Is cardiovascular exercise Really Needed?

My goal with this editorial is to hopefully get you thinking differently about cardiovascular exercise, and to try new ideas.

You may have seen my other articles and may be thinking that I am not a fan of cardiovascular exercise, but I want you to seriously ask the query "do I actually need cardiovascular exercise, to lose fat and get in shape?� Also hopefully by the end of this editorial you will see that I am not against cardiovascular exercise, just the traditional cardiovascular exercise.

Most fitness buffs, weekend warriors, or anybody trying to get in shape or burn body fat, believe its the truth that they need "cardiovascular" exercise to accomplish these goals. They would never even doubt it. However, I am not only questioning it, I am going to refute it! In fact, you may be stunned to know that some of the leanest and meanest people I know (men and women), NEVER do any form of customary or traditional cardiovascular exercise. In addition, I have over 15 years experience training in different gyms, and spending time with athletes of all sorts, so I have seen it all. I will say that there can be a place for low-moderate level cardiovascular exercise for genuinely overweight or deconditioned people, but even in these situations, there can be methods that are more helpful.

But what precisely is "cardiovascular" exercise? Most people would consider cardiovascular exercise to be pumping away mindlessly on a treadmill, riding a stationary bike, or coasting on an elliptical trainer, while watching the TV at their state of the art gym. This is what I call "traditional cardiovascular exercise". No surprise most people get bored with their workouts and give up after a few months without acheiving real results.

However, if you look closer, "cardiovascular exercise" can be considered any type of exercise or activity that strengthens the cardiovascular system. I am not going to get into something technical like increasing your VO2 max or anything like that. To keep it easy, if it gets your heart pumping, and gets you huffing and puffin, it is cardiovascular exercise. I do not care if you are using dumbbells or a barbell and people call it a resistance training exercise...it's still conditioning your heart.

Let's look at a couple examples. Take a barbell (or dumbbell, or kettlebell) clean & press for example, which involves lifting a barbell from the floor up to shoulders, then push pressing overhead. And listen up ladies, as even though this is generally seen as a manly exercise, it does not matter if you're not lifting 250 lbs; if 45 lbs is challenging to you, then you will still gain just as much. At first glance, most people think of the barbell C&P only as a resistance training exercise or strength exercise. However, I challenge you to do a hard set of around 10-15 reps on the C&P. If you used a challenging enough resistance, what you'll find is that your heart rate is possibly up to about 80-90% of your recommended max, and you are huffing and puffing like you just ran a 100-meter race (which by the way, sprinting kicks the crap out of jogging any day if you want the easiest way to burn the flab).

Try the same thing for a set of 20 reps of one-arm snatches or swings with each arm with a kettlebell or dumbbell, and tell me your legs aren't burning, heart racing, and you're panting for breath. How about attempting 5 minutes straight of bodyweight squats, lunges, and pushups with very little rest. Again, notice your heart pounding, sweat pouring off of you, and chest heaving for breaths!

Try and tell me you're not conditioning your heart with this style of exercise! Conventional thinking says that these are weight training or strength training exercises. However, they are fulfilling your cardiovascular exercise needs as well.

Not only can you save heaps of time with these whole body exercises, but also you are strengthening and developing most of the muscles in your body if you can do them with enough intensity. That is something that cannot be done with the boring long slow cardiovascular exercise programs done on a stationary bike or treadmill while reading or watching TV. In reality, not concentrating on what you are doing like what happens when you watch TV or read while working out, does not allow you to train with enough intensity for most people to get real results.

I want you to take a challenge for the next month or two, take a rest from your traditional cardiovascular exercise program and start using the much more effective methods mentioned above and as show in detail in the internationally-selling Truth about Six pack Abs Program. If you do this you will see how quickly you will start getting leaner, more defined, and your six pack starting to show through what used to be stubborn stomach fat deposits.