Cardio- a waste of time?

Is cardio a waste of your time?

According to Mark Lauren’s book, “You Are Your Own Gym,” at rest the average man burns 105 calories in 45 minutes.  If your average man gets on a treadmill for 45 minutes and the treadmill readout says that he burned 300 calories, that’s only 195 more calories than if he were taking a nap, which can be undone with half a plain bagel in half a minute.  Shocking, aye?

Our bodies are not as metabolically efficient as cardio machines report.  In fact, our bodies are really good at “not” burning calories and conserving energy.  One of the reasons that it seems like the step class that you have been taking gets easier is because our bodies figure out which muscles are necessary for the least amount of work; therefore, conserving as much energy as possible.  This is why proficient runners will have a hard time getting on a bicycle initially.  It seems like they would have amazing cardiovascular endurance, but what they have developed more than cardiovascular endurance is improved economy of motion.  Their bodies learn which muscles are not needed while running, and those muscles atrophy.  The body has no demand for extra muscle beyond what is needed to perform a relatively easy movement over and over.  So your body adapts by actually burning muscle.  Our bodies are designed to survive by conserving energy.   For more info on this, visit www.marklauren.com.