Hi all,

First time poster, but long time lurker here.

I’ve just finished reading The Testosterone Advantage Plan by Lou Schuler and in it there is an interesting chapter called “The Cardio Conundrum”, where basically the author explains why weight lifting is better than cardio/aerobics for becoming fit and healthy.

I am currently 268lbs and I am about to embark on my own fitness journey. I absolutely hate cardio and was wondering if I ate clean and just used weight lifting as my main source of exercise, would this be sufficient or am I just looking for an excuse not to do cardio?

I think part of the reason I don’t like cardio is because of the difficulty in doing it when you’re overweight but I’m also thinking that maybe after 30lbs loss, I might feel differently about adding it to my exercise programme.

I’m curious if there are any members here who made a transformation without using cardio or do people here think its necessary when you have a lot of weight to lose.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

I no longer do cardio for the same reason. Weight-lifting and a strategic caloric deficit work for me. I've run into plateaus, but nothing I haven't been able to get over so far; and even the runners plateau. To be fair I've only lost (in two separate cutting sessions) about 25 pounds without cardio, but I don't see why that necessarily matters. Also, as an ectomorph I have a naturally higher metabolism, which may help me. But I think vigorous lifting and frequent-eating can award nearly the same metabolic rate.

Hi all,

First time poster, but long time lurker here.

I’ve just finished reading The Testosterone Advantage Plan by Lou Schuler and in it there is an interesting chapter called “The Cardio Conundrum”, where basically the author explains why weight lifting is better than cardio/aerobics for becoming fit and healthy.

I am currently 268lbs and I am about to embark on my own fitness journey. I absolutely hate cardio and was wondering if I ate clean and just used weight lifting as my main source of exercise, would this be sufficient or am I just looking for an excuse not to do cardio?

I think part of the reason I don’t like cardio is because of the difficulty in doing it when you’re overweight but I’m also thinking that maybe after 30lbs loss, I might feel differently about adding it to my exercise programme.

I’m curious if there are any members here who made a transformation without using cardio or do people here think its necessary when you have a lot of weight to lose.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Cardio isn't required but it has its use. Cardio burns calories, this allows you to not have to cut your food calories some. It also conditions you for activities requiring stamina. Gosh, I never thought I would say such things.

Now, I forgot what that book said, but I don't normally do any cardio because I have always cut my rest between sets to 60 sec or less, mostly less. I always lift as heavy a weight as I can for my rep/set plan. When you do that, you get all the cardio you need. You might not like that either, because it is difficult. But all workouts should be hard work! It ain't suppose to be easy. slim or fat, tall or short, all workouts are suppose to be hard.

So don't pass it up because it is difficult, how do you think you burn calories. You can pass it up because you get a cardio effect from your weight training. :tucool:

It isn't necessary. However it has many positive benefits and can help you achieve your results a lot faster. If I were going to try and lose a lot of weight and in relatively short time period (again) I couldn't imagine doing it without cardio. If you burn 500 kcal in a cardio session and do it 4 times a week for 4 months, that equals 32,000 calories (or about 9 pounds worth). Of course the actual math isn't that cut and dried but if your a beginner you probably shouldn't be weight training more than 3 (possibly 4) times a week. So why not do something on those rest days to accelerate the pace of the fat loss?

Cardio can help your weightlifting be more effective by increasing your aerobic and anerobic abilities so that you can move weight. That said, it's not necessary.

However, if you are over weight, just walking is good cardio. You walking for 30 minutes would be like me walking with 80 lbs on my back for 30 minutes. I doubt I could handle it, and I'd bet it would get your heart rate up enough to burn some calories and work on that cardiovascular health.

I personally think fat loss priorities should go in this order:

diet->resistance training->cardio

That being said, if I were you, I would probably do full body lifting 2-3x a week, and some light walking for a couple of days a week. Work up to more as you can.

Don't kill yourself by jogging or doing anything high impact, because your weight will probably make it hard on the joints at first.

