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By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS,
MS
www.TurbulenceTraining.com
I'm not a big fan of long cardio, especially extreme
bouts of cardio - i.e. running marathons.
Just this past weekend a
41-year old man died running one of the Toronto
marathons. Last year, same thing. These are not the
first, nor will they be the last men to die running a
marathon.
And for what?
To run an irrelevant
distance for no reason at all. I don't see any logical
reason for most people to run a marathon. Particularly
when you are a 40-year old father of a young family. You
can be fit and healthy with far less exercise time, as
long as you train with far better exercise choices.
Sure, you can say you are
pushing the boundaries of your human performance...but I
doubt that is any consolation for the family of thes two
men.
No matter how "type A"
someone is, or how driven they are to perform in a
marathon, simply being able to run a marathon proves
nothing. And it can have disastrous consequences. Not
too mention the many smaller negative consequences of:
a) A waste of hours of
your life spent away from your loved ones while you
pound the pavement
b) Sore knees, chronic
back pain, and blistered feet
c) Money and time wasted
in the physiotherapist's office
d) An improperly trained
body (i.e. weak back of the body, no upper body
strength, overuse injuries)
e) A level of fitness that
has limited carryover to real world needs (carrying
groceries & other objects, outsprinting an attacker,
manual labor, etc.)
So please, if you insist
on running marathons, do yourself and your family a
favor and:
1) Get a full physical
from your doctor. This goes without saying for anyone on
an exercise program over the age of 30, but running
marathons is another reason not to neglect your physical
exams.
2) Pay close attention to
your body during the race. Wear a heart rate monitor,
and exercise conservatively, drink the right amount of
fluids (but not too much as that can be the cause of
death in long runs), and just plain be careful. A
marathon is hardly a reason to risk your life.
Now, here's more bad news.
Cardio has been killing
fat loss programs for decades.
Why?
Because almost all of the
exercise science studies performed in the 70's through
the early 90's were done on distance running.
From there we got the
messages that:
i) To lose fat, you had to
do long, slow endurance training. Clearly, we know
this is false. Nutrition is the most important aspect of
fat loss.
ii) That we should eat a
high-carbohydrate diet. This message, while generally
true for endurance athletes, was broadly applied to fat
loss. So we were subjected to that hideous low-fat,
high-carb phase in the 90's where we were urged to eat
Snackwell low-fat cookies with no regard to the sugar
and calorie content.
iii) Beginners should get
out on high-volume, walk-run programs. Now while it is
important to get people out and exercising, high-volume
activities for underprepared beginner muscles are going
to cause injury fast. And that's what happened to most
people that tried to take up running.
iv) Too many cardio
enthusiasts had the wrong mentality of, "If I go for a 5
mile run, I can have some juice and cookies as a
reward". Needless to say, that didn't help anyone lose
fat.
The end result?
This high-cardio,
high-carb approach to fitness and fat loss left many men
and women with thunder thighs, saddle bags, and chronic
running injuries.
Fast-forward to this
decade, and the mainstream media is finally starting to
see the benefits of strength training and interval
training for both fat loss and the cardiovascular
system.
Not too mention people are
finally getting their nutrition right. And it's so
simple:
- lots of fruits and
vegetables (rarely does anyone get enough)
- lean protein
- healthy fats
- fiber-rich low-glycemic carbohydrates
Dr. Chris Mohr gives
dozens of options for each in the TT Fat Loss Nutrition
Guidelines.
So eat right, train right,
and be safe.
Sincerely,
Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training
P.S. Okay, so you don't
want to give up running?
At least train your body
correctly with Turbulence Training. It trains the
muscles that running neglects, and promises to put more
power into your hill running.
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
www.TurbulenceTraining.com