The cardio free diet???????

I was watching good morning america today and I guess the cardio free diet is the new fad. From what I understand this guy says that strength training and building muscle is the way to go. As well as counting calories!! I was just wondering if anyone else has heard about this because I like alot of people think that the way to drop pounds is to do lots of cardio.

Well, this poster did, apparently :)

I posted this same question on another area. I don't get this either. did you see it, I saw the little video on line but didn't get to see the whole thing. I'm  not sure what this guy is talking about. I would weights done alot just makes you big and muscular.

I saw it and I don't understand it. He did say something about doing interval cardio?? like bringing your heart rate up quickly and then back down again, repeat... He said that getting on a treadmill was a waste of time. Hmmmm, I just find it hard to believe. I might see if his book is at the library and read up on it.

I've lost 71 lbs. and I did Cardio the whole time.

So.. the idea that Cardio is a waste of your time is, frankly, bologna. :)

I personally think cardio and weight lifting go hand in hand.  You build bigger muscles through weight lifting and add a lot of endurance in doing cardio as well.   The stronger the muscles the more intense your cardio can get.

I don't get why someone would discourage cardio.   It's not just for your regular muscles as it also helps your lungs and heart and surely other things as well.

But people have these fads.  It seems like those that would benefi t most  from this one is anyone aming to be a  pro wrestler and looking to add more big b ulk to their frame instead of lean strong muscles.

I thought the lean muscle came from a small amout of weight and lots of reps. like 3-5 pounds and 4-5 sets of 15, something like that. Is this what you guys do. I do a little of this.

No, that won't do anything, cocowan.

Muscle is muscle. There is no "Fat" muscle.

To build muscle, you need to find a weight that you really have to struggle to do a set of 10 to 12. I've heard that 3 sets of 10-12 is good.

The little pink lycoprene weights aren't good for much but paperweights. They aren't good for building muscle, that's for sure.

yeah, but I don't want to build, I want to firm. I thought that is how you firmed.

Here is a great article on building lean muscle.  You may also want to check out the fitness forum on CC too, the mod. there is a certified trainer, she could probably help you out too!!

If you want to build, you have to seriously work at it.  Lifting weights and straining while doing it 2-3 times a week where you are doing 12-15 reps won't make you a huge monster.

They had this woman on another news show over the weekend.  They interviewed an doctor who said that he wished they would stop giving this woman so much publicity because in his opinion a diet without cardio does not take care of the entire body. 

They are right cocowan.  If you want firm sexy muscles then lifting heavy is the way to go.  I lift as heavy as I can go, usually to exhaustions.  I am getting muscles but they are not big or bulky just super hot.  I am going to be really toned and strong without looking like a dude.  I just don't have enough testosterone to do that...no woman does unless they take steroids and crazy intensive training.

Some people misuse the word carbs to include only junk carbs.

If it truly is a carb-free diet, then it has NO whole grains and no fruits and no vegetables -- because those foods are carbs.   oops, I misread the initial post -- it said cardio-free, not carb free. 

That is not a healthy diet.  Since it is very possible to lose weight on a healthy diet, it doesn't make sense to use an unhealthy diet to do it.

A lot of people try to sell their program by putting down every other program -- it's not enough for them to say, my program works, they have to say, my program is the ONLY program that works, which of course, is baloney. 

Cardio is not only good, but necessary for strong cardiovascular and pulmonary systems.  It can be a tremendous boost to any weight loss prorgram.

I personally think many people would benefit from paying more attention to their heart rate than to calories burned while doing their cardio.  Getting into the right heart rate zone increases the benefits of doing cardio exponentially.

Interval training is an excellent way to do cardio.  It pays attention to heart rate zone and pushes the body beyond its current comfort level.  It's very easy to incorporate into your cardio program.

I use the treadmill (but it works the same for elliptical, bicycle, or walking/running out in nature).  I warmup for 10 minutes in the lower 2 heart rate zones.  Then I do 40 minutes in zones 3 and 4.  That 40 minutes starts off with a "sprint" at a run speed for 30 seconds (that's all I can do right now).  That sprint brings my hear rate up into zone 3.  then I fast walk for 2.5 minutes.  Another sprint at run speed for 30 seconds, followed by fast walk for 2.5 minutes.  I keep repeating the sprint/fast walk intervals until my heart rate is solidly in zone 4 and holding steady, which usually takes about 30 minutes.  Then I just do the fast walk.  At the end of the 40 minues (50 minutes total now), I drop the incline from 3.0 to 0.0 and start dropping the speed in increments to let myself cool down.  By the end of the cool down, I'm in zone 2, and ready to do stretching. 

