It’s been a common myth in health and fitness that cardio is the best way to burn calories, manage your weight, or lose body fat. Unfortunately, cardio actually contributes very little to weight loss or improving your body composition in the absence of resistance training.

If you’ve ever tried more cardio, HIIT, or calorie burning workouts to lose weight, but haven’t been able to achieve long-term weight loss, there is a better way to help you reach your goals. We’ve seen our clients get incredible transformation over the last 5+ years in fat loss and muscle building without doing any extra cardio, and by reading on you’ll understand exactly why cardio isn’t the best method to lose weight or burn fat.

1: Cardio Increases Appetite

While cardio will increase the amount of calories you burn, it will also increase your appetite to compensate for the calories burned. This may not be immediately after you exercise, but cardio can actually make it harder to control your appetite and achieve a calorie deficit needed to see long-term weight loss.

Cardio does burn calories, but it also increases your appetite and can also lead to consuming more calories, which will negate the weight loss benefits.

2: Cardio Can Negatively Affect Lean Muscle Mass

Most cardio does not build lean muscle mass, and can actually result in loss of muscle mass when done in excess and done in absence of resistance training and proper diet. Building (and preserving) lean muscle mass is one of the best things you can do for your long-term health and body composition.

Cardio done in excess and in absence of resistance training can reduce lean muscle mass, which will have negative effects on both long-term health and body composition.

3: Cardio Doesn’t Tip The Metabolism Equation As Much As You Think

Most people assume that cardio plays a bigger role in the calories in vs calories out metabolism equation than it actually does. Calories burned during your cardio is likely only making up for about 10% of the total calories burned throughout the day, and as mentioned above is often negated if you consume more calories as a compensation to more hunger.

Cardio doesn’t burn as many calories as you think to create a calorie deficit on its own. As a double edged sword, if you are not prioritizing resistance training and building lean muscle mass as mentioned above, your metabolism will actually decrease even more making it an ineffective weight loss strategy on its own.

While cardio has overall health benefits, it is not the best strategy for managing your weight or losing fat. If you’re looking to maximize health benefits while also accessing better muscle building and fat burning abilities, cardio should be paired with resistance training and custom nutrition recommendations. If you’re interested in learning more about how our clients improve their body composition with only 2 or 3 days exercising each week through The Inside Out Strength Protocol, set up a call by filling out an application here.