I hate cardio

I hate being fat. Do I have to do cardio to get lean?

No you don't have to. But it makes the whole process a lot tougher. Nothing magical happens when doing cardiovascular exercise - it just burns calories. High intensity 'cardio' burns more calories than low intensity 'cardio'. And low intensity obviously burns more calories than no cardio.

But remember - cardio is really a generic term to describe exercise that targets the cardiovascular system. That covers a lot of different things from steady state aerobic work to interval training to barbell complexes and circuits.

I think most people don't like walking on a treadmill and being completely bored. I understand that. But if it's traditional cardio that you dislike - you can do some "non-traditional" cardio and burn even more calories.

If you are dieting down for a show or a photo-shoot and have a lot of time, I don't usually add in any type of energy system work in the beginning - we work on creating a caloric deficit through diet only - adding in more calorie burning in the later stages. However if you need to drop fat as fast as possible - some extra energy system work is nesessary (we currently use the metabolic acceleration programs, or kettlebells and TRX routines).

But at the end of the day -- is going for a walk for 30 mins each day really all that bad? Get your Ipod on, some good music or an audio book and head out the door.

Cardio is just a tool to burn calories when you're trying to get lean. It makes no real difference in terms of fat loss whether you burn the calories off, or don't eat them in the first place.

To Your Health!

John Hall NSCA-CPT