Why Cardio Does Not Work In Me?

By Ricardo daryans | August 4, 2008

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by Ricardo Daryans

It’s funny how cardio can work well for some, and not at all for others. It’s supposed to work great for all women and men, but it’s not always so. Here’s why and what to do.

Most of people who work in a cardio program do seven, ten or more hours per week, and still have fat in their waist to burn for a long time. But there are other people who look great with the same or with even a smaller lapse of time. Some researchers in Great Britain went insight into this paradox, and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren’t previously exercising.

Subjects exercised 5 times per week for 12 weeks. That’s a lot of exercise, but it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.2 pounds, which is great - I was positively surprised by the results. So cardio will work for some people, however, in my experience, it works best in young men, who need the help the least!

Let’s go back to the study. There was a huge variance in fat loss between individuals. Check this out…The best subject lost 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, but the worst subject actually gained 3.74 pounds.

The scientists think they know where things went sour. They classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the “Compensators” and the “Non-compensators”. The Compensators were hungrier, and as a result consumed an extra 268 calories per day, all but wiping out their cardio efforts. Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and scientists believe that was due to the huge “compensatory” increase in appetite experienced by this group.

Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? If it does, research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts. So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your appetite and calorie intake to see if you are “compensating” for your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence Training) for your weight loss efforts.

As Australian Professor Steve Boucher has shown in research, interval training increases hormones called catecholamines. And increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat-burning benefits.

The most of people will rarely be in the very small group of people who lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of cardio. To be realist, there isn’t a lot of people who can achieve to loss 8 pounds in that lapse of time with aerobic exercise.

What you have to do is check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity exercise a go for your next workout program. Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Turbulence Training.

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Topics: Nutrition |

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