Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against Cardio. Cardiovascular or aerobic exercise has been proven by research over the years to be a beneficial way of improving your health and well-being. In fact in New Zealand we recommend performing a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity every day to maintain good health. There are many forms of cardio to suit your own preferences and if you enjoy it I say go for it- It will do so many positive things for you! I also want you to consider that performing “Cardio” is not always necessary in reaching your health and fitness goals. It is obviously clear that if you want to be a marathon runner you will need to run, but if you are like me; a natural bodybuilder- does performing traditional cardio make a lot of sense? Everyone does it right? Well for me the answer is NO.
Before I tell you why I want to give you an insight into how the idea of getting rid of cardio evolved for me. The first time I considered dropping cardio from my pre-contest bodybuilding phase was back in 2005, I had just competed in my last show of the year and was preparing students for a triathlon as part of their NCEA course at school. I had not achieved the level of leanness I wanted to during the shows, even with cardio, and thought I would do some extra training with the kids to see if it would augment fat loss and my weight training. What happened was a huge surprise! I gained body fat, lost strength and felt terrible. Now you may be thinking that I was doing too much, but apart from 3 weight training sessions and 6 half hour cardio sessions- that was it. In 2006 I competed in bodybuilding again and was unhappy with my results even with all the hard work I put in- I just wasn’t lean enough.
I decided that next time I competed I would follow the lifestyle recommendations offered by Peter D’Adamo for Blood type A and reduce the amount of exercise to lower cortisol levels. I also began to see my weight training sessions as more meditative than intense to further balance the stress created by weight training. Excessive and prolonged cortisol levels within the body have clearly been shown to promote increased body fat levels through several different mechanisms. Also as a PE teacher I often tell my students that they need to train specifically for their sport. How is cardio anywhere like a bodybuilding competition? You may be only up onstage for 10 minutes max and during that time you are posing as hard as possible, so it made sense to drop cardio and focus on weight training, diet and posing to improve my ability to get lean for competitions.
In 2008, along with some diet modifications I performed no traditional cardio. Instead I began using “rest-pause training” during weight training sessions and found I lost fat faster and achieved a level of leanness I was unable to achieve before with cardio. The other huge benefits were that I had more energy to put into my weight training (I only trained 3-4 times per week); I stayed stronger, recovered a lot faster between workouts and felt a million times better!
Since 2008 I have done no traditional cardio before a bodybuilding show; all I do is:
- Weight training 3-4 times per week with sessions lasting less than 45 minutes.
- Make sure my diet is on point (for me that is high protein, no processed carbohydrates, plenty of fresh vegetables, lots of good fats and whey protein so my macronutrients ratios are right for me to lose body fat and gain/maintain muscle).
- Use a pre-workout supplement.
- Posing practice for around 15-30 minutes on non-training days, slightly more as competition gets closer.
I have to say for some people this may not be enough exercise for them physically or emotionally before a bodybuilding contest but I have found training smarter for me, not harder has given me better results. Also, genetics and other variables can influence how much you can train in terms of weight training and whether cardio ruins or augments your efforts in the gym. For example Peter D’Adamo recommends that Blood type O’s generally benefit from more exercise as it reduces stress and lowers cortisol levels for them.
In any case you need to be aware that there are many different ways to achieve your health and fitness goals, just make sure you don’t blindly follow what others do and find what works best for you. That is why I say NO to cardio!