The Cardio-Free Diet
Fitness 'expert' Jim Karas has written a diet book claiming that cardio is a complete waste of time. The Cardio-Free Diet advises us to ditch the cardio: "it kills your time, your energy, your joints, and your motivation"
"Cardiovascular exercise kills a weight-loss plan, your internal organs, your immune system, your time and your motivation. If your true goal is to lose weight, interval strength training is the only way to go," (from ABC News)
Call me cynical - but this reeks of sensationalism as a marketing tool.
Essentially - Karas figured out that he lost weight by doing strength and resistance training and minimal cardio. This is old news. However to say that cardiovascular exercise "kills" a weight-loss plan is simply a headline grabber.
Karas claims that the cardio leads to an increase in appetite so you eat more - thus preventing any fat loss benefits.
Has anyone looked at the physique of an endurance athlete? Not what I would call overfat.
I believe we are getting lost in semantics here. Any decent fat loss program should have exercises that get your heart-rate up -- whether it's 400m running intervals, or air squats done at speed with high repetition... or 45 minutes on the treadmill.
Cardio training (jogging, treadmill, stationary bike) may have been over-emphasized over the last decade, but that doesn't mean we need to can the cardio. It means we need to start emphasizing the benefits of strength training and bodyweight exercises.
You have to find what works for you
For me - this means variety in exercise using a large range of different exercises - some weight-bearing, some bodyweight, some fast, some slow. I get bored quickly, and find that dramatic variation is the key - and sometimes - this actually includes straight aerobic exercise.
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We need to start doing more treadmill dancing, I believe. Like in the Ok Go video for "Here it Goes Again", hahaha. That will make it less pointless looking.
ReplyAs a Fitness Professional, Cardio needs to be a foundation of any exercise program as does strength training. Krass is just trying to make money with these claims...
Yes, You do not have to do cardio to loose weight, it is a simple equation of calories burned vs calories eaten. However, you will loose more weight by altering both of those variables instead of just one.
He also recommends doing strength training using compound movements at a fast pace... This IS cardio.. just because it is not on a treadmill does not mean your heart rate does not get elevated continuously. Possible the problem is that people are doing too light of cardio or the wrong kinds (on a recumbent bike for example) so the time invested is high and calories burned are low.
When should you do little or no cardio? When you have extremely low body fat (like 6%) and are preparing for a bodybuilding competition... And this is only for a few weeks.
For the average person wanting to loose weight and tone up, cardio, strength training, and nutrition are all essentials for results.
Also, there is a difference between a marathon runner (who will run 10+ miles every day = hard on the body) and a average person doing 45 mins of moderate intensity cardio 3 times per week. Cardio is GOOD for the body, lowers LDL raises HDL, lowers blood pressure, increases VO2, ect....
And the hunger you feel after cardio is your body trying to replenish its glycogen stores… Studies have shown that this is the best time to eat. Just watch what you eat and the majority of calories you intake (sugars ect.) do not go to fat but to replenish / repair your body/
These claims are purely for monetary gain.
ReplyIf anyone is curious as to what 'beyond fit' means, you can see BGirl Dura at this link. After the site opens click on RIDERS then choose the BGirl Dura video.
Enjoy!
http://www.redbullbeatriders.com/
ReplyI will weigh in with my own experience here. I think the reason people say cardio doesn't work for fat loss is because most people don't do enough of it to make a difference. If you hop on a treadmill and walk 30 minutes 4 times a week, you'll burn about 150 calories MAYBE per session. If you don't adjust your diet as well, or if you overcompensate for your workout, sure you'll stay fat.
I myself am a distance runner. I also do strength training. I run 8-9 miles most days of the week and I also jump rope. I do strength training 2-3 days a week and focus primarily on my upper body. Runners usually are able to build good bone mass in their legs from all the running, but to bulk up your arm bones, you need to lift weights too.
Oh, and Runners' World did a big study on joint health of runners vs. non runners at various ages. Runners in the 60-70 age bracket had a MUCH lower incidence of knee replacements than sedentary people of the same age. Use it or lose it, I guess. Of course, if you have a preexisting injury, you shouldn't start running or you could make it worse.
ReplyI just saw the OK Go video. Oh my gawd, this is good...
Thanks!
ReplyI had to look up "tabata squats" and "burpees". That's got to take you to your max BPM pretty fast!
ReplyInteresting book... I'll have to give it a read before I decide whether I agree or disagree completely...
