So by now we all know cardio flat out sucks for fat loss.
If it’s the bottom of the totem pole for fat loss, then what is it good for?
1. Recovery
A common practice among hockey teams is to do a ‘flush ride’ on an airdyne bike immediately following a game. This flushes out all the toxins that make have built up during an intense game. It also increases blood flow helping flow in nutrients and reducing inflammation overall. Running is NOT recommended for this protocol due to the repetitive impact it will do nothing for recovery and increase inflammation.
So if you’re coming off a hard patrol in the mountains, running is out due to impact, bikes may not be accessible and can lead to additional knee wear and tear. A rowing machine(or something that rolls and a band strapped in) or makeshift slideboard will most likely helped the most in that scenario.
For everyone else rowing and jump rope are excellent alternatives.
Recovery can also be from extended duration needs, but more likely this will lead into……
2. Stress reduction
Long days at work, dogs pooping all over the house, traffic, cat accidentally jumping into the fireplace while it’s burning can all lead to stress. Even working out too hard, too long( most of type A personalities and those that drink too much crossfit koolaid are extremely guilty of this) will destroy the body over time, and that’s a whole series of books on it’s own.
But all in all many people feel better after hitting a run or long bike ride. Just because traditional cardio isn’t an efficient use of time is by no means a reason to deny someone of their destress activity(unless as mentioned above it creates additional stress).
Every few weeks of working intense training, take a few sessions to just get lost on a bike. It will not only help the body with the physical changes from above but help clear the mind as well.
And some people even like this stuff……
3. Because you actually enjoy it
Let’s face it there’s some weird people out there that actually enjoy the most boring physical activity in existence formally known as running. I can’t stand the monotony of running, combined with it just not feeling too good.
But I can definitely enjoy biking, hiking, rowing, rollerblading, ice skating and I’m even looking to get a longboard to cruise on.
Half the battle of an active lifestyle is enjoying what you’re doing. Sometimes doing nothing but high intensity and heavy lifting can burn you out and as mentioned above these activities may give you that mental break.
4. Well it is activity, so it DOES burn calories
Even thought steady state cardio activities should be the last to be implemented into a fat loss routine, they do expend calories. Calorie expenditure is always good if you’re trying to drop fat.
There are some caveats though. Your strength training must come first, then interval training and if you still have time and energy(recovering supremely well, no additional stressors) this can then be implemented sparingly.
In the end what is can boil down to is try to find an activity and timing that matches all these criteria and you can now effectively implement traditional cardio into your program. Just be extremely cautious of not over doing it or creating factors that completely reverse what it’s meant to do (like running after a mountain patrol).
Enjoy!
