Cardio Can Kill

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

Turbulence Training

I'm not a big fan of long cardio, especially extreme bouts of cardio - i.e. running marathons.

Just this past weekend a 41-year old man died running one of the Toronto marathons. Last year, same thing. These are not the first, nor will they be the last men to die running a marathon.

And for what?

To run an irrelevant distance for no reason at all. I don't see any logical reason for most people to run a marathon. Particularly when you are a 40-year old father of a young family. You can be fit and healthy with far less exercise time, as long as you train with far better exercise choices.

Sure, you can say you are pushing the boundaries of your human performance...but I doubt that is any consolation for the family of thes two men.

No matter how "type A" someone is, or how driven they are to perform in a marathon, simply being able to run a marathon proves nothing. And it can have disastrous consequences. Not too mention the many smaller negative consequences of:

a) A waste of hours of your life spent away from your loved ones while you pound the pavement

b) Sore knees, chronic back pain, and blistered feet

c) Money and time wasted in the physiotherapist's office

d) An improperly trained body (i.e. weak back of the body, no upper body strength, overuse injuries)

e) A level of fitness that has limited carryover to real world needs (carrying groceries & other objects, outsprinting an attacker, manual labor, etc.)

So please, if you insist on running marathons, do yourself and your family a favor and:

1) Get a full physical from your doctor. This goes without saying for anyone on an exercise program over the age of 30, but running marathons is another reason not to neglect your physical exams.

2) Pay close attention to your body during the race. Wear a heart rate monitor, and exercise conservatively, drink the right amount of fluids (but not too much as that can be the cause of death in long runs), and just plain be careful. A marathon is hardly a reason to risk your life.

Now, here's more bad news.

Cardio has been killing fat loss programs for decades.

Why?

Because almost all of the exercise science studies performed in the 70's through the early 90's were done on distance running.

From there we got the messages that:

i) To lose fat, you had to do long, slow endurance training. Clearly, we know this is false. Nutrition is the most important aspect of fat loss.

ii) That we should eat a high-carbohydrate diet. This message, while generally true for endurance athletes, was broadly applied to fat loss. So we were subjected to that hideous low-fat, high-carb phase in the 90's where we were urged to eat Snackwell low-fat cookies with no regard to the sugar and calorie content.

iii) Beginners should get out on high-volume, walk-run programs. Now while it is important to get people out and exercising, high-volume activities for underprepared beginner muscles are going to cause injury fast. And that's what happened to most people that tried to take up running.

iv) Too many cardio enthusiasts had the wrong mentality of, "If I go for a 5 mile run, I can have some juice and cookies as a reward". Needless to say, that didn't help anyone lose fat.

The end result?

This high-cardio, high-carb approach to fitness and fat loss left many men and women with thunder thighs, saddle bags, and chronic running injuries.

Fast-forward to this decade, and the mainstream media is finally starting to see the benefits of strength training and interval training for both fat loss and the cardiovascular system.

Not too mention people are finally getting their nutrition right. And it's so simple:

- lots of fruits and vegetables (rarely does anyone get enough)
- lean protein
- healthy fats
- fiber-rich low-glycemic carbohydrates

Dr. Chris Mohr gives dozens of options for each in the TT Fat Loss Nutrition Guidelines.

So eat right, train right, and be safe.

Sincerely,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

P.S. Okay, so you don't want to give up running?

At least train your body correctly with Turbulence Training. It trains the muscles that running neglects, and promises to put more power into your hill running.

"Just thought I'd drop you a line and share what a great year I've had so far. After 3 years of traditional bodybuilding programs and hours of traditional low intensity cardio I had 25% body fat to show. Being a student with little time able to train, cost of gyms, travelling around over holidays, Turbulence Training has been a lifesaver. With incorporating these workouts as the base of my training, and making the most of intervals, as well following your nutrition plans, I'm currently at 13% bodyfat and have dropped 22 pounds of fat. Thanks for an intense, easy to follow program."
Josh Dunn

"The TT workouts are excellent! You have literally changed my life! I got completely burned out on single body part training and long periods of cardio. It just isn't conducive to my life given that I work full time and have a spouse. I'm already lean but I want to maintain a high level of health and have a fit, athletic look. I have to admit that I was skeptical because the workouts were so short, but even after the first workout my skepticism disappeared in a hurry. The time flies by at the gym and the workouts have eliminated a lot of stress because if I got stuck at work and couldn't get to the gym for "leg day" it would mess up my training schedule for the rest of the week. I also like having the option to do some body weight circuits plus I have a full range of dumbells and a ball at home so I can get my workouts in at home."
Janet M

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit
Turbulence Training

Week 3 complete!!

Half way there!!!

At this pace my total weight loss after the 6 weeks should be almost 13 lbs.

Current weight is 215.6 lbs and 26.8% body fat. That is a total weight loss of 6.4 lbs and 1% body fat.
My total fat loss is 3.9 lbs. I have also lost 2.5 lbs of lean body mass.

According to the Bowflex program I should be gaining muscle mass not losing it, but from everything I have read you need to eat more than the program allows to gain muscle mass. Most experts would agree that it is very difficult for most people to lose fat and gain muscle mass at the same time.

