If you still persist in overdoing the cardio, misguided into believing that more

is better and that you'll achieve a lean, healthy body by spending hours on a
tradmill, then what follows may have you thinking twice about your gym antics....

Here's some news from my friends at Precision Nutrition in the States.

According to recent escalating research, the following facts have been concluded
about cardio exercise and fat loss:

Adding 45 minutes of aerobic exercise 5 days per week, for 12 weeks, had no effect
over nutrition modifications alone.
Utter AC, et al. Influence of diet and/or exercise on body composition and cardio
respiratory fitness in obese women. Int J Sport Nutr 1998;8:213-222.

4 hours of aerobic exercise each week had no effect on weight loss.

Van Dale D, et al. Does exercise give an additional effect in weight reduction
regimens? Int J Obes 1987;11:367-375.

Aerobic exercise is not an effective weight loss tool for women.

Gleim GW. Exercise is not an effective weight loss modality in women. J Am Coll
Nutr 1993;12:363-367.

Strength training groups seemed to lose more body fat than aerobically trained
groups. And the aerobic groups seemed to lose more muscle mass.
Geliebter A, et al. Effects of strength or aerobic training on body composition,
resting metabolic rate, and peak oxygen consumption in obese dieting subjects. Am
J Clin Nutr 1997;66:557-563.

Higher intensity exercise raised metabolism for 3 hours after the session. The
lower intensity exercise group didn’t have the same elevation.
Phelain JF, et al. Postexercise energy expenditure and substrate oxidation in
young women resulting from exercise bouts of different intensity. J Am Coll Nutr
1997;16:140-146.

A 31 minute, high intensity weight training circuit elevated metabolism for 38

hours.
Schuenke MD, et al. Effect of an acute period of resistance exercise on excess
post-exercise oxygen consumption: implications for body mass management. Eur J
Appl Physiol 2002;86:411-417

Plenty of intense exercise can offset age related metabolic declines.

Van Pelt RE, et al. Age-related decline in RMR in physically active men: relation
to exercise volume and energy intake. Am J Physiol: Endo Metab 2001;281:E633-E639.
Lemmer JT, et al. Effect of strength training on resting metabolic rate and
physical activity: age and gender comparisions. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2001;33:532-
541.

Participants doing high intensity cardio intervals had a more pronounced reduction
in subcutaeneous fat (fat under the skin) when compared to the endurance training
group.
Tremblay A, et al. Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal
muscle metabolism. Metabolism 1994;43:814-818.

Intense training can create a “fat burning” environment in the body outside of
exercise time.
Talanian JL, et al. Two weeks of high intensity interval training increases the
capacity for fat oxidation during exercise in women. J Appl Physiol 2007;102:1439-
1447.

Strength training can help to preserve muscle mass and lower body fat better than
aerobics.
Geliebter A, et al. Effects of strength or aerobic training on body composition,
resting metabolic rate, and peak oxygen consumption in obese dieting subjects. Am
J Clin Nutr 1997;66:557-563.

Resistance training helps to increase metabolism and fat oxidation, even hours
after finishing.
Poehlman ET, Melby C. Resistance training and energy balance. Int J Sport Nutr
1998;8:43-59. Hunter GR, et al. Resistance training increases total energy
expenditure and free living physical activity in older adults. J Appl Physiol
2000;89:977-984. Osterberg KL & Melby CL. Effect of acute resistance exercise on
postexercise oxygen consumption and resting metabolic rate in young women. Int J
Sports Nutr Exerc Metab 2000;10:71-81.