Will Agree -- Long term, low intensity, steady state cardio isn't the most efficient in the world for fat loss.
Now, if he's talking about all cardio... including interval training and anything that tends to push you beyond your aerobic threshold... thereby increasing lung capacity and stroke volume...
Houston... we have a problem.
ReplyIntensity of effort. A 20 minute jog is not as intense as an all-out sprint for example, because of the increased intensity of sprinting.
I have experienced similar improvements in PB, Cholesterol, resting pulse, and flexibility from my program of strength training. Improvements in PB and Cholesterol are synonymous with a reduction of body fat. And I attribute my fat loss to my weight workout and dietary changes.
This all comes down to goals and choice of tools. A risky activity is no good for long-term health if you end up immobile from years of repetitive stress to bones and connective tissues.
I plan to be able to enjoy the outdoors and the sunrise well into my old age without joint or skeletal problems resulting from high-force workouts.
It may well be meaningless to you. You confuse pleasure with effectiveness. The most effective tool may not be the most pleasurable activity to engage in. The results, however, have the potential to give more pleasure for longer than less effective methods.
The whole “keep moving” thing just sounds like something Forrest Gump would do.
ReplyUgh.
ReplyThat's all I can even say to this.
Okay... one more thing...
ReplyI know I'm not the only one... running saps my appetite. If I don't force myself eat first thing after running 15+ miles, I can't eat all day.
Strength training, I'm starving and start eating any meat I can find the second after finishing.
Doesn't the appetite thing depend on the person?
There's plenty of research that indicates the value of cardio, and I've personally seen similar results with myself. If you have references showing that these benefits can be obtained solely by diet, then please do post them. (More accurately, that the same results can be obtained from short, frequent bursts of intense aneroboic activity, combined with diet). I'd be interested in reading them.
jonjo, I think you believe what you're saying, and you write like you've personally seen many people fade into a miserable crippled life because of spending too much time doing "high force" workouts. I know my share of people who have had to stop running due to injuries, but I've seen an order of magnitude more people stop exercising because they become consumed with other parts of their lives. Hence, my mantra that you dismiss as being Gump-ish is, I think, far more important than the value of your argument about what is the "best" long term exercise.
Be well, my friend.
ReplyI've dropped over 50 pounds now from a combination of brisk 5 mile walks plus an obsessively managed diet. I will soon be adding some basic weight training in. I will be curious to see how this affects the rate of weight loss and how I will have to adjust my diet to cope with it (some more protein will be necessary, I'm sure, as I don't get tons right now).
I can't say whether weight training or cardio is better for weight loss, but I will say that I have had incredible successes with cardio this go-around, as I did back in college when I lost a lot of weight (60 lbs) by...long brisk walks. I've never jogged or sprinted for exercise in my life.
What I've read about muscle building and its effect on metabolism makes sense, which is why I'm adding it. Ultimately though my fitness goals include being able to cover vast distances of ground in a single clip; I have some deep desert hiking trips I want to take, and I can report that after just 2 months of cardio, my endurance has increased dramatically.
My hope is that as I get down to the weight that I want, I can decrease (but not stop) my cardio and increase weights, because it gets ridiculously hot here in the summer and extended walks are likely to be horribly unpleasant.
The idea that cardio is not effective for weight loss, or works counter to weight loss, is utter hogwash, for me (I'm not saying most critics of cardio claim this but some do).
My diet, incidentally, is both moderately low in fat (~35g per day, mostly vegetable fats,) and carbohydrates (60-70 per day, almost all from vegetables?) with the rest coming from protein.
Somewhat counterintuitively this diet has not yet impacted my ability to do moderate intensity cardio, as everyone suggested it should (I would note that half of my walk is up a steep hill; I live in foothills of a mountain range).
This whole equation my change, of course, when I get down to a significantly lower weight range.
I can see benefits of both but if I had to choose, I'd rather have endurance than strength.
ReplyWow, so many people who just don't get it.
Are you people even aware that strength training ALSO works your heart? It isn't one or the other people!
I saw the morning GMA interview as well, and aside from the admittedly lame "cardio kills" interest grabber, what he was saying is that cardio is murder on the joints, and has the mindset of the typical person wanting to lose weight down pat.
