5 Reasons Why “Cardio” Is a Waste of Time

By Chad Ciri, CPT (ACE)

Let’s face it, we’ve all seen those people at the gym who spend an hour every day walking or jogging on the treadmill. More times than not, those people look exactly the same when you see them a year later…still running on the same treadmill!  There are several reasons that traditional “cardio” doesn’t yield results.  Amongst others, here are what I believe to be the top 5.

1) People hate doing cardio. When’s the last time someone smiled in excitement as they headed to the gym to do cardio?  No one gets excited about it.  Why?  Traditional cardio training is monotonous!  No one wants to stick to an exercise program that’s boring.  30 minutes on a treadmill or an elliptical trainer for 5 days a week is a guaranteed formula for failure.

2) Cardio promotes unhealthy relationships with food.  People can become obsessed with the calorie counters on machines.  I’ve seen way too many people who become completely obsessed with counting how many calories they’ve burned doing cardio.  Too many times this happens only because people are trying to put calories
in the “bank” so they can get away with over eating.  Your diet is just as important to your cardiovascular health as your exercise regime, so aerobic activity should not exist simply to negate the effects of an unhealthy diet.

3) Cardio in itself doesn’t make you healthy. There is so much more to health than 30 minutes of  “cardio”.  I’m not suggesting that regular aerobic activity isn’t beneficial, however there are so many more activities that will far exceed the effectiveness of walking in place for an hour each day.  As long as you’re active each day (doing manual labor, playing sports, or lifting weights), you’re doing enough to meet the minimum required amount of exercise for cardiovascular health.

4) Cardio does not enhance human performance. Show me the guy who has done traditional cardio training to prepare for a season of basketball, football or any other competitive sport, and I’ll show you the guys who is extremely disappointed in his performance.  The fact is, cardio does not generate gains in sports-specific fitness levels.  Effective performance enhancement training will include a combination of strength training, plyometrics, and stretching, which, by the way, will also be a far more effective tool in weight loss!

5.) Most traditional “cardio” exercises neglect functional movement. Let’s face it, one of the best things we can get from a fitness program is the ability to move better.  Using an elliptical trainer or an arc trainer simply does not mimic normal human movement, therefore it limits our ability to perfect it.  Squats and deadlifts, for example, are movements that we use every day throughout our lives and will be far more effective training methods (when done correctly) in achieving  any desired fitness result.

So what’s the solution?
So what should you be doing instead if you want to sculpt your body, burn fat, lose your belly, and build lean muscle?
You should skip the “cardio” and focus on total-body, multi-muscle resistance training and interval training exercises to help you build functional strength and fitness.  Hiring a personal trainer is one of the best ways to ensure that you’re getting the most out of your exercise program and not wasting your time with exercises that won’t yield the results you deserve!  Click Below to see our absolutely irresistible “Story Of You” July special which is only available until 7/31/09…  July 2009 Personal Training Special

In Strength and Health,

Chad Ciri, CPT
ACE Certified Achieve Fitness Personal Trainer

“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as well as labor does the body.”