Now to be fair to the program I am not measuring my body fat percentage by the book I am using my scale that has a body fat percentage readout. I think I will take my body fat measurements the way Bowflex recommends, and see what the result are next week.

Weight and body fat percentages aside, I feel great. My pants fit better, there is more room in my shirts and I feel more muscular.

I have not posted my starting measurements and my current measurements. I will take my new measurements and post those this week
Last weeks biggest struggle was drinking the 5 liters of ice cold water. This week is 5 1/2. I think half your weight loss is from the 10-15 trips to the washroom each day.

Week 2 Complete

Well Week 2 of the 6 week challenge is complete.
Not the kind of results I expected!
Weight is now 217.8 and body fat is 27.1%.
That is only a .6 lb loss from last week. Total loss is 4.2 lbs .8% body fat

Quite surprised!!! I followed the plan same as in the 1st week and pushed harder with the workouts.

As I said in a previous post I lost 50 lbs 2 years ago on a doctor prescribed diet of 1000 calories per day. I was a member of a gym and was working with a personal trainer and working out at least 4 days a week. Still some weeks my weight would go up or stay the same, so I am not too discouraged with this weeks results. The human body has an amazing way of adapting to the changes you try to make to it through diet and exercise.

This week the program adds two new exercises and reduces the calories by 100 and adds 1/2 liter more water. That should shake things up a little.

Looking forward to better results next week.

Bowflex 6 week Challenge Week 1 Done!

Well week one completed.

So far so, good.
Weight is now 218.4 lbs. Body fat 27.2%. That is a 3.6 lb loss.

I am a bit disappointed that the 3.6 pounds includes 1.3 lbs of lean body mass. I thought the workouts would compensate for the diet. Not too worried though it is just week one. I will try to intensify the workouts and see what next week brings.

Following the diet has not been as bad as I thought. The eating plan is very straight forward and easy to follow.
To save a few bucks my wife and I took apart one of the Lean cuisine meals and weighed the meat and measured the rice and vegetables, and we made up our own frozen dinners. We bought some low calorie sauces to add some spice and flavour.

This week we add a another 16 oz of water to make a total of 144 oz per day. Glug glug. I think the water drinking requires the most discipline of the entire program.

Will update next Monday after weigh in.

Burn the FAT

If you are looking for a way to burn off fat and keep your muscle, check out the link "Burn the FAT" in my links section.

It will take you to a page that will change your life.

This guy gives you a ton off easy to follow tips on how to" burn fat and feed the muscle". That by the way is the name of his ebook.
It changed the way I eat and think of food. Lots of tips for those who have tried to loose weight and hit the inevitable dreaded plateau. Tips on how to break through the plateaus and move forward. The best part for me was the fact he encourages "cheat meals" to fool your body and keep your metabolism burning fat. No pills or supplements, just hard work in the gym and great diet.

Don't get me wrong. It is not easy too do, but easy to follow.
It takes some discipline and drive, but all things worth achieving do.

Bowflex "6 Week Challenge" underway

Well here we go!

I started the Bowflex "6 Week Challenge" yesterday.

My starting weight is 222 lbs and 27.8% body fat.

I did my 1st workout yesterday and it was great, although I must say I am used to working harder at the gym, I am going to follow the workouts as designed for the "6 Week Challenge" to give it a fair test.
The diet designed for the program is not as difficult as I thought it would be. You drink so much water that you are not really very hungry between meals.

My kids have also started to do workouts on the gym, but not really following any kind of set program. My eldest (20) who is very strong and physically active find the Bowflex challenging for sure. I have seen in other reviews ( mainly by free weight enthusiasts) saying the Bowflex is too easy and the weight equivalents do not compare to free weights. My experience so far, and I admit it is limited, is that a pound on the Bowflex seems heavier than a pound of free weights. I feel this is because of the Power Rods. Their design forces you to use a lot of strength to keep a fluid motion while doing the exercises.

I will post again next Monday, with an update of how the workouts are going and a weight report.
Happy Bowflexing!

It's here!!!

Our Bowflex arrived the other day and the boys started to assemble it as soon as it came.

It took them 3 hours, but it was all done when I got home from work. What a nice surprise!!
The machine is bigger and sturdier that I imagined, which is good as I am 6' 2" and 220 lbs. We will need to rearrange the basement to create a workout area, but that should be no problem.

As I said before I am kind of a ditz when it comes to mechanical things, so it was great to have it done for me.
I noticed that the box that hold the "power rods" looked like it was upside down, so I looked at the assembly instructions and saw that it was. I was able to remove the box and put it back on correctly with no trouble. A testament to good instructions for sure. The boys said it was easy to put together and the instructions were very clear and precise.

I loaded up the "i Trainer" software and it looks very cool.
You can design your own work out or use preset workouts based on what you want to accomplish. It even has workouts that are sport specific. For example it has a baseball "batting" workout and a baseball "throwing" workout. QuickTime videos show you the technique for all exercises, and you can print out sheets to track your workouts or you can put your workout results right into the program to track your progress.

My wife and I are going to set up out workouts in "i Trainer" for the " 6 Week Challenge" this weekend and work out proper technique and weight resistance for each of out exercises and then it's off to the races.

Will post again on Monday after our 1st workout.