I live a few miles away from a beautiful lake in Seattle called Green Lake. Every spring when the weather becomes nice and the sun comes out, people flock to this lake. Around the perimeter of the lake is a jogging path. I drive by this lake daily and get to observe dozen of joggers running around the lake.
[I couldn't find a nice photo of Green Lake, so I put up a photo of a marina that is about 3 minutes from my place. I've lived on the water most of my life and wouldn't have it any other way.]
Were We Meant to Jog for Long Periods of Time?
I’ve touched on this before, but I wanted to discuss this again. I see dozens of people each day jogging all over the Seattle area, so it just makes me wonder…is this a good use of time and energy? The reason I ask this, is because a lot of the people I see jogging look a little run down to me. Mark Sisson has an excellent post on this topic: Chronic Cardio
Actual Marathon Running Is Brutal On the Body!
Without a doubt, running a marathon is torture on your body. I have always felt it was bad and would break down muscle, but I had no idea of the extent of the damage. Art De Vany who is a professor at the University of California, Irvine wrote a convincing article on the negatives of marathons: Top Ten Reasons not to Run Marathons
A Quick Definition of “Marathon Cardio”
I consider marathon cardio to be maintaining a steady, but challenging jogging pace for over 30 minutes. This is a really simple way of looking at it, there are other factors such as heart rate…plus you can do marathon cardio on a bike, etc.
A Fine Line Between Steady State and Marathon Cardio
I recommend a bit of steady state cardio at times to maximize fat burning. This is just something to add after HIIT or a bodyweight circuit to help you lose just a little more fat than HIIT alone. The deal is this…you have to be pretty cautious about going too hard or too long with the steady state portion. In fact do not do steady state cardio after HIIT each and every time…it can quickly lead to burn out and over-training.
We Were Most Likely Meant to Walk and Sprint
The healthiest people I know stay active all day long and walk a lot during the day. In addition to this, they do intense activities for short durations a few times per week. I wrote a post recently regarding workout intensity and burning body fat. I explained that walking on a treadmill was an ineffective way to burn body fat. I should have also explained that I’m not putting down walking at all! I just think that you should walk as much as possible outside of the gym. Your 3-4 visits to the gym each week should be intense and used to jack up the metabolism the rest of the week.
What Many Don’t Know About Mark Sisson
Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple was on the cover of Runner’s World 3 different times. In 1985 they named him one of the “fittest” men alive. He also placed as high as 4th in the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. The guy was a marathon cardio junkie! These days he doesn’t believe in doing marathon cardio and feels better than ever. Want to see how an utra-fit guy in his mid-50′s stays in great shape?
[I've posted this video on my site before, but just wanted to do it again to show people how effective short burst intervals are for contributing to a healthy body. This beach is basically Mark's front yard, by the way! He's also a fellow beer-lover like myself. Here is a guy who stays fit while enjoying life. He's much cooler than most of the people on the covers of fitness magazines.]
Note: So to get ready for summer, think along these lines…a few brief and intense efforts per week, mixed with a lot of slow and steady activity outside of the gym. Keep the diet slightly cleaner than normal if you have a few pounds to lose and you will be good.
![Eating to Increase Your Metabolism [Pt 3]](http://fitnessblackbook.com/wp-content/plugins/codecanyon-552356-special-recent-posts-pro/cache/NjA2MG5vaW5jcmVhc2UteW91ci1tZXRhYm9saXNtLTE1MHgxNTA=.jpg)
![Eating to Increase Your Metabolism [Pt 2]](http://fitnessblackbook.com/wp-content/plugins/codecanyon-552356-special-recent-posts-pro/cache/NjA2MG5vYmlnc3RvY2stb3ZlcndlaWdodC1tYWxlLXBlcnNvbi13YWxraW5nLTI0Nzk3OTA5LTE1MHgxNTA=.jpg)
![Eating to Increase Your Metabolism [Pt 1]](http://fitnessblackbook.com/wp-content/plugins/codecanyon-552356-special-recent-posts-pro/cache/NjA2MG5vaVN0b2NrXzAwMDAxODE5ODg4NVNtYWxsLTE1MHgxNTA=.jpg)
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Great article again, Rusty. This point really can’t be hit on enough. Stop the marathon cardio! The Army is absolutely horrible for doing chronic cardio, day after day. It really needs to change.
