Walking Is Great Exercise- Another Myth Exploded

In an effort to get a sedentary public moving, magazines, doctors and others often recommend walking as exercise. Walking doesn't cost anything, most everyone can do it and it has a low risk of injury. Too bad it doesn't do much.

As reported in the June 2009 edition of The Physician and Sports Medicine, walking alone does not result in enough physiologic stress to be considered a significantly beneficial exercise.

Our bodies need to be challenged. They adapt to the stress you apply to them. That's why if you're lifting the same weights or running the same 2 miles in the same amount of time that you were a month ago, you are actually getting less benefit (and burning fewer calories). As your body gets stronger and more fit, you need to increase the challenge.

Walking is not the be-all end-all exercise that so many tout it to be. In fact, according to research, people who continually walk as exercise typically lose 4 to 6 pounds of lean muscle mass. That's really bad!

Less muscle means less strength; less strength means everyday life is harder than it needs to be. Many of the characteristics associated with old age are actually the result of loss of strength due to the lack of strength training, which results in loss of muscle.

Regular walkers also experience a reduction in their resting metabolism of 2 to 3 % each decade.

The loss of lean muscle and the metabolic slowdown in walkers are close to those found in completely sedentary individuals. This means that if walking is the most physically demanding stress an individual experiences, there is not enough of a physiologic challenge for the body to positively adapt. In other words, no results.

As we age, without the right type of regular exercise, we experience musculoskeletal and metabolic deterioration. To offset that process you need to work at a level that stimulates the body to improve.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't walk. Some individuals use walking as a stress release, to plan their day, to brainstorm or to think through problems. I think walking can be a great activity on your off-days (along with riding bike, recreational sports, dancing, etc.). Just make sure to incorporate 3 days a week of challenging exercise including strength training and cardio intervals or metabolic resistance circuits.

(If you're a competitive power walker please don't leave a nasty comment or send me an irate email. Obviously, that's not the type of walking the researchers are talking about.)
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Cardio Kills?

If you been on this blog more than once you know that I prefer cardio intervals for fat loss over long duration, steady state cardio.

Here's an excerpt from an excellent article by Darin Steele that I recently came across.


The common myth that jogging is better for fat loss, fitness, & health is a strong one that is wrong;

The old school text books & simple minds say; "To burn fat, you must stay in the fat burning zone (heart rate between 50-65%) for 60-70 minutes. You don't start burning fat until about 20 minutes into the work-out. So if you do a 70 minute session, you will get 50 minutes of fat burning.

I am going to clear this up for you once and for all. You see, for fat loss, it is not about where your body gets the energy from the work-out for (slow go cardio / fat, interval / glycogen) nearly as much as it is total calories.

You see, the instant that you are done with low intensity jogging, your body is done burning calories. But, do an intense set of intervals, and your body burns calories for the 2-4 hours after the work-out. So the total amount of calories burned form intense interval far exceeds that of jogging type cardio.

Another big advantage that you get with interval cardio that most do not know about is that it changes the way your body stores your calories in the future: and in a very good way. You see most of the benefits of exercise come after the exercise is completed. It is how the body adapts and changes. Tear down muscles by weight lifting, and in the 1-2 days after, the body repairs the tiny micro tears back so they are a little bigger & stronger.

Well, cardio is much the same way. When you do low intensity jogging type cardio, your body says, "It's a good thing I had that fat there to supply energy for that work out". So it makes sure that it has plenty of fat there in preparation for the next "slow go cardio" session.

But when you do intense intervals, your body says, "It's a good thing I had that glycogen in the muscles for that interval cardio". So when it breaks down your future meals, it stores more of the carbs as glycogen in the muscles and the liver in preparation for the future "Interval Cardio" sessions. In essence, your gas tanks enlarge with useful energy. This is great for at least two reasons.

The entire article is here.

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Fat Burning Bodyweight Circuit Exercises

Get tired of doing your usual cardio or interval workouts? Whether you're an advanced or beginner exerciser, Craig Ballantyne has a great alternative to spice up your workout and get results. You can also use his suggestions while traveling or if you want to take your workout outside, like I did yesterday.


Fat Burning Bodyweight Circuit Exercises
By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

When you travel, you worry about missing your workouts and eating poorly...So you must plan ahead for both (apples and almonds for planes, trains, & automobiles)...and bodyweight circuits for "no-equipment fat burning".

And while I have bodyweight exercises that are just as hard as the bench press and barbell squat in one of my bodyweight workouts, today we'll focus on replacing intervals with bodyweight circuits.

To do a bodyweight circuit...

a) Pick 3 lower body exercises

b) Pick 3 upper body exercises

c) Alternate between a lower and upper body exercise without rest, till you are done all 6 exercises

d) Rest a minute.

e) Repeat 2-3 more times until you are done 20 minutes

For example, this is a great circuit that doesn't need any equipment

1) Prisoner Squat (12 repetitions)
2) Elevated Pushups (8 reps per side)
3) Single-Leg Deadlift (10 reps per side)
4) Close-grip Pushups (As many reps as possible)
5) Jumping Jacks (30-60 reps)
6) Cross-Body Mountain Climber (12 reps per side)

Whew. That's pretty advanced...for a beginner, we'd slow it down like this and take some breaks between exercises...

1) Wall Squat (8 reps)
2) Kneeling Elevated Pushup (5 reps per side)
3) Lying 1-leg Hip Extension (8 reps per side)
4) Plank (30 second hold)
5) Jumping Jacks (5-10 reps)
6) Side Plank (15 second hold per side)

Safe travels, and of course, always check with your doctor before beginning a fat burning bodyweight circuit exercise program.

About the Author:
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

Efficiency Isn't Efficient When It Comes To Fat Loss

As you may know, our bodies adapt to the tasks we regularly perform, whether it's a physically strenuous job or weightlifting- which is why it's important to change your strength training routine every 4-6 weeks for best results. Adaptation also occurs when you perform steady state aerobic exercise. As you continue to exercise regularly, your body becomes more efficient and uses fewer and fewer calories to complete your normal routine. With strength training, you can increase your weights as your body adapts but with aerobic exercise your only options are to go longer, faster, or harder to get the same results. And then, your body adapts again.

Even if you regularly try to increase your speed or resistance, you will eventually get to the point where that is no longer possible. Think about it; whether walking, biking, rowing, etc., after a while most people will reach their limit as to the intensity they can maintain throughout their workout. Then, their only option is to increase their time but there’s only so many hours in the day and who has the time or desire to spend hours exercising?

Two other disadvantages associated with steady state cardiovascular training are overuse injuries and muscle loss. Did you know that, unless coupled with weight training, regular, steady state training often causes loss of muscle? Muscle is the fat burning engine of the body and the importance of maintaining and building muscle in regards to weight management is too often overlooked.

If you’re happy with your current results then keep doing what you're doing; it's obviously working for you. If your want to exercise for less time and get better results, give cardio intervals a try.

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Quick Home or Travel Workout

Looking for a fast workout on days you can’t get to the gym? Even without any equipment you can stay active during the busy holiday season. Try this:

Bodyweight Circuit: 10-15 reps of each exercise (or per side if it’s a single leg exercise)

· Prisoner Squats
· Incline Pushups (Use a countertop, dresser, table, etc. The lower, the more difficult. You can do standard pushups if you're able.)
· Good Mornings
· Mountain Climbers
· Standing Alternating Elbow to Opposite Knee
· Prisoner Static Lunge (Also known as Split Squat or Stationary Lunge)

Rest 30-60 seconds as needed and repeat up to 5 times. Each round will take approximately 4-5 minutes.
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