse not to be able to program a HIIT session into your fitness routine.

**3. It Never Gets Boring**

Due to the high intensity of your HIIT, and the fact that going into it you KNOW the duration is relatively short, HIIT is never boring. You'll be too busy trying to keep yourself together during the intervals, then trying to relax during the rest period to get bored   As an aside, I like to listen to music when I'm doing interval training, something upbeat, rocky, and inspiring usually gives me that little extra push to up the ante. I love _Linkin Park_ and _Rise Against_ to keep me pushing during the sprints.

**4. Maximize Your Fitness And Look Better......Quicker**

This is the big one for most people. Imagine, a well researched, scientifically sound, provable way to get in better shape in less time. Who wouldn't want that? Results can be seen faster with HIIT when compared to conventional cardio routines.

A few weeks if HIIT training can show some significant results in fitness. Steady state cardio can take a lot longer. Many people find that even if they enjoy running, cycling, (insert sport here) for longer periods, their chosen sport performance improves when combined with HIIT training.

**Note:** Too much HIIT is a BAD idea, the ability to recover, and to fall into the overtraining trap are very real with HIIT. If you are still doing other sports during your week, a single HIIT session per week, or every 10 days, can be all you need to gain some of the benefits. If you don't do anything else, then combining HIIT with some metabolic conditioning sessions with bodyweight, barbell or kettlebells can work really well a few times per week. Mix things up is the key to success and avoiding stagnation.

So, my feeling, and 'geek mind' tell me that HIIT is effective, time efficient, and fun, but other methods work too, it all depends on time, goals, and what sort of training 'floats YOUR boat'.

**5. HIIT Training Can Get You Stronger**

The one thing I will say about steady state, high volume cardio, whether from running, biking, whatever mode you choose, it is not always a great way to build strength and functionality. If you love racing marathons, then you need to spend most of your time running, but ignoring strength training can result in some serious muscular imbalances that will catch you out in time (think poor glute activation and muscle atrophy in runners).

The great thing with HIIT is that you can incorporate a range of high intensity, metabolic workouts into a HIIT session. You can perform barbell complexes, kettle bell routines, bodyweight and plyometric training, resistance band sessions, sandbags, the list is endless. A typical HIIT session with a strength emphasis could look something like this.

5 minute warm up, followed by 4 rounds of exercises, each with 20 seconds of work and a 10 second rest/transition.

Courtesy acefitness.org

**Another HIIT Session Outline**

If you are a beginner, before attempting HIIT, be confident that you could do a 20 minute or greater cardio session at a moderate intensity, one where you can talk, but only hold conversations of 6-8 words or so. This is not a high level, but it's better to build a little aerobic conditioning before going into HIIT. NO, don't do cardio for a long period of time to work up to this. The idea is that you make sure you have something resembling a little fitness before getting stuck in to HIIT.

**Sample HIIT Workout**

• **5 minute warmup**

• 30 second all-out sprint

• **2 minute walk to recover**

• Repeat x 6

• **5 minute cool down**

As time goes on you could increase sprint to 45 seconds, reduce rest to 1:30 or add extra repeats up to 8-10 HIIT intervals.

High intensity HIIT interval training is hard work, the benefits are huge, and there is no real need for equipment, perhaps just a stopwatch. If you haven't got that, you can use roadside furniture like lampposts as markers. Sprint between two lampposts, walk between 3, then repeat.

So, if you are short of time, would like to mix things up and introduce a new element to your training, HIIT interval training could be the answer you've been looking for. The 'Holy Grail' it isn't but HIIT has a lot going for it. Enjoy!
**Cardio In Context**

****

Having discussed the forms of exercise that I think are appropriate for the average person looking to improve their body composition, I think it's important to have a short section regarding the type of cardio, and approach to that type of training, that you should do, if you really feel you have to.

When I say _'really have to do it'_ I'm talking about people who enjoy cardio, people who are training for some sort of event where endurance exercise plays an important role in the training regime, or athletes who are already deeply involved in endurance sports. It's important to know that if you enjoy, and want to be involved in endurance sport, that is obviously your call, but you need to be aware that it may not be the most efficient strategy for achieving good overall body composition.

One thing to mention here is that when you see marathon winners and ultra-marathon runners who are generally very lean, you need to ask yourself are they lean specifically because of the training they do?

OR, are they involved in that type of exercise because they are naturally lean and their body type causes them to gravitate towards endurance sports, to which they are well-suited? Having looked at many endurance athletes, the ones that rank highly and are very competitive in their events, it certainly appears to be the latter.

So if you are looking to include longer duration cardio as part of your training program how should you do it?

There is no doubt that cardio training will improve aerobic fitness and cardiovascular health. It can also damage it if you are exercising at too high intensity for prolonged periods of time.