I wrote an article with some easy sprint workouts for beginners a little while back if anyone is interested in some good ways to mix in some sprints.
Hi Rusty,
I’ve started doing HIIT after reading your views on it, its been a few weeks and I just love it; especially the 40 sec interval at speed 15
.
Rusty, what are views on taking L-Carnitine caps for regulating or facilitating fat burning? I’ve been working out for almost 18 months where i am loosing inches but not weight. Hence I need help.
Thanks for sharing your views.
Cheers,
Rahul
Rusty
Our bodies are amazing as you know, they can adjust quickly to any state you put it into. from your very earlier posts you have always said eat right train right and it all works out. I cant count how many faddy diets ive been on throughout the years, pills also exclaiming they work miracles but the bottom line is whatever cardio, or weights etc you do, unless you continously alter it, your body adjusts. its what its designed to do. If you lose an arm or leg, same applies. the body learns how to deal with it. did you ever hear about that guy who was felling a tree got his leg crushed under it. he knew he’d die if he stayed there so he hacked through his thigh to get free, his body adapted to the situation to survive. by the way it was a pocket knife. can you imagine???? that was grim i know but just proves the point.
I agree with what you are saying 100%, but just felt the need to chime in with the fact that I am about to run my 5th marathon in May. (San Diego) I am by no means a skinny winny marathon runner..I played baseball in college and am 5’10” and weigh anywhere from 165 to 175 (depends on how good of a weekend I have, ha), but my point is that I love the challenge of the marathon. I mean, I have always worked out, for the past 6 months I have been crossfitting and loving it, but it is nothing new. Ever since highschool I have had a focus on sprinting and HIIT type workouts. Marathons are something that I can train specifically for, over a period of time and then there is a finishing point where you have accomplished something. That’s really all I wanted to state, they are not paticularlly fun. They actually are a pain in the ass, but my girlfriend and I do them always away from our home in ausitn and turn each one into a nice vacation. Always making sure to arrive the day before and leave 3 or 4 days afterward for the fun stuff. Thanks for the post and I really enjoy you site.
Regards,
Matt
Thanks Rusty,
Ill keep you updated on my progress.
I have done 3 Ironman tris, numerous marathons, an ultra marathon, and all kinds of stuff in between. Why? Because I think it’s fun! BUT…I know it is not helping me optimize my HEALTH AND LONGEVITY so I have stopped and moved over to HIIT and strength training with kettlebells.
Whereas I used to spend 15 hours a week on cardio, now I spend about 3 hours a week on HIIT and kettlebell and I weight less, have less body fat, and best of all I FEEL awesome and can enjoy my fitness. I am not run down and tired all the time. I love it!
Lots of my friends are triathletes and I don’t try to change their minds too much. What I hate to see is people who try to use triathlon training to lose weight. But if you ask most people, I don’t think their goals are optimal fitness, but rather having fun and challenging themselves through exercise.
HIIT is fun, but doing a race is a unique and valuable experience, too. Not every decision we make has to be based on what is optimal for overall health and longevity. Emotional satisfaction is legitimate reason to do things, too. I wish more triathletes would understand that long distance training and racing is not optimal, but I also wish my paleo buddies would acknowledge that everything is not about what is best for general fitness and that the joy people can experience from sport-specific training is worthwhile. Just because we don’t see it as fun doesn’t mean nobody else can!