If you exercise with heavy weights, you ARE working your heart. Your pulse will rise. What I see here are a bunch of people with a bunch of hangups who are whining because they don't want to believe that they've wasted their lives on cardio - kind of like the kid who claims his gaming system is better than his neighbors, even though the company making his gaming system is going out of business.
Enough with the lame pissing contests.
To the person who sees fat people lifting - you don't exactly go and see what they are eating, do you? Since you don't know diet, you don't know that heavy lifting is wrong for losing weight.
Look - I have no idea whether this works or not. To me, if you have a hang up, try it the author's way, then hit a cardio machine for 20 minues - which is the minimum recommended time for there to be an effect. That way, you can satify your hangups.
But I do have just one point - I have heard PLENTY of instances of people dying of heart attacks or strokes on cardio machines; I have NEVER heard from a reputable NEWS source (not some guy or gal claiming they heard something just to win a pissing contest), that anyone has ever died while lifting weights - at least not anyone who wasn't found to be on drugs or steroids.
Just a little thing to make you go "Hmmmm...."
ReplyI'm curious if any of you cardio enthusiasts who spend 2 hours a day in a gym actually work or have long commutes like the average American does?
I get up at 6 am now and get home at 7 pm or later on a good day. No, I'm not willing to get up at 5 to run. I'm not willing to live for work and exercise and not have any other interests in life. Life is short enough as it is, even if you live to be 80 or 85.
Also, in my own experience, I used to confidently start diets and exercise programs, and I would virtuously walk or run regularly. Guess what? On the weeks when I was the most conscientious about the diet and cardio exercise, I also didn't lose weight or I even gained weight. I was baffled. I still am. I have no idea why I got such contradictory results - and please don't say I miscalculated my calories because I was following Weight Watchers scrupulously - and also don't say I wasn't walking enough because I was walking 45 minutes up and down hills and huffing and puffing at times. In other words, I was doing all that was humanly possible given my fitness level at the time.
On the weeks that I followed the diet and didn't exercise, my weight loss was better and I also wasn't hungry.
I am intereted in being fit as well as thin. But I can tell you all the cardio advice worked for me about as well as high carb low protein diets did. Oh yeah, those diets didn't work either.
I sometimes believe the whole health-fitness industry buys into a trendy meme and then never changes it regardless of the empircal evidence to the contrary.
Sign me, skeptical and distrustful of the mainstream experts whose advise has let me down too often.
I'll try Karas' approach with an open mind. After all, I tried the South Beach diet and the high protein, healthy fat, healthy carb approach was far more successful than the low fat, high carb Ornish diet ever was. So, why wouldn't Karas' counter-intuitive approach to exercise also work?
ReplyI don't spend two hours in a gym, but I exercise between 1 and 2 hours a day, with most days closer to 2. I have a 30 minute commute (except when I bike it ^_^ which, round trip, is 1 3/4 hours). I work a full day, and am a member of a band which keeps me busy half of the evenings playing or practicing. I get up at 5 AM during the week and try to be asleep every day by 10 PM. I don't have any children (which I miss but life is life) and so have more flexibility than some others my age.
Anyway, to answer your implied question: If you can find a a kind of "exercise" you like, then you've won the battle. Walking quickly up steep hills may not be the thing for you, start more slowly with a friend. Or do something else - dance, yoga, and so on. Don't try to do it for two hours. A person who exercises for two hours a day does it because the process and the results feel so good.
We have these wonderful things called bodies that are made to be used. To steal from a book I'm reading (on training for those over 50), if God had meant us to spend all our time sitting, then our butts would become stronger and better toned as we sat on them.
Why you gain weight when exercising while watching what you eat like a hawk? I'd recommend seeing a nutritionist. Many people in your situation benefit from the low carb approach - it sounds like you do too. But, find a way to increase your exercise. There's nothing that makes you feel younger - more so than new shoes, even - then having good energy.
ReplyI exercise 2h, sometimes more, everyday. I don't really have a commute, since I live on the second floor of a building and work on the ground floor of it. I get up at 6:30 am to work, walk the dog from 7am to 8am, work until 12:30, cook and eat my lunch in 30m working as I eat, work again until 6:30pm, go to the gym to exercise another 45m or 1h, 2h if one of it is a Pilates class (I don't really count that as a workout), plus another 15m to walk to and sometimes from (I get a ride home if it is late), get home, shower, eat, and come back to the office for another 1-3h of work depending on my work load. I work in the office on weekends too, as well as cleaning house, keeping the garden, etc. So on a good day, I work for 11 1/2 hours, and for 13 1/2 hours on a bad day. On weekends I usually just work for 4-6h.
