This Type Of Exercise Can Damage Your Heart

This Type of Exercise can Damage your Heart
by Craig Ballantyne, CTT
Contributor:  Men's Health Magazine
Creator: Turbulence Training       

I’ve just emerged from my training research lab with a tsunami of scientific studies that give us 5 more scary reasons to cut traditional cardio from your fat loss workouts.

Not an efficient or effective way to drop excess fat.

This breaking research just goes to show you that unless you are training for endurance sports, there’s practically no good reason to engage in long, slow cardio (especially really long sessions as you’ll discover in a moment).  And if you do train for endurance events, you should be aware of the potential heart issues with excessive training.

First up, let’s take a look at why cardio fails as much as Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. (I’m saving the scariest study for last.)

In a study titled, “Why do individuals not lose more weight from an exercise intervention at a defined dose? An energy balance analysis“, researchers found that weight loss from cardio was always lower than predicted (using a standard calories in vs. calories out approach).

The article, published in Obesity Reviews (Vol. 13 Issue 6), explained that cardio doesn’t work for FOUR reasons:

a)  Some people eat more when they start a cardio program
b)  Calorie burning at rest often decreases with cardio
c)  Calorie-burning lean muscle tissue is often lost (can cause reduced metabolic rate)
d)  Cardio programs cause you to do less activity over the day

So if you’re still trying to lose fat with cardio, those are the reasons why it’s not working (or why it didn’t work for you before you switched to Turbulence Training).

Second, speaking of TT style training, we now have another research study showing the fat burning power of interval training. This time, it’s from China…

In the study published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness (2012 Jun;52(3):255-62), 60 overweight young women were separated into three groups.

Group 1 did a high intensity interval training (HIIT) program
Group 2 did moderate intensity continuous training (MICT)
Group 3 was a non-training control group.

Groups 1 & 2 trained five days per week for 12 weeks.

The researchers concluded that the HIIT group achieved better results than those in the MICT group.

But it’s not “new” to hear about intervals being better than slow cardio for fat loss, so finally, here’s the FIFTH scary reason you need to avoid long cardio... And believe me, it’s frightening, particularly to those who love their long-distance events like marathons.

In a study published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings (2012 Jun;87(6):587-95), researchers concluded that there are potential adverse cardiovascular effects from excessive endurance exercise.

Frankly, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. After all, what happens when you do a high-volume workout?

Well, your muscles get really sore, right? And that’s called muscle damage.



Now think for a second…what is your heart?

It’s a muscle.



Therefore, when you do high-volume cardiovascular training, your heart experiences a LOT of muscle damage, and over the long-term this can damage your  heart.

The researchers from the Mid America Heart Institute of Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, MO, said that while regular, short workouts are good for your heart, that long-term excessive endurance exercise may cause “pathologic” structural remodeling of the heart and large arteries”.

Pathological is bad, very bad.

You’ve heard the phrase “pathological liar”, right? Well, just imagine someone with a pathological heart. Notta too good.

The scientists found that training for and competing in extreme endurance events such as marathons, ultramarathons, ironman distance triathlons, and very long distance bicycle races, damage the heart.

Worse, they found that if done for years, it creates “patchy myocardial fibrosis” and could lead to arrhythmias.

Something to keep in mind if you’re a hardcore marathoner.

Get your heart checked.

It always disheartens me to read stories of men who pass away while running (the Toronto marathon had another death during the race last year). So make sure your ticker is up to par if you’re a cardio fanatic.



Be careful with your cardio, if you must do it at all.

For fat loss, it’s certainly not mandatory.

Nutrition is much more important than exercise (for both fat loss and heart-health), so take some of that excessive endurance training time and put it towards preparing a healthier diet.

No matter what, I want you to be active, but safe and smart.

As the lead researcher in that last study wisely said:

“When people come to me as a cardiologist and say they want to run a marathon I say, ‘OK, do one and cross it off your bucket list and then let’s focus on an exercise pattern that’s more ideal to producing long-term health benefits and improving your longevity.”

Words to live by.

Pardon me, words to live a LONG-TIME by.

If you want a safer AND more effective way to train that strengthens your heart while also getting you super lean and chiseled, try out my unique TT Bodyweight Cardio Metabolic workouts. You can get ripped, anywhere, anytime!

Train hard but safe,
Craig Ballantyne, CTT
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Cardio Queens, Prepare To Be Dethroned!

Over the years, I've often blogged about the best type of exercise for fat loss.

If you are one of those people who is still convinced that traditional cardio is the key to dropping excess pounds, I've assembled a few articles below...


