Not Only Can Cardio Lead To Injuries But cardio IS a waste of time IF…
a) You are doing a lot of it and you are not getting results.
That goes for any form of training. But every week or so we get an email from someone doing mega amounts of cardio (in some cases, 7 hours per week!), but the person goes on to complain they are not losing fat even when doing this much exercise.
So clearly, this is a waste of their time. What’s next? Quit their job? Workout 3 hours a day? Forget it, you need something besides cardio in this situation.
b) Cardio causes an overuse injury. This happens all the time.
If you are a runner logging more than 25 miles a week, chances are you’ve been to the physical therapist, doctor, or chiropractor because of your high-volume running. But that’s what happens when you do something thousands and thousands of times per workout.
You must expect overuse injuries. We see lots of people with muscle imbalances here at our studio. The human body is designed to train in three dimensional planes not just one, as running on a treadmill or being on an elliptical machine.
But a good program should not leave you injured. If your routine leaves you with medical bills, it’s a waste of time.
c) Cardio is a waste of time if you could be getting more results (or even the same results) in less time.
Let’s say we take 2 people, and each can find time to exercise about 3 hours per week. Person A runs 60 minutes per day. Person B does 25 minutes of free weight and bodyweight training followed by 20 minutes of interval training.
Guess which Person will have a better body in 4 weeks. You better believe its Person B. So in this case, Person A is wasting some of their time on cardio.
Okay, so we’ve determined just cardio isn’t the best form of exercise…but when is cardio not a waste of time?
i) When you are getting great results, injury-free, and you’re life is not suffering because of the extra time you put into cardio. This would be a perfect world situation. Guess what, we don’t live in a perfect world. But if this is you, you’re a lucky person.
ii) It’s not a waste of time if you enjoy doing it more than anything else you could be doing in that period of time. Hey, for some people its a hobby. That’s cool. Enjoy.
So there you go. Common sense, I like to believe. Feel free to let me know if you think I’m out to lunch on my “Is cardio a waste of time” opinion.
Bottom line: Pick a program that will give you maximum results in minimum time while keeping you injury free.
We prefer 3 structured workouts per week. Allows people to spend more time out living their lives rather than stuck on a treadmill or in their basement. After life is short. If you want the most bang for your buck, then you need to do interval strength training just like we do at the Body Project, Eagan’s premiere personal training and weight loss studio.
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