It's important to build a broad aerobic base if endurance athletics is your 'bag'. What is often overlooked, but should be highly recommended, is the use of relatively low intensity, low heart rate training to build that aerobic base. This can be conducted over relatively long period of time of several months each year where you work with a heart rate monitor and keep your heart rate below a certain threshold.

For many people this may involve walking in areas where you used to run, but that is fine. I live in a very hilly part of the UK and when conducting low heart rate, aerobic base building, I certainly had to walk some of the steeper inclines for a period of time. It can damage your ego a little but what the hell, this type of training really works so let's discuss it in a little more detail.

People have been training at relatively low intensities for ever, since people started participating in organized training programs. The famed New Zealand running coach Arthur Lydiard was an advocate of fairly low intensity training, certainly as a buildup period towards some more intense practice as one got closer to an event.

The kinesiologist Philip Maffetone, rose to prominence when he trained the multiple Ironman champion Mark Allen using low heart rate training.

The Maffetone Method essentially involves using a simple calculation of 180 minus your age as the top target heart rate for your low intensity training. There are a few other facets to his training formula which you can read via the link below.

Maffetone Formula Article

Some people will get hung up with this idea of 180 minus your age and say that maximum heart rate is not a good indicator of the target heart rate level you should be training at. What is important to say about Maffetone's formula is that 180 is not in any way related, or taken from any type of maximum heart rate equation. What Maffetone did was measured oxygen consumption, fat and sugar burning ratios in a large number of athletes, and he found that the level of intensity at which they were burning the most fat equated to a target heart rate of 180 minus their age.

So this formula is based on empirical evidence, and although probably not perfect, is a good starting place. The formula encourages you to exercise, be that running, cycling, rowing, in a 10 bpm window. So as an example if you were 40 years old and took the equation of 180 minus your age, your maximum heart rate for this type of training would be 140 bpm, a 10 bpm window would be in the range of 130 bpm to 140 bpm.

Because it is a relatively low intensity heart rate level you can exercise for some fairly prolonged periods of time in this zone. You're unlikely to suffer so badly from overtraining when exercising at this intensity, so it is a very good place for those looking to increase their aerobic exercise volume, gain some increased aerobic fitness and cardiovascular health, without killing themselves on the road or treadmill every day.

It's a more sustainable method of training and can be used indefinitely, or as a base building period, which will allow you to add some more high intensity training as you get closer to your target events or training season.

I would still advocate that for those looking to use cardio for weight loss this should still not be your central strategy, but if you are somebody who is looking to exercise for several hours a week in the aerobic training zone, you should probably be aware, if you are not already, that this is training for performance and cardiovascular health/fitness and not specifically for weight loss. It still has the negative area of muscle wastage, but it's your body and life, if you enjoy it, do it.
**Who Should Do Cardio?**

Cardio is not _always_ a bad thing, sorry to harp on about that. There are huge physical and mental benefits to exercise, but free and easy weight loss is not one of them.

So, if you are hoping to shed some fat, get your diet dialed in first, and slowly add in some activity each day, anything will do, but not running your butt off for an hour on the treadmill.

So who could, or should be doing cardio, and by this I mean, moderate to long duration aerobic training? Let's consider a few categories. We have touched on this before, but hell, it's my book, and I do like to repeat myself on a regularly nauseating basis.

  * **Endurance athletes** \- if you want to be competitive in races, or even against yourself, and the events you partake in are endurance events, then you are going to have to give in and do some longer duration training. I think that strength training and some HIIT sessions could definitely improve your performance too, but training does, at some point, need to be event specific, so if you are doing a marathon, 18 weeks of training in the swimming pool is probably not going to help a whole lot.

  * **You love to** run/bike/insert training mode here. If you love it ... DO IT! Doing what you love is the most important thing in life. **Avoid what you hate, do what you love**. If running long distances is it, then go for it, your life will be a better place. Just know that it might not be the best activity for your body, or even your long term health, but better to have enjoyed life, than lived in misery, **not** doing what you love.

  * **You are already lean, and trying to get super lean**. Even then, aiming for some additional walking, or a HIIT session or two per week is probably one of the best ways to get results if you are just chipping away at the last remnants of body fat.

Aside from these folks, and perhaps a few other groups with medical conditions or post surgery therapy requirements, most people can totally transform their bodies with a combination of diet, strength training, some high intensity sprints, and a mix of low intensity fun activity that doesn't need to feel like a chore.

Sure, this stuff all takes time, and however you slice or dice it, building structured exercise into your life when there was none before is going to take some time out of a few of your days. But what is the alternative?

?

**Conclusion**

Well, I've enjoyed writing this book, but we are now approaching the end of the road, so to speak. A road that you have hopefully ambled down in a fun and relaxed way, without a heart rate monitor or a spandex one piece aerobics outfit in sight? (BTW, if you have been wearing one of those to read this book, you've just got to send me the photos)

I am sure this book will encourage some debate and controversy. Exercise, food, and health tend to be extremely polarizing issues, ones that stir up a lot of emotion and personal feelings in people.

