3 Ways To Do Less Cardio And See Better Results

For far too long, cardio and dieting has been lifted up as the way to lose unwanted weight.

If you ever watched “The Biggest Loser” or any other extreme weight loss show, you often see the contestants grinding out epic cardio sessions on a treadmill or stair climber and pairing this style of exercise with intensely calorie-restrictive diet plans.

While cardio and cutting back on calories certainly have their place in a balanced fitness lifestyle, they are far too often misused when it comes to producing weight loss results. Instead, let’s look at some alternatives that A) require less time on the treadmill and B) help develop a well-balanced, healthy relationship with food and fitness.

HIIT it hard. 

HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is the easiest ways to get an effective workout in a shorter amount of time. HIIT helps you get lean via different levels of intensity, allowing your body to burn both fat and calories. It’s really a full-body form of exercise, pairing short, intense movements with minimal recovery times. All of this allows for efficient fat burn, increased endurance, and improved strength. HIIT can come in many forms: as intervals on a cardio machine, as bodyweight movements like squat jumps and burpees, or even as a method of weightlifting.

Pick up the weights.

By now someone *cough cough, me* must’ve told you that strength training is one of the most effective and efficient ways to see results. Strength training, including weightlifting, helps people gain muscle, which speeds up metabolism and burns more fat in the long term. Lifting weights usually leads to higher EPOC “excess post-exercise oxygen consumption” levels than cardio, resulting in more significant muscle breakdown. This means that the body continues to burn calories even after completing a weightlifting workout, up to 72 hours in some cases.

Another big benefit that weight training has over cardio training is that it will allow you to completely reshape your body. Cardio training will generally help you lose weight, however, this weight loss is typically a combination of fat and muscle, so what you’re left with is just a smaller version of your current self.

When you are performing resistance training and stick to a balanced diet, then you stand a better chance of losing strictly body fat, while helping to enhance the natural curves of your body due to maintaining or building lean muscle mass rather than losing it.

Clean up your diet. 

The food you eat plays a huge role in your results. In fact, it plays a bigger role in weight loss than exercise. You can train like an Olympian, but if your diet isn’t up to par, you’re not going to see results. Everyone is different and there isn’t a specific diet for everyone. If you haven’t yet, I strongly suggest you check out my blog on Resting Metabolic Rate. Always consider how a new or improved diet might fit in with your current lifestyle and settle on something that will last long-term. And, of course, don’t be too strict with yourself. It’s easy to get caught up with the little mistakes or guilty pleasures. Remember the 80/20 rule. It’s not what you do all of the time; it’s what you do most of the time.