Is Traditional Cardio Necessary for Fat Loss?

Walk into your local corporate gym around 6 am or 6 pm and you will probably find about 50 or so people walking, running, step-milling, cycling, spinning, elipticalling (if that's even a word)  their way to leanness. Now take a good look at the bodies on these machines.  Do they possess a good amount of muscle?  Do things look taught as they move in that repetitive motion? Are they as in good a shape as you wish to be?  While traditional cardio has a place in achieving a fitness goal or look, it is mistakenly overused and misplaced in peoples programs.

What if I told you that skinny people should do cardio and heavy people should avoid it?  Goes against everything you have been told, but it is the truth. Take a look at the physiques that the bodybuilders had back in the 70's.  It is a look widely accepted today as "good looking" and "healthy". Now ask any of these guys what they did for cardio and they will laugh at you - there was no cardio.  Look at the vintage pictures of the Gold's gym at Venice beach, the Mecca of bodybuilding, and find a single treadmill or a bike - you can't.  These guys trained much harder, and much longer, and at a higher pace than is done today, and they watched what they ate. That's it. That's all you need as well.

"These guys trained much harder, and much longer, and at a higher pace than is done today, and they watched what they ate. That's it. That's all you need as well."

One more thing before I leave you to attack the weights with a new found vigor. The science of target heart rate and your VO2 max is really fancy, and there are a lot of trainers out there that will pitch you the numbers and the data. You want the truth. Walk into a gym with a full range of motion in all your joints and muscles, wearing dry clothes and full of breath. Leave the gym with out being able to take a step with out feeling like something might tear cause its so tight from the pump, soaked through with sweat and unable to catch your breath. Do this via resistance training and tell me you don't see a huge difference in you physique within 2 weeks.

- Ty