Why Aerobics Makes You Fat

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Yes, it's true.  All the latest research points in the same direction. 

It's unmistakable, aerobics makes you fat!

Here's why

1.  Approximately 65% of your daily caloric expenditure goes toward your resting metabolic rate.

Aerobics lowers your metabolism

Cardiovascular exercise recruits slow-twitch muscle fibers ( which are more efficient in utilizing oxygen than fast-twitch muscle fibers. )

By performing high intensity cardio your body will adapt by atrophying (shrinking) the fast-twitch muscle fibers  in favour of the development of slow-twitch muscle fibers

2.  To succeed at weight loss you must develop your fast-twitch muscle fibers: exactly the opposite of cardio!

How?  Strength training.

I know this is hard to swallow, I am a reformed Jane Fonda recruit myself.

3.  Through strength training you will develop the kind of muscles that burn 10 to 12 times the calories than fat.  Increasing your metabolism by up to 15% !!

4.  More bad news about cardio:  As you become more "fit" you burn fewer calories performing the same activity.  You have to keep stepping it up a notch to stay in the same place, which means you have to spend more and more time! 

5.  Worst of all, Canadian researchers found that cardiovascular exercise interferes with your body's ability to build muscle.  So, if you do cardio and strength training (even if not in the same day!)  Your body thinks it is under stress and releases cortisol which inhibits muscle building!  Your body is trying to protect you from starving by decreasing your metabolism (and fast-twitch muscles are too efficient at burning calories.)

6.  Here's the nasty truth:  Do cardio and eat the same foods=lower metabolism and less calories burned during the 23 hours of the day when you're not doing cardio.  Worse still, stop the cardio due to injury (very likely) or because you don't enjoy it, and your lower metabolism minus the calories burned in your cardio class will yo-yo your weight up higher and higher each time you start and stop your cardio program.  So, unless you want to spend more and more time each month doing cardio and never stop, you are setting yourself up for weight gain.

7.  Since the aerobics craze in the 80's North Americans have become fatter and fatter due to poor eating habits and starting and stopping their cardio programs.

8.  Research has also shown that intense cardio training decreases your immune system function.  Patients training for marathons have more lung infections than the average couch potato.

Get out of the 1980's and stay fit and healthy without putting all that stress on your joints!

Have you ever noticed that your friends who weight train and who do Yoga, Pilates or Tai Chi look lean, fit and happy?  Look around at the unhappy faces of your friends that do aerobics and can't seem to lose the weight they want.  Who would you rather be like?

The only way to increase your fast-twitch muscles fibers is to do strength training 

The best forms of strength training are Yoga, Pilates, hand weights and bands.  I like all these methods but, Yoga is my personal favourite because it strengthens every muscle from head to toe.  Yoga is also meditative and puts me in tune with my body, which makes me want to eat in a healthy way.  I now notice exactly how gross I feel after a row of cookies, whereas before, I was in too much of a hurry and too stressed out to care enough about myself.

Of course, if you love your cardio, that's great, keep doing it. If something brings you pleasure you are more likely to continue doing it.  I love to swim and ride my bike and play soccer with my kids, it's fun.  I just do those things for pleasure...not to lose weight.

TRY IRON YOGA: THE ULTIMATE METABOLIC BOOSTER!

COMING SOON:  STRENGTH TRAINING FOR WEIGHT LOSS