Exercise

Will Cardio Exercises Result in Fat Loss?

January 8, 2010
By Parthasarathy Rengaswami

Many people do cardio exercises with the objective of fat loss. Strangely Cardio exercises work for some people but don’t work for others. I used the word strangely because any set of exercises, if performed in standard ways should lead to the same results. If you go out and take a survey of people who have been doing this kind of an exercise, the results are likely to be mixed.

It is well known that any exercise program will be successful only if people do their routines regularly without long or frequent breaks in between. But there are people who do their cardio workout regularly for 6 hours, 9 hours or even 12 hours per week but are still unable to lose weight substantially.

This anomaly amazed experts as it amazed the common man or woman who did the cardio exercises without getting perceptible results. The experts were naturally curious to unravel the causes behind this mystery. A group of overweight men and women who were not exercising till then were selected.

After all, some men and women do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more per week, and still have belly fat to burn. On the other hand, it works just fine for others. They were asked to do cardio exercises for 5 hours per week for 12 weeks. That was a lot of exercise no doubt but it was very rewarding. The subjects lost about 8 pounds on an average. The results were published in the International Journal of Obesity 32:177-184, 2008.)

If you have carefully read the statement, you would have noticed the word “average.” The word average was significant because an analysis of the results revealed that there was huge variance of weight loss between individuals. One of the subjects lost 32.3 pounds while another in the group gained 3.74 pounds. Thus the study to unravel a mystery resulted in another mystery.

Ultimately, scientists were able to explain this paradox by dividing people into two categories – the Compensators and the Non-Compensators. The compensators are those who feel hungrier after a workout and feel the need to eat more. The calories gained from more eating adds more calories to their bodies than burned by the workouts. The result is obvious.

If you find that after doing cardio exercises your appetite increases, it means that you are a compensator and your cardio efforts will be only counterproductive. Check your appetite and calorie intake to see if you are compensating.

Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Turbulence Training.

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