What drives fat loss is a calorie deficit. This brings up the question of whether cardio is actually needed to get lean or you could just diet down to low levels of body fat. In this post, I’ll try to answer some of the most common questions one could have about cardio while starting out. Keep in mind that this post is being written with the simple goal of fat loss to achieve a lean and ripped body. If your goals are to purely enhance performance, you should be performing cardio specific to your sport. With that being said, let's get started.

Do I Need Cardio?

A very common question most people starting out have is that 'is it really possible to get ripped without doing any cardio at all?’. The answer? Yes. But first, hear me out. If you plan on doing so, you’ll be completely dependent on your diet alone to create the calorie deficit which will help you burn fat. This means if you ever hit a wall, your only way to move past it would be to drop your calories even further. You will end up cutting calories too low and feeling hungry all the time completely reducing the chances of you being able to stick to your plan. Instead, if you add in some cardio, you would be able to continue dieting at a relatively higher number of calories than you would have to without incorporating cardio. In other words, using cardio as a tool can assist you in creating your deficit and can help you eat more calories by increasing your energy output.

What Type Of Cardio Should I Do?

To answer this question, remind yourself why you are incorporating cardio into your plan in the first place. Since we want to use cardio to help us create a calorie deficit, any form would be alright. This means you can choose between a lower intensity form of cardio, like brisk walking, or a higher intensity form of cardio, like high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Yeah, you read that right! You don’t need to perform HIIT session to get ripped. You can do it if you like it, but don’t lose hope of reaching your goals if you absolutely despise training in a certain way. So why is it that HIIT is being popularized so much over the last few years?

Those in favor of HIIT say that it is superior to other forms of cardio simply because of the effect of Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). This basically means that your body will keep burning calories not just during the session but also after the session is over. Even though this is true, a common argument for this is that the amount of calories burnt by EPOC isn't a huge number. So if the extra calories burnt are just a small number and if performing HIIT is increasing your hunger levels, is it really worth the trade-off? For example, imagine you burn a total of 300 calories after your HIIT session but end up extremely hungry which causes you to eat 500 calories when you're done, it really isn't worth it. Again, from a conditioning and athletic standpoint, HIIT definitely can help you improve your performance. But if you just want to drop off a few extra pounds to reveal your six-pack, it isn’t a necessity. Also, doing HIIT can interfere with your recovery between training sessions. These are the reasons why a lot of people prefer sticking to a lower intensity form of cardio. Even though these low to moderate intensity sessions will take longer than a typical HIIT session which lasts between 15-20 minutes, they will have an overall lower impact on your body and might even promote recovery between your training sessions. Low-intensity cardio can be of any form such as brisk walking, swimming, walking on the treadmill, dancing, etc. To truly know what type of cardio you should do, ask yourself what form of cardio do you enjoy the most? If you look around, I’m pretty sure you can find a form of cardio you enjoy doing!

How Much Cardio Should I Do?

The answer to this depends on whether you choose to do HIIT or a lower intensity form of cardio. If you are short on time, or simply prefer HIIT, you could perform it 2-3 times a week for 15-20 minutes. Doing more than this could start negatively impacting your recovery so do only as much as you can recover from. If you prefer low-intensity cardio, you could perform any type for 45-60 mins 3-4 days a week. No, you’re not going to lose muscle if you go for a long walk. You could also mix both up by performing one session of HIIT with 2 low-intensity sessions spread out through the week. Just make sure to plan it accordingly. The last thing you want is to do a very brutal HIIT session the night before your squat session!

When Should I Do Cardio?

To be honest, I don’t think this matters as much as people think it does. If the reason you're skipping cardio all together is because you don’t have time to do it fasted in the morning, the problem isn’t that you’re not doing fasted cardio. The problem is that you’re not doing any cardio at all. In theory, fasted cardio can lead to more fat oxidization but this doesn’t mean it is the best approach for you. Some might argue that being fed gives you more energy to perform better, helping you burn more calories, that being the main goal of you doing cardio in the first place. So, I would say this comes down to personal preference. If you prefer to do your cardio fasted, go for it. If you prefer to do it at any other time of the time day in a fed state, do that. In the end, as long as you are consistent with what you’re doing, the timing won’t make a big difference on the end result.

What Can I Do Instead?

A great way for you to get some cardio in is to simply count your steps. You can use your phone or a step tracker to reach a step goal you set for yourself. You could keep a goal of 10,000 steps a day. This number can be increased or decreased based on your personal preferences. You could also make incremental changes to it in the later stages of your diet. The benefit of this approach is that the amount of cardio you have to perform on a given day factors in your total level of activity for that day. In a way, it maintains your activity level throughout the diet so as to keep your expenditure as consistent as possible. Also, you could try to be more active throughout the day. Your Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) contributes to the total calories you expend in a day. As the name states, it's the calories you burn while you're not exercising, i.e. just fidgeting around throughout the day. This varies from person to person but actually plays an important role in your daily calorie expenditure. Small habitual changes like taking the stairs instead of the elevator can definitely give you a boost in the long run!

Conclusion

Cardio can be a great tool to help you reach your goals. It can help you create a calorie deficit without dropping your calories too low. The type and timing of the cardio you perform won’t matter as much as whether you actually do it or not. Pick a form of cardio you like and do it on a consistent basis. If you don’t like the idea of cardio, just try to increase your calorie expenditure in other ways such as setting a step goal or by making small habitual changes. All this being said, do realize that cardio can be a double-edged sword. Make sure to use it just as a tool. Over-depending on cardio along with a bad nutrition plan will lead to you looking soft and flabby instead of the ripped and chiseled look most people desire. Just like anything else in fitness, more is not always better!

Find the content informational? Share it with your friends and pin the image below on Pinterest!