Let’s say you were really bored with cardio and you questioned just how much your cardio before and after earch workout was helping you. Maybe you switch up your training routine and start doing supersets, trisets, and giant sets in place of cardio. You start to weight train like this because you notice that your heart rate skyrockets when you train quickly. Maybe you start circuit training whereby you complete all of your day’s weight lifting with very little rest in between each set and little rest between each exercise. You’ll probably notice that you’re sweating a lot more, your heart rate is high, and you’re maybe even out of breath. Those symptoms are similar to what happens after you finish doing cardio, right? So, if you look at it that way, it would seem that training at a faster, more intense pace would allow you to drop any cardio all together. Would that really work?

Here’s what I think needs to happen in order to be able to leave cardio out of a training program or routine. First, you have to stick to an excellent diet. If you’re eating right, you’ll most certainly decrease the need to do cardio exercises to help lose or maintain weight and to lose body fat. A lot of bodybuilders and fitness nuts back in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s did little or no cardio and were remarkably lean. One must also remember, steroids where being taken like tic tacs back then as well. These guys may have been working with a bunch more testosterone than you or I. These guys also lived in the gym. Do you have 4, 5, even 6 hours available in your day to train like that?

 Sure, cardio is boring. But, I think most of us who are trying to lose weight or stay lean NEED to do some good, intense cardio several times each week. What do you think? leave a comment and let us know.