Do you even cardio?

Following my post yesterday regarding cardio, a couple of people have asked why running is so bad, and if so, what should they do instead. It seems to have created a mini stir with some of the runners amoungst us? To start with, lets clear up any ambiguity that I think running is the worst thing you can do. Its not. I run. Not all that often but I do run. It helps me with my mental stress levels (although all exercise does this through hormonal responses), expends some energy. I use it as a tool to increase my fitness, and also to socialise with friends as going for a run with your pals can be a great way to catch up instead of sitting in a pub! But… It is, and will always be suboptimal in my opinion when it comes to getting and staying lean… However, generally being active is a good thing for your health, and if you enjoy running then do it. But don’t think it’s optimal. So you want to lose weight... You decide that you're going to start running. Here's some reasons why this may not the best way to start… • Stress on your joints - Constantly pounding the pavement or the treadmill creates a lot of force through the joints in your lower body (specifically hips, knees and ankles). If you're over weight this force can be huge, usually estimated at around 4-5 x your body weight. So, if you weigh 80kg like me that's nearly half a ton going through your legs every time it hits the ground. Studies have shown this increases your risk of arthritis significantly (1). • Increased Cortisol – Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is produced by your adrenal glands. This hormone is elevated during stress, whether it's from physical exercise or mental anxiety. Running stimulates an increase in cortisol level (2), which plays a role in protein and fatty acid breakdown during aerobic exercise. Over training will sustain high cortisol levels in your blood which can cause too much muscle tissue breakdown and more fat stored, especially when the body is depleted of carbohydrate stores. It also suppresses immune system function, increases your risk of stress fractures in your bones and reduces exercise capacity. If you want to get lean, losing muscle is far from ideal, as muscle burns more calories than fat. So the higher your lean body mass (LBM) the larger the amount of calories you’ll burn in a day. • Temporary Energy Expenditure – Running is great for expending energy, or calories. But quite simply this is substandard due to the temporary nature of the increase in calories burned. For example, take a 60 minute weight training session at a decent intensity and a 60 minute cardio session at the same. You will burn far more calories during that 60 minutes doing the cardio than you would weight training, maybe even nearly double. Three cardio sessions a week might burn 1800cals (3 x 600) and three weight training sessions might burn 900cals (3 x 300). However, the increase in muscle mass stimulated by weight training would increase in your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate or amount of calories required to maintain weight) by say, 200cals a day as an example. Now, do the math and you’ll see why weight training wins hands over. 1,800cals burnt through running or 2,300cals burnt through weight training (900cals + 200cals per day extra). Plus you’ll look extra sexy with muscles instead of looking like Mo Farah (no offense intended to Mo, if you like the long distance runner look then go for it)… Oh and the women out there, I’d point you back to Matt Shutt's post about women lifting, not having enough testosterone to get “bulky”… (1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3586113 - A bioengineering analysis of human muscle and joint forces in the lower limbs during running. (2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21944954 - Elevated hair cortisol concentrations in endurance athletes. Thanks Brett Adapt.Evolve. Become.