“Cardio can help you improve the function of your heart and lungs, it can help increase your endurance and stamina, and when used correctly it can also help you burn fat.”

“However, there are many misconceptions about the role that cardio should play in the fat loss process. If you’re doing cardio the wrong way you can actually be hurting your progress rather than helping it. So today I want to go over the 8 top cardio myths that are slowing down your progress and potentially even causing you to gain fat or lose muscle, which is exactly the opposite of what you’re probably doing cardio for to begin with.”

All Cardio is Not Effective for Fat Loss

“One of the core myths is that all types of cardio are effective for fat loss. This simply is not true and there’s lots of evidence to support this. For example, a meta-analysis of 14 studies with a grand total of 1,847 overweight and obese participants evaluated if cardio benefits weight loss. (1)”

“And the conclusion was that “isolated aerobic exercise is not an effective weight loss therapy for these patients.”(2) Now I know that may seem strange. After all, cardio burns calories, and since fat loss is mainly about being in a calorie deficit, then cardio should help… right?”

“Well, it’s not so simple. For example, one downside of cardio is that it causes ‘constrained energy expenditure.’ This means burning calories through cardio tends to lower your general activity levels and energy expenditure throughout the day, which often counteracts the calories burned from the cardio itself.(3) Your body burns a lot of calories throughout the day when you’re not exercising. This is known as non-exercise activity thermogenesis or neat.

NEAT

“Neat uses a good chunk of calories. however, due to constrained energy expenditure, your body will look for shortcuts to save calories limiting the effectiveness of using cardio strictly for the purpose of fat loss.”

“Aside from that, many people believe that if they do cardio, they can eat much more food, but as I’m sure many of you know you can’t outrun a bad diet.”

Cardio is NOT more Effective for Fat Loss that Resistance Training

“The next myth that many beginners fall for is this idea that cardio is more effective for fat loss than Resistance Training. It is true that incorporating both resistance training and some cardio into your workout routine can be very effective, but cardio-only based programs have many drawbacks.”

“When comparing cardio only programs to resistance training programs, resistance training tends to be more effective especially over the long term, largely because, contrary to cardio, it doesn’t cause constrained energy expenditure. (4)”

“Like I said, according to the studies, this constrained energy expenditure makes you compensate for the calories you burnt during your cardio workout by reducing your physical activity throughout the day. (5)”

“These are little changes that you might not even notice, like not having the energy to walk your dog, or sitting and laying when you would normally be moving around, or even simply fidgeting less throughout the day. Even though this may not sound like a big deal, when your body is trying to save energy, it is very effective at doing so. Cardio pushes your body to save energy.”

“Meanwhile, researchers have said that ‘Resistance training, appears to do the opposite, so it facilitates nonexercise activity thermogenesis. Scientists also say that this is particularly true on non-exercise days, which may lead to more sustainable adaptations in response to an exercise program.’(5) On top of that, you burn about the same number of calories during a resistance training session as you do during a cardio session. This was shown in a 2015 study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. (6)

“So, in that regard, resistance training is just as effective, but, unlike cardio, lifting weights also helps prevent muscle loss while on a diet, which not only helps you look better when you’re done dieting but it also helps support your metabolism ultimately helping you keep the fat off.”

Fasted Cardio is Not Better that Cardio After Eating

“The next cardio myth isn’t necessarily going to cause weight gain, but you should still know that according to the latest evidence, fasted cardio is not actually better for fat loss than doing your cardio after you already ate.”

Watch the video below for more depth and to learn the full 8 mistakes.

Video – Cardio Mistakes that Slow Down Fat Loss

Learn More – Cardio Mistakes that Slow Down Fat Loss