Stop Cardio! Stop Bulking Up! Train For Weight Loss The Right Way!

How many horror stories have you heard about someone starting a jogging program and ending up at the doctor's with an overuse injury? Maybe it has even happened to you. That is the dark side of long, slow cardio. Doing more of it will just make you even more injured. For weight loss, you need to decrease the volume and do interval training instead.

One client wrote to me...

"There's "MY STORY" staring me right in the face. I wish WISH I could yell at the top of my lungs to warn the people in my gym that they're doing it all wrong...stop with the long cardio! Stop with the worthless, 'low burn', low speed, low intensity workouts for a long time. Why do we do this? When you think about it, it makes NO sense. NONE.

It's what 'they' tell us to do. It's perpetuated by so called "experts".

I'm a former figure skater, so I have a strong habit of using correct form in everything and I knew I didn't hurt myself with bad form. I thought I was doing my workouts/cardio right, and now I find out that it's all wrong. Quite frankly, it makes me pretty mad.

Why isn't this information more prevalent? My Dr. knew about intervals, you guys know, and now I know (the hard way). Have I been living in a cave?

I'm healing up. And I'm feeling lots better with stretches and light and SHORT duration exercise. I'm totally committed to getting fit and healthy. I have already come really far to get to this point; so improving my diet and working out smarter is just the next step."

*****

It's a sad story that she had to go through an injury to learn about a better way to train for weight loss. In addition, long-slow cardio rarely works for female fat loss anyways.

But did you know that strength training is great way to sculpt your body?

Of course, you are too worried about getting big and bulky. But here are some female specific strength training tips.

1) If you are worried about adding mass to your legs, do only one set of each leg exercise, rather than 3 sets that most programs call for. That will help maximize a woman's metabolism but will not put size on her legs. The one set needs to be intense to increase the metabolism, but because the volume is low, her legs will not grow. (Guys on the other hand, if you want your muscles to grow, the volume can't be low - do at least 3 sets and eat A LOT!)

2 ) Females will also get a lean, defined, smaller physique with bodyweight training. You dont' need weights to sculpt a beautiful body. Bodyweight exercises will crank your fat burning through the roof, while keeping you lean and defined. There are no weights, but the workouts are really tough and effective.

3) And the intervals are the key to fat loss...most women have probably never done them before so your body will respond rapidly and the fat will melt off...also, nutrition, as always, is super important.