I'll Keep Saying It Until You Get It, Cardio Is Not The Answer

Why You're Not Getting The Results You Want, Part 1

Cardio Queens and Disappointing Fat Loss Results

Researchers Prove Strength Training Is Better Than Cardio To Lose Belly Fat

5 Reasons Why Aerobics Suck for Fat Loss


Happy reading!


And now the disclaimer...

I'm not here to try to sell you on anything if you're not looking to buy. In other words, if you're happy with what you're currently doing, continue on. If you love jogging, then jog. If you're satisfied with the results you're getting from hours and hours of steady state cardio, keep on keepin' on.  (Yes, I know my age is showing.)

However, if you're not happy with the results you're getting, or if you're physically or mentally bored with what you're currently doing, or if you've been getting injured from the repetitive motion of long bouts of cardio, or if you really don't have time to spend hours a day exercising, try it my way.

Make sure you're strength training and experiment with cardio intervals and metabolic circuits.


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5 Reasons Why Aerobics Suck for Fat Loss

More proof of why I keep telling you that steady state cardio is not the way to go if you want to drop fat.


5 Reasons Why Aerobics Suck for Fat Loss
by Trey Eckerman
The Fat Loss Expert Blog

January 24, 2008

If you know anything about me, you know that I don't believe that aerobic exercise helps you lose body fat. In fact, there are many reasons why aerobics absolutely suck for fat loss and can actually hinder your fat loss success.

Aerobics is a term coined by Dr. Kenneth Cooper in the late 1960's which became very popular in the 70's into the turn of the century. He believed that slow sustainable intensity exercise is the end all be all of exercise prescription. He launched the jogging phase, step classes, dance classes and such which is supposed to reduce fat and enhance healthy function.

I am really good friends with a fitness professional that coaches at Cooper Clinic in Dallas and I promise you his clients aren't doing aerobics for fat loss. Even the trainers at the "father of aerobics" facility resistance train and interval train for fat loss.

I also train a former marathoner who has competed in many races and actually won one a few years back. After he stopped competing, he continued to look to long distance running as a way to control his weight. He developed many nagging injuries and was never really satisfied with his "stringy" body.

He turned to me for advice. After reducing his long distance running and starting him on a resistance training program, he is muscular and ripped to the bone at 56 years young.

These are a couple of reasons why I don't think aerobics are useful for your fat loss program.

With that said, here are 5 more reasons why I think aerobic training sucks for fat loss.

1) It takes way too much time.

In the fast paced, time crunched world we live in today, time becomes a big uexcuse for not changing your body. The last thing you need to do is concentrate your time on a mode of exercise that doesn't change your body. To burn the amount of calories equal to the total daily calories burned through interval training or resistance training, you would have to spend over an hour each day of constant movement performing aerobics.

2) It tears down your body.

In order to burn enough calories to really drop weight (note I didn't say body fat) you really have to do a high amount of work just as stated earlier. This really tears down your body. If you have tried aerobics (classes, jogging, lap swimming etc.) you probably notice you start to develop achy joints. Tendonitis in your knees, shoulders and other joints develop easily with this much use. When you start to hurt, you stop exercising. There could be nothing more detrimental to your success.

3) The more you do it, the more efficiently your body performs it.

You have probably noticed that you get much, much better at jogging when you do it a lot. That is why marathon runners log mile after mile. Guess what? When you get better at running, you are burning less calories while you are running. You then need to run longer (or faster) to burn the same amount of calories. When you run faster, you start to get out of aerobic training and get into anaerobic training. Anaerobic training can come from resistance training or interval training. It works much, much better.

4) It turns you into a walking coat hanger.

If you had the choice, would you rather look like a marathon runner or a sprinter? I would guess that if you are reading what I have to say, you would rather look like a sprinter. Sprinters are lean and have a very nice athletic look. Marathon runners look like they can barely keep their tank tops hanging on their shoulders. They seriously remind me of a human coat hanger. Train to increase muscles and you will burn a tremendous amount of fat and you will achieve the body you want.

5) You will miss out on a mode of exercise which actually raises your metabolism.

Going back to point #1, aerobics take a lot of time. If you are performing an hour of aerobics per day there is no way you could have the time or energy to perform resistance training. If you aren't performing resistance training or intervals you are wasting your time. I usually don't like to speak in absolutes but in this case, you absolutely have to perform high intensity workouts to lose fat.

If you are wondering what the best workouts you can do to lose body fat, there is no better resource than Craig Ballantyne's www.TurbulenceTraining

Trey Eckerman is a fitness coach specializing in accelerated fat loss programs. He has written and supervised fat loss programs for numerous individuals ranging from former highly competitive athletes to previously sedentary beginners. He is the owner of www.PlayItFitness.com a website that is geared to helping people reach their fat loss and other fitness goals. He also owns Right at Home Fitness, a national fitness coaching company specializing in fitness programs in clients' homes.

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