Find out why I don't think much of this study, or the conclusions drawn by the researchers. Needless to say, I'm still unconvinced that long cardio should be a part of your fat loss program.



Anyways, here is the study.

Researchers compared...

a) Doing a 60 minute bike (at 60% max effort) then recovering for 60 minutes vs b) doing a 30 minute bike, resting 20 minutes, and then doing another 30 minute bike and then resting for 60 minutes. (both rides at 60% max effort).

The results showed...

i) The total calories burned between the workouts did not differ.

ii) more fat was burned during the recovery for the split workout (77% vs 56%).

What does this mean?

Jack squat. Nothing.

Intervals work better than any cardio program you can think of?

I don't know anyone who has the time to do this?

Third, look at the actual numbers of fat calories burned...at most, it could be 50 extra calories.

Again, useless in all practical terms. But... Look for health clubs to be full of people sitting around for 20 minutes between cardio bouts...Next thing you know, people will be taking 4 hours just to do a single workout.

Why am I so hard on cardio? Because its a waste of time... and now these researchers and the authors of these "news reports" want to waste even MORE of your life...

As I wrote recently... A recent study published by the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, subjects aged 40 to 75 were instructed to do 60 minutes of aerobic exercise per day for 6 days per week for an entire year.

(Reference... Obesity 15:1496-1512 (2007). Exercise Effect on Weight and Body Fat in Men and Women. Anne McTiernan*, et al.)

Given the amount of exercise, you'd expect weight losses of 20, 30 pounds, or more, right?

Well, the surprise findings showed the average fat loss for female subjects was was only 4 pounds for the entire year, while men lost 6.6 pounds of fat over the year.

That's over 300 hours of aerobic exercise just to lose a measly 6 pounds of blubber. Not time well spent, in my opinion.

Listen, you give me 300 hours a year, and you'll lose a lot more than 6.6 pounds of fat...trust me on that.

Heck, give me 300 hours a year and I could probably turn you into a Ninja, commercial airline pilot, and accomplished mime, and still help you burn more fat than you would with 300 hours of cardio.

Here's the best advice I can give you... Forget about what these researchers say from their ivory towers. Make them get out and train someone in the real world. I keep my ear to the ground and I promise you, if there is a breakthrough in fat loss, you'll be among the first to know.