I hate long cardio myself, so I do mostly 20 minute HIIT stuff. I wouldn't have done that to begin with, though.

If you are trying to rationalize that you don't need to do it because it's hard, that's not good, either. None of this stuff is easy to begin with. However, many do better taking this stuff in steps (pun!) vs full out complete lifestyle changes.

Hi and thanks for all your replies. :tu:

I think you have a point MannishBoy in that I might be trying to rationalize some reasons (excuses) not to do cardio.

I think deep down I know that cardio is an important component in a weight loss plan and I will have a rethink about using it.

I have been a member of a gym in the past and I much preferred the weight lifting side of things to the cardio part.

I plan on doing my weight training in circuits with minimal rest so I suppose these will be a form of cardio as Rtestes said.

As I said maybe when I’ve lost some weight, I won’t find cardio so daunting.

Again, thanks for all your replies and I will let you know how I get on.:)

Hi there,

My 2 cents...

I lost 51kg by doing a lot of cardio and weight training combined. I didn't bother with LISS or HIIT or any of those concepts. I hit the bike, treadmill, rowing machine and elliptical trainer as hard as I could for an hour every second day (if memory serves). It was very tough in the beginning but it became easier and easier each time. However, all the years of being overweight (but never inactive, I walked everywhere) and the sudden increase in pounding cardio took its toll and my knees started to give me lots of trouble. Not to mention that doing cardio in a gym is really dull and cannot be sustained IMO for life for that reason.

Thus I no longer do cardio in the gym. I took time off from cardio to give my knees a break and then bought a mountain bike. I now ride as often as I can (usually only twice a week, once on the road and once off road) and leave my weight training for the gym. I do however also keep my rests between set very short (under 60 seconds most of the time) and my weights as heavy as possible.

I burn an average of 500 cals per weight training session, 600 cals per road cycling session and 1500 cals for off road sessions. I do weights 4 times a week and as I said I cycle twice. With this program I struggle to add weight on a bulk eating 3600 cals per day at a body weight of 189 pounds (86kg), but that suits me as it keeps the fat gains to a minimum.

I think what everyone here is forgetting is that besides fat-burning, a specific cardio session(HITT) the heart muscle. I don't think the cardio activity from weight traning is sufficient in that respect. But besides that, for myself personally I like the cardio high.

Hi all,

First time poster, but long time lurker here.

I’ve just finished reading The Testosterone Advantage Plan by Lou Schuler and in it there is an interesting chapter called “The Cardio Conundrum”, where basically the author explains why weight lifting is better than cardio/aerobics for becoming fit and healthy.

I am currently 268lbs and I am about to embark on my own fitness journey. I absolutely hate cardio and was wondering if I ate clean and just used weight lifting as my main source of exercise, would this be sufficient or am I just looking for an excuse not to do cardio?

I think part of the reason I don’t like cardio is because of the difficulty in doing it when you’re overweight but I’m also thinking that maybe after 30lbs loss, I might feel differently about adding it to my exercise programme.

I’m curious if there are any members here who made a transformation without using cardio or do people here think its necessary when you have a lot of weight to lose.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Is cardio "necessary"? No.

But can be highly beneficial?

Absolutely. I challenge you to find a bodybuilder who prepares for a competition without cardio. There may be one or two, but 99% use it. Why? Because while weight training burns a lot of calories, it also taxes the body neurologically and physiologically. There is a point where you cannot more weight training or you become over trained and increase your risk of injury.

Cardio, on the other hand, can be added in a large volume and the body will still recover. Some believe our bodies are primed for cardiovascular activity. I have never been able to see my abs without doing double cardio sessions. These are not all-out HIIT sessions, but instead leisurely 4mph walks with the treadmill at maximum incline for 45 - 90 minutes. It burns a ton of a calories and I recover easily.

Also, there are plenty of cardiovascular benefits as well. Certainly you can mimic some of these with weight training - short rest periods, etc. However, if you are training for strength or muscle mass, then rest has to be a part of training and therefore allowing the heart rate to lower. For cardiovascular adaptations that result in increased oxygen uptake, etc, you must maintain an elevated heart rate for a prolonged period.