But, even if you have read this and completely disagree with EVERYTHING I have written, researched, and quoted, don't consider this book a personal attack on everything that holds true for you.

As I have mentioned numerous times, some people get on well with running and other cardio activities. It suits them, they enjoy it. But is it what will help the majority of the overweight population to lose large amounts of potentially health threatening body fat? Most likely not. And my aim, as a trainer, coach, and author, is to bust through some of the paradigms that continue to hold people back from achieving success in their lives.

I hope to entertain you, inspire you, help you, coax you, cajole you, and most of all, learn from your experiences, to make me a better trainer, coach, author and person.

If you have any views or feedback, please take the time to email me or connect with me via the channels I will mention in the next page or two.

If you love what I do, or hate it, please leave an honest review. If you disagree with me, then let me know, please don't just damn my book on Amazon because you disagree with it. If I've missed something, or you have some research that you feel is important, email me, and I will consider including it in an updated version of this book.
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**Leaner By Design** \- <http://www.leanerbydesign.com>

This is my online nutrition coaching website and blog, where I whittle away my time producing lots of free and useful content for both my clients, and people who are just passing by. I write about all aspects of diet, body recomposition, fat loss, muscle gain, dealing with setbacks and obstacles, as well as ways to take a positive approach to goal setting.

My traffic has really grown over the last few months, and people seem to like my writing style and the substance of the articles. I try to take a middle of the road approach between a science-based approach and just providing good, solid content that people can understand and act upon.

I'd be honored if you dropped by occasionally, left a comment or two and told me what you would like to read about. I'm always on the search for new ideas and providing content that people actually need, so let me know what is important to you.

**Lyle McDonald** \- <http://www.bodyrecomposition.com>

Lyle McDonald has been at the forefront of a new chapter in nutrition and fat loss research and writing. He qualified as an exercise physiologist, but has become a prolific researcher, experimenter, and author, with some great books on dealing with stubborn fat, as well as diets for strength trainers and athletes.

An awesome resource if you want a no BS approach to nutrition and fat loss.

**Lean Gains** -<http://leangains.com>

Martin Berkhan's blog, the place where intermittent fasting for bodybuilders and strength trainees really took off. Martin has been flying well below the radar for the last couple of years, but has started posting again on his site in recent weeks (June 2014).

Martin is a guy who knows his stuff, and has a physique to prove it. He built a huge following over the years, and has helped many people to create awesome physiques through his writing. Definitely worth checking out if you are into becoming strong and lean!

**Eat Stop Eat** \- <http://www.eatstopeat.com> | <http://bit.ly/eat-stop-eat-book>

Brad Pilon's book on intermittent fasting is updated and expanded, and is a fantastic read. It focuses more in fasting once or twice a week for 24 hour periods, but the background information into fasting is excellent reading.

_Note: I receive a small affiliate commission if you buy this book. It costs you no more because of this, but I like to be open and honest._

__

**Precision Nutrition -**<http://www.precisionnutrition.com>

John Berardi built one of the world's foremost nutritional education companies from scratch, and now trains many of the top nutrition coaches in the world. I completed my Sports & Exercise Nutrition Coach program with Precision Nutrition, and as expected, the quality of their training material and the thoroughness of the certification process reinforces my admiration for the company, and for John Berardi.

John did an intermittent fasting experiment some time ago, and published his findings in a free pdf, which you can find on the PN website. Well worth a read.
**Copyright And Disclaimer**

****

_Copyright © 2014 by Stephen Reed_

The right of Stephen Reed to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted to hime in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

**Health And Liability Disclaimer**

****

**Health Disclaimer** \- This book and the related websites are for use as informational and educational study only, with information that is general in nature. The contents are to assist you in making educated choices concerning your wellness and diet efforts.

I am not a doctor. The information I provide is based on my personal experience, thorough studies on Human Physiology & Nutrition and my experience as a Personal Trainer. Any recommendations I make about nutrition, exercise, or lifestyle should be discussed between yourself and your doctor.

This book is provided for general information, everyone is different, and it is important that you take personal responsibility for your own health and nutrition.

**Liability Disclaimer** \- The authors, publishers, and any additional parties involved in the creation of this book or related websites disclaim any responsibility, and shall not be held liable for damages, claims, injuries, losses or liabilities, any costs or obligations caused as a result of the use or misuse of this material or associated websites.

**Personal Disclaimer**

I am not a doctor. The information I provide is based on my personal experience, thorough studies on Human Physiology & Nutrition and my experience as a Personal Trainer. Any recommendations I make about nutrition, exercise, or lifestyle should be discussed between yourself and your doctor.

This book is provided for general information, everyone is different, and it is important that you take personal responsibility for your own health and nutrition.
