Cardio Required To Shed Off Excess Fat? THE TRUTH MY WAY
Ok, after seeing and reading a ton of different opinions out there, I want to give my 0.02 on this topic, is cardio required to shed off fat? Many say to stay away from cardio, and you can get in contest/lean shape without. Well there is a truth to BOTH sides. Let me explain what those two sides are:
1. ENHANCED ATHLETE/INDIVIDUAL
2. NATURAL ATHLETE/INDIVIDUAL
Now, this is the part many of these online articles that are telling you “you don’t need cardio to get shredded” won’t explain.
Note: We are going to eliminate the 1% genetic freaks from this point of view, because they do exist, so we can just focus on the main bulk of society in this argument.
A Enhanced athlete CAN GET AWAY WITH DOING VERY LITTLE TO ALMOST NO CARDIO to get in really great shape. Due to the amounts of different anabolic compounds available out there, all the athlete needs to do is keep consistent with his/her strict diet and train really hard during weight training, and the drugs/hormones will do the rest. These drugs include Anavar, Winstral, T3, Halotestin, Clenbuterol, Trenbolon, Testosterone, Masteron, Primobolin, human growth hormone, etc. I can go on and on…this is the truth here. The user can take a specific amount of these compounds, and it will pretty much bring cardio requirements to a null if done correctly. NOW, even some athletes on enhancements need cardio, as genetics will break through the enhancement barrier at times.
A Natural athlete will have a different set of requirements, they will need to add cardio into their training program to shred off excess body-fat, BUT it doesn’t have to be INTENSE cardio. Cardio, when done correctly, will spare muscle mass/tissue and just focus on burning through the bodies fat stores. For my clients I always give a choice of either the stairmaster or treadmill (but they must put the treadmill on an incline of 10-12 degrees, and make sure the speed is NO LESS THEN 3mph). If the individual keeps the heart-rate between 120-140bpm during their steady-state session, they will stay in the fat burning area, and keep muscle loss to a minimum. To add a LITTLE more intensity to it, I make sure the last 10-15 minutes of their required session is a HITT..30 seconds fast, then 1-2 minutes back to steady-state.
So, is cardio required to burn off excess fat? For the mass majority of society, you better believe it. Do enhanced athletes require it, probably 40-60% of the time yes they do, and the factors that require them to do so is 1) genetics or 2) they cannot afford the amount of anabolics required to nullify the cardio required. But the general rule of thumb should be to ALWAYS add it into your program for cardiovascular health, and optimal nutrient absorption/delivery throughout the body. If you want to keep bad body weight off, add some cardio into your program.
So if you have a personal trainer telling you to AVOID doing cardio, please do not listen to that nonsense, unless you are enhanced and your trainer/coach can monitor your usage accordingly.
These statements are only of the opinion of the author.
