Myths about Traditional Cardio:
1.Frequent Traditional Cardio is the best way to get Lean
2.The best time to burn fat with Cardio is after a weight workout
3.Doing a long cardio session before a weight workout will help to lose body fat
4.Low Intensity Cardio will produce great body fat losses
Dr. Eric Serrano MD is a highly sought after expert who has worked with countless athletes, bodybuilders and every day people seeking results. He believes that the body will learn to store fat in certain areas if repetitive cardio work is done for long durations. He has explained in several seminars that the body will improve its ability to store fat as a part of a natural survival mechanism.
Remember that the body is focused on survival and losing body fat is not a priority. Your body produces certain catabolic hormones such as cortisol to maintain and add body fat in desperate situations such as starvation. Typically long durations of repetitive exercise goes hand in hand with starvations states such as being stuck in thick jungles or endless deserts. You are forced to walk or run long distances in these situations and the body must slow fat loss to a grinding halt by raising stress hormones to preserve life.
Traditional cardio has been proven to produce higher levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, which are linked to increased levels of body fat. Why do an activity that will create a situation where your body will want to gain or preserve body fat? Furthermore elevated levels of catabolic stress hormones will result in losses of lean body mass, which is essential for maintaining a high metabolic rate.
If your having trouble dropping belly fat I would NOT recommend walking on an incline infact, it is likely the aerobic work that you are doing which is contributing to the problem. When you perform cardio, initially your going to loose fat because the body sees it as a new stressor but, over time (it varries with individuals as to when) your body adjusts and what you are left with is NO fat loss and a RISE in cortisol (the product of exercising on low kcals at a low impact in an aerobic state for a duration) Have you ever wondered why the people who you see doing the MOST cardio look the worst?
Additionally, aerobics cause oxidative stress in the body which depletes your stores of ANTIoxidants and can disrupt everything from health to sleeping (also raising cortisol). Some other cortisol raising stresses people often overlook are: allergic reactions to foods, supplements, disrupted sleep, environmental toxins and the list goes on. It is not realistic to assume one can completely eliminate ALL stressors but with something like aerobics you have control over wether you are going to do them or not and I would say NOT:-)
As for your training, I don’t recommend metabolic circuts because: you are in the gym to BUILD muscle, not burn fat. The muscle you build is going to burn the fat throughout the day and this is where getting lean will come from. Every pound of muscle you add equates to an additional 50 kcal expenditure on average per day. Now, when I say BUILD I am not necessasarily talking about some BULKY muscle (although you could do this if it were your goal) I am talking about increasing strength and mitochondria as well.
In terms of training IF you are having problems with management of insulin, you may benefit from some type of higher volume hypertrophy type of work or if low GH and poor sleep is limiting your procress Something in line with advanced GBC is very effective. Again it comes back to your biosig evaluation and finding the right training and protocol for you. Something you and others may be interested in is that through www.thejuicedmoose.com I am in the process of putting together something where you will be able to correspond for biosignature with me if that is something you or others are interested in.
If you guys want to find out more you can pm me. In the meantime though, SKIP on the aerobics and Don’t keep dropping kcals. Instead I would look to cut cheese, crap meats, and watch food choices for carb ups.
