Cardio Pudge: The Danger

You’ve decided to hit the gym. Everyday you plan to spend 30 minutes on the treadmill then another 30 minutes lifting weights. Soon, you increase the cardio, thinking a higher heart rate for a longer time and more sweat will shed those pounds quicker. You start to spend an hour or two alternating between the treadmill and elliptical trainer, hoping no one will notice and kick you off.

At first, the weight loss is fruitful but then you reach a plateau and worse, your body starts to build up a thin layer of fat. Why? Too much cardio, or more specifically, too much aerobic exercise can create cardio pudge, the flabby bits that never go away.

Now you wonder how much is too much? What can you do to beat the plateau? There are several points to consider. Compare the marathon runner to the sprinter. The marathon runner has more fat (not a lot of course), so she can survive the distance. Her muscles require more oxygen, which is stored in fat. She works to go further and faster.

The sprinter is a lot leaner, and her muscles ripple as she runs as fast as she can towards the finish line. Both are thin, but the sprinter has less body fat, since her muscles require less oxygen. The sprinter trains anaerobically. Compare also the tennis player, the Olympic swimmer, and the volleyball player. All of those activities are anaerobic, meaning short burst of energy, and resulting in less body fat. Plus, no body builder spends too much time doing cardio.

What this means for you, the avid gym-goer, is that you need to change how you do cardio exercise instead of increasing the time. Change your regime from aerobic to anaerobic, so that your body doesn’t require as much oxygen (and therefore not as much fat). Aim for 30 minutes in total, alternating 30 seconds medium and 30 seconds hard. Then increase to 45 seconds each, then a minute each. But don’t increase the time, just increase the intensity or level. Increase your heart rate for a shorter period, sweat harder and faster as well. With the proper combination of the right WEIGHT-TRAINING PROGRAM, DIET and PROTEIN, your body will shake off the pudge.

Author: Sarka Kocicka

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