I think if you add a regular American's commute to their work hours, it will average about 11 1/2 hours, like I work, right? But I'm with you on the hating cardio bandwagon.
ReplyKaren--I work out for about 2 hours a day, sometimes 2 1/2 hours and I commute 30 miles each way from work. I wake up at 3:15am to run, shower and grab my stuff and get to work by 5:30am. I eat lunch at my desk and I am done with work by 2. I then go home and jump rope for a while and do my weight stuff. I go to bed early, but I guess it's just a matter of what you're willing to do for fitness.
ReplyI'm new to all this...too sedentary over 20+ years and four kids...started WW back in Feb; down 18.8 lbs, but 70 more to go!...I've been walking (moderate to high intensity), but thinking adding this strength training can only help....so, should I ADD it to my walking, or ditch the walking altogether??? BOTH cannot be bad - nor can it not help just a little more, right???
ReplyI maybe should clarify my walking routine: at least 4 times a week, a nature trail that's 2.65 miles around. Also, I'm 44 y/o female, now at 212 lbs. But determined to be a 45 y/o female at about 140 by this time next year....can I do it?
so, again, adding strength training TO my walking is a good thing, right??
ReplyDefinitely add it and keep the walking. That's what every trainer, health professional, fitness professional, etc that I've ever known has said. And yeah, I'm sure people are going to come tell me how I'm stupid and that every doctor I've ever talked to is a moron, but oh well. Add in some weight training and see how it works for you. Cardio burns calories-- so does weight training, but it also helps you build lean muscle mass, which raises your metabolism. Doing them both has always been the most effective thing for me.
YMMV, though-- you said you've been sedentary for 20 years, whereas I've played competitive sports since I was 7 and lifted weights since I was 13, so please don't assume that everyone will be able to do things perfectly immediately! (I know I sure didn't, and there are still weight machines that I look at and go "Um...how do I use this without killing myself?")
(Standard ask-your-doctor disclaimer here.)
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I agree with Nic here. I'd add 2 days of weight training, preferably not the same 4 where you walk, and as you progress, you may want to do 3 days of weight training + 3 of walking instead.
ReplyThanks, Nic and Jan...I'm not obsessing about any of this, but naturally DO want to do it all 'perfectly' and see INSTANT results....but "I" am not stupid, and at my age, know enough to know it ain't comin' off overnight...still, I'm encouraged to keep doing what I'm doing...so THANK YOU! My concern, tho, is using the tube thing properly...I have one I got w/ the Michael Thurmon "Six Week Body Make-over" (which I never actually 'did')...so I'm just using that piece of equip that came with it. I did a few moderate moves last night while watching TV (between folding laundry!), but today my neck/left shoulder seem a bit irritated...so I'm not sure if that's normal or if I wasn't poised properly or what...any ideas/suggestions? Is it possible that the resistance is really more than I should be using this early out of the chute? Are all 'purple' tubes the same in resistance?? The one I have is purple, and I see on the SPRI website that the purple is the max resistance...but not sure if all purple tubes are created equally!?
Wish I could afford a trainer so I could actually learn to do it all right, but that's just not an option right now...so I must figure out how to maximize my efforts so I can see those improvements I'm so ready to see!
Replykkcmon, I don't think a trainer is necessary. There are 2 great free resources online.
1. www.stumptuous.com/iron - this site is done by a woman for women, and she is really smart, she is a trainer, but also a "real person" juggling a home, a job, a commute with training. Good nutrition advice there too.
2. www.exrx.net - this will show pics of every exercise you can think of, and if you click on a muscle, it will say which exercises work that muscle.
For weights, I think the best and cheapest thing is to go to walmart or something similar, get some dumbbells of the kind that is made up of a small bar and you can stack weights in. That will allow you to use very light weights for stuff like arm exercises, but load it with a lot of weight for squats and dips (most people don't know, but you can squat holding dumbbells in your hands, instead of just using the barbell behind your neck). It will be cheap and easy to store in your home.
ReplyI have not read your book. But i seen you on the 700 club. I am a guy and don't have a big size appartment, would resistance tubing be good for me for strength training, I can.t afford a gym membership. right now but i want to lose 50-70 lbs within the next year i hope.