I personally enjoy the elliptical and treadmill...I do alot of wgt training, too...And it is true that a muscle cannot be toned with low wgt and lots of reps....It's that last rep that you just can't quite complete that signals the muscle that it had better grow some additional strength...This rebuilding of strength actually occurs on the day of "rest."  And if you're doing it properly, you should have to increase the amount of wgt you're using or the muscle will no longer see it as work and respond.

As for cardio, for me it's best to go no higher than my 85% mark for very long...I have a high resting heart rate and it doesn't take much to get there... 

On lifting days, I warm up with 20 min on the elliptical then do the wgts...If there's time, I like to finish up with 15-20 min on the treadmill....

On non-lifting days, it's elliptical for 30 and treadmill 45-50...I've lost almost 21 lbs this way since 1/2....I'm not gonna mess with something that's not broken!  Let this so called "expert" have his opinion, I know what has worked for me!

Maybe he was promoting more like circuit training.  I have had trainers tell me that doing a rep of weights and then hard cardio for 60 seconds is really good for weight loss.  They said it had soemthing to do with our bodies burn more calories in a rapid jump in heart rate rather than a sustained elevated heart rate, and if you are only going for 60 seconds you push much harder and get your heart rate higher....

The YMCA has a 30 minute total work out that is similar to this you work out on a machine for a minute and then sprint on a tread mill for a minute.  It is a really good workout.  I don't know that I would trust it to be my only source of cardio.....

I'm sure there are many different exercise plans that are good for weight loss, but I find the idea that cardio is a waste of time a little silly.  I've lost 35 lbs since Jan 14th, and my main source of exercise is walking.  Walking works all those big leg muscle groups.  It's terrific exercise.

You can diet without traditional cardio. Circuit training or high intensity weight training will elevate your heart as much as any treadmill and you will be getting the benefits of muscle. 

Five pounds of muscle takes less space as five pounds of fat. If you add 5 lbs of muscle and gain no weight, you have lost 5 lbs of fat. You will appear thinner due lower amount of space occupied by the muscle but your weight will not have changed.
A good and quite humorous explanation can be found here

If you do 3 sets of 10-12 reps with a 1 minute rest between sets, it will become cardio. The key is to use a weight that you cannot complete the 12 reps on the third set. If you can, add more weight to all three sets. Working out with a purpose removes the social apsect of weightlifting. It is hard to stick to the correct rest breaks if you aren't focused.

I carry a stopwatch attached to my weightlifting journal when I lift. I use the journal because it is hard to tell where you are going if you don't know where you were yesterday. Kind of like tracking your calories here.

The journal also allows you to make notes. I use little symbols that tell me to go up in weight a little or a lot. I write down any odd pains I may have had that might explain a bad day lifting.

I think people forget that cardio does train a muscle...your heart. Who cares if you're thin if your heart is out of shape? If you're 100 pounds and can't run up a flight of steps without getting winded..that's a problem.

I recall awhile back seeing a study that suggested that walking uphill improved your blood sugar, and walking downhill improved your cholesterol. Yep, here's an article about it:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.p hp?newsid=16033

So what I'd want to know is, can strength-training alone improve your blood sugar and cholesterol?

misskthpriss said:

I think people forget that cardio does train a muscle...your heart. Who cares if you're thin if your heart is out of shape? If you're 100 pounds and can't run up a flight of steps without getting winded..that's a problem.

Right on, miss. . . to add to that, the lungs are muscle, too.  And it takes cardio in the upper heart rate zones to really improve these muscles.

Here is a site that explains the 5 heart rate zones, and the benefit from each (and they DO each have their benefit).

http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/libra ry/activity/gf_guide2.htm

Whatever activity gets you into zones 3 and 4 is going to improve both your cardiovascular and pulmonary systems.  And that is a very big plus for your health.