Endless Cardio is NOT the Way! And Workouts for Fat Loss

"Cardio: the only way to lose fat!"
Uhm... WRONGGGGGGGGGG

Like most people, at the beginning of my lifestyle journey I thought the only thing girls did in the gym was hop on a bike/treadmill/elliptical/cardio machine and go and go and go till they couldn't go no more! Oh how FALSE that is!

Did you know you're doing your body more HARM than good? Slowing down your metabolism, making it harder for your body to lose fat, and breaking down gorgeous muscle??!!? I know CRAZYYYY.

I wanted to post some wise words from a friend of mine, @Mrgeecue or Nate, from Instagram, and his thoughts on endless cardio.

"Here's a scenario. You're doing cardio 5x/wk at 30mins a day n calorie intake has been reduced. Initially you drop bodyfat. The body recognizes this as a danger of reducing its energy (fat) stores so in response your metabolism is lowered. At this point it's necessary to increase cardio duration to compete with the lowered metabolism. What this means is you're no longer burning calories at the same rate you did initially. So you do more and more cardio until you reached that desired bodyfat level. This is OK temporarily At the end of this trend when bodyfat is lowered, METABOLISM is also low. Here's the point that I really want to emphasize. Say you keep doing that cardio for 6, 9, 12 months and you're still on a low calorie diet. Do you think you can continue losing bodyfat at the same rate you did initially? NO! because the body has ADAPTED to the amount of cardio that you've been doing. Continuing cardio for that long 1)wastes your day 2) slows your metabolism. You end up just hurting your goals by doing endless/mindless cardio."

THERE YOU HAVE IT.

Also another GREAT post on how endless cardio is just a waste, head over here to Dangerously Hardcore for their recent post on the subject! Really opens your eyes huh?!?! 

SO now you're probably asking, then what can I do to target fat the healthy way?!?

• HIIT instead of cardio
• high intensity interval training
• example: :30 sec sprint/:45 sec to 1 minute walk - repeat 10-15x
• Strength Circuit training
• combine weights and cardio bursts!
• example: 10 weighted sumo squats with 10 jump squats
• bicep curls 3x10 with :30 sec high knees in between sets
• or try this total body workout killer
• Plyos
• great bursting movements that keep your body always guessing!
• example: plyo workout
• WEIGHT TRAINING, mixed with plyos in between sets, followed by 10-20 minutes of cardio
• this is usually what I do! 
• Workout split:
• monday: legs
• tuesday: back and bis
• wednesday: chest and tris
• thursday: glutes
• friday: rest
• saturday: shoulders/calves/abs
• sunday: total body/pilates
• Usually follow 3 out of the 6 workout days with 20 minutes of cardio! 
• and in between my sets [so lets say bicep curls 3x10, after the first 10, I'll do a plyo move like squat jumps for :30 sec or do a specific number, then do another set of 10 curls, then do a different cardio move like jump rope for :30 sec, then do the last set of curls, etc]
• And I do cardio afterwards so I can expend most of my energy during the weights! And then the light cardio after is a cool down, but also keeps my heart healthy :]
• notice how my cardio is between 10-20 minutes! NOT 45 mins - 1 hour! :O

I hope I've helped with the myth of the CARDIO BUNNY and gotten some of you to look more into intervals, circuits, and weight training! Trust me, those will do your body and muscles more good than slaving away hours on hours on the treadmill!
<3 <3