ReplyI bought the book and plan on trying it to see if it works. However,I will continue to do some cardio. I've suffered with depression for years. I am no longer on meds for a number of reasons, but I know after doing some cardio even if on 30 minutes or so, I feel better and happier. However, I'll no longer try to "kill myself" by doing 1 hour of cardio a day. I'll cut back to 30 min. 3 to 4 days a week of moderate cardio and do the weights 3 x a week. We'll see! I only have about 10 to 15 pounds that I'd like to lose.
ReplyFor most people a diet consisting of only 1200 calories a day will cause them to lose weight even if they only have to lose ten pounds. The average person in this country probably consumes 2-3 times that amount daily. If they need to lose more that that the results will be more dramatic. I have found that cardio keeps my weight down while improving my stamina and energy and also relieves stress. I think that diet, cardio, strength training and stretching/pilates (to elongate the muscles) are all necessary to achieve the desired results. It is irresponsible to suggest to people that cardio does not contribute to weight loss.
ReplyHe never said that. That is a distortion. What the author did is create a weight-loss plan where through diet and high-intensity weight training, weight loss can be achieved. He didn't say that people who do cardio can't lose weight, he figured out a way that people who don't do cardio can also lose weight.
ReplyCardio does contribute to losses. It's just a shame that a lot of it is coming from your lean mass!
ReplyI think a good balance of cardio and weight training with a sensible diet is the best way to go. The book everyone should be reading is Body for Life by Bill Phillips. It's a very good way to meet your weight loss goals without spending a lot of time doing it. You alternate weight training and interval cardio training every other day. And the cardio you do is only for 20 minutes per session. Tens of thousands of people have gotten results from it if not hundreds of thousands. I did the training myself without a change in my diet and lost 20 lbs easy. Then when I followed the diet, I lost another 20 lbs. This was all within a 14 week period.
ReplyThat's awesome that BFL worked for you. I've heard a few others that have done well on that.
Have you read the CF Diet?? I really like the concept.
ReplyHI, I'm the lady who appeared with Mr. Karas on 20/20 please go to my website and read my article "The Cardio Controversy". www.myhealthinbalance.com. Feel free to email me with your questions: mary@myhealthinbalance.com
ReplyIf you injured yourself 3 times, YOU did something wrong. Strength training is a great way to provide some injury-proofing for sports, work and play. Hire a qualified professional and take some "lessons".
ReplyI totally agree with Jim Karas that cardio can be a big waste of time when trying to shed pounds. I'm a 43 year old woman. I wear a size 4. I lost over 50 lbs four years ago through modified diet and strength training--no cardio at all. I followed the guidelines of Ellington Darden. He's well known to advocates of High Intensity Training. I work out three days per week. It takes me about 30 minutes per session. I get in the gym, lift my weights and I'm on my way. No boring treadmill or elliptical machine!! I'm glad to see that others are finally jumping on the no cardio bandwagon. To those who criticize Karas: I challenge you to stop the cardio for 6 weeks, modify your diet and lift heavy. I guarantee you will be blown away at the results. You'll never bore yourself to tears on a treadmill again.
ReplyI've been kind of doing his plan. I'm watching my nutrtion and am doing the prescribed weight lifting plan. I'm on week 4. I still do cardio however. About 40 min. several times a week. I've lost 6 pounds.
ReplyOnce upon a time I restricted my processed sugar intake, worked out 5 days a week, 30 minutes cardio, 30 minutes with weights and you know what it got me...60 lbs lighter, a pinched nerve in my back and sore knees. Well I then decided after my recovery that the floor was too hard, so I got the "rebounder" (the trampoline)...ended up in the hospital and in physical therapy for 6 months. That book was calling to me when I saw it on Good Morning America, I've read it, and applied the interval strength techniques...in a week I look different, I wore a strapless shirt for the first time in my life. So judge harshly all you want cardio nuts, my body is much happier and I'm pretty sure my insurance company is happier too. When I do my resistance training, my heart rate is up and I'm breathing deeply, you don't have to bounce around or run to work your heart, think about water aerobics. It's slow movements against the resistance of the water, same thing with interval resistance training. So the author made some sensational statements to sell books, traditional cardio is the anti-christ because of the adverse effects, but sure your heart is healthy, but your back, knees, and hip joints are useless. When I'm lighter and my weight won't cause so much destruction to my joints I may do a little cardio because some aerobics classes are really fun! I recommend stripper aerobics, amazing workout!!!
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