What are the advantages?

We know that endurance training improves the body's ability to use fat as fuel, so for weight management and fat loss, that is key. Weight trainining burns more calories but no evidence suggests it improves the body's efficiency at burning fat ... in other words, people who integrate cardio into their programs can burn a higher rate of calories from fat, even when at rest.

We also know there are physiological changes specific to cardio such as increased capilliarization and oxygen flow to the muscle. Theoretically, this means enhanced ability to build muscle and recover from workouts. That's why many bodybuilders still integrate cardio in their programs ... not just from a purely calorie burn, fat loss stand point, but also from a perspective of improving their ability to train intensely and recover. I know from personal experience that clients doing heavy leg training (squats/dead-lifts) recover faster when they perform low intensity cardio the day after than those who don't.

Finally, there is a large body of evidence correlating cardiovascular activity with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and other conditions. Unfortunately, the only caveat is that these same studies haven't been performed to the same extent with weight lifting so it's not clear if these benefits are from exercise alone (whether anaerobic or aerobic) or are specific to cardiovascular training.

Jeremy

PS - to answer your specific question, I would never design a program for someone with a lot of weight to lose that didn't include cardio. You can only do so much volume of weight training + nutrition to get "x" deficit. It is a solid fact that if you want to lose more weight, you must expend more calories, and cardio is the perfect way to do this.

You should be able to drop consistently 1% of your body weight or about 3 pounds per week. If you are doing less, you absolutely will benefit from adding cardio to the equation ... I've been coaching people to lose fat for years now and invariably cardio is a very powerful tool in breaking through plateaus and increasing the fat loss rate when it begins to slow down.

Jeremy

I’m curious if there are any members here who made a transformation without using cardio or do people here think its necessary when you have a lot of weight to lose.


Necessary? No, of course not. The only thing necessary is that you use more calories than you eat. That's all.

If you're only interested in weight loss, cardio is helpful.
If you're interested in health -- cardio is essential!

There are tons of benefits to cardio other than fat loss. Jeremy just gave good stuff on weight lifting benefits, but it also lowers cholesterol, reduces risk of heart disease, etc. Further, it provides great psychological benefit, and lots of people (including me) suggest that long runs (bike rides, etc.) promote spiritual health, too.

I believe cardio for fat loss purposes became popular when steroids first came on to the bodybuilding scene. Bodybuilders discovered that they could do hours of cardio, without any muscle loss due to the drugs they were on. This "craze" caught on quite quickly. For health benefits? Of course. But remaining active in sports, running, etc. is a better alternative. IMO.

I never have done any type of conventional cardio. Not even for a show. Now, this has alot to do with metabolism, activity levels, RMR, bodytype, etc. However, I can reel off several natural pro's who do no cardio. And those are just the ones I am aware of. Once you decide to incorporate it, it becomes a balancing act. Natural (notice I said "natural") competitors are becoming hip to the trip. I recently coached a young 24 year old guy from Blacksburg VA, who did absolutely no cardio, was eating 2800-3000calories per day, trained like a beast, and won his IFPA Pro Card winning the overall as a lightweight, with a bodyfat of 2.74%. Getting that low is an exception, but I am convinced that if he were to do cardio as he had done in the past, he would've competed at a higher bodyfat level and looked flat and stringy.

To be fair, I also know bodybuilders who perform cardio quite successfully, and this is a direct reflection of "knowing your body".

People may disagree, but I believe you can burn all the fat you need from your diet.

Best way i can put it: "Necessary but not sufficient."

Best way i can put it: "Necessary but not sufficient."


I would say "NOT necessary, but helpful."

I would say "NOT necessary, but helpful."
That's exactly what I just came in here to post.

Cardio is absolutely not necessary. However, it will definitely speed up and help the fat loss process.

Unless I'm following a particular program, I've always focused on my diet and lifting. Then I throw in cardio on days where I'm in the mood and/or have the time.