I recently ran my first marathon, but I did it just to be able to have that under my belt and for the sense of accomplishment. I love running, but I knew going in that I was never going to do another one because I could tell it would be pretty damaging. I also did it because I wanted to lose weight, but I lost a grand total of … 3 lbs! In that sense, I was a bit despondent, because here I was running for an ungodly number of hours and couldn’t get lean. If that wasn’t going to do it, what would? I’m really happy I found this site, I finally feel like I have the key to weight management. I’m doing HIIT in the morning 3 times a week, lifting twice a week, and watching my diet, and and I’m finally getting some results. The marathon did have one big benefit – I used to hate running in the morning, and I also used to think 3 miles was “long”. Now I can crank out as many miles as I want at 6am, there’s no longer a mental block there. Keep up the good work everyone!
hey rusty, love the post!
i have just a quick question. i hear a lot about “fasted workouts” so i decided to give it a go, so the last month or so i have been doing them. but just how “fasted” should you be??? usually i do intermittent fasting, so i dont eat anything except fruit or veggies for like 18 hours before i run. lately when i sprint i feel “sluggish” also i am aware that burning fat for energy is not as efficient as burning carbs. so although im burning fat during my workout, my workout is not as efficient, and so it is less intensive. but its also useless to eat a ton of carbs before a workout as well. so what in your opinion is an optimal fasted state to workout? 6 hours of no food maybe? maybe someone else can help me out!
also i read somewhere that running on your toes means the impact is absorbed by your calves (good), whereas running with heels impacting the ground means your knees absorb most of the impact (bad). so i run on my toes!
Hi Rusty,
Nice article. Thanks.
I couldn’t agree more. Jogging is extremely hard on the body & those that do it routinely are in for a rude awakening as they get older.
BTW, I live north of you near Mount Vernon. Although I live just a short walk from Lake McMurray & can see it through the trees on sunny days before the trees leaf out, I certainly envy you your water view.
Hey rusty, just a quick one. Whats your thoughts on swimming for fitness? As ive said ive come back to my parents old house to help out while my mums away at hospital, and there is a swimming pool pretty much next door, I think this owuld be a perfect time to mix up my routine. Do you have any suggestions or other input on swimming for the lean look?
Thanks
-Kane
Great post (again!)
I used to run for miles and miles and yes I did lose lots of unwanted body fat but I developed the scrawny runner look – my genetics are party responsible as I was a teenager and growing to be a lanky build but the running definitely made my long legs look even more matchstick like. Fortunately, I now train in a smarter way and have not been on a run > 5km for a long long time but I am in ‘better’ shape (in my opinion). I think that the bottom line is that unless you are a professional marathon runner, there is no need to train like one. (Though I will agree that the odd slow longer run can be quite a nice escape from the stresses of life – just don’t do it too often if you want to achieve a muscular look of any sort).
Oh and of course – marathon cardio takes marathon time! Very few people have hours to spare for their workouts. So I tally agree with working fast & smart by sprinting and not jogging.
Great post as usual Rusty.
I’ve showed this post to a couple of my friends already. Whenever they go on long cross-country style runs I ask them if they are training for a marathon. So many people run like this, and its good that you’ve addressed it again. Other than helping your endurance, I don’t see long running is a valuable exercise anyway, and you can build the same endurance with sprints.
Semper Phi,
Soundgarden is dead, but Chris Cornell is still putting out the good tunes. For some reason I think he lives part of the time in Europe now.
Tyler,
You gave me an idea to post my detailed workout routine. Thanks for the idea…it is up now.
Bob,
You can go low intensity for much longer periods of time (as long as you have the time). I like to hike in the summer and sometimes it lasts 4-6 hours. I don’t feel any negatives whatsoever from it.
Nate,
Yeah…part of the army workouts are great, such as all the bodyweight stuff…but that marathon stuff is brutal. Maybe the reason why is so that they have the ability to jog long distances in battle. Who knows?
Rahul,
I don’t think you need that supplement. If you are losing inches it sounds like you are making positive progress.
myra,
I forgot about the guy who cut his leg off with a pocket knife. That is brutal! I’m not sure I could have done that, but if it was life or death…then maybe?
McBreal,
I could see doing a marathon just for the challenge of it. That actually makes sense to me. I like to do things that test my will, just for the fun of it.
Jessica,
Yeah…we should have fun doing activities and not just doing stuff to stay in shape. Great point.
Addison,
I’m glad you found the best methods to get is shape. It is shocking how inefficient marathon style running is for fat loss. It is a lot of effort, for very little pay-off.
Justin,
You can still get results without being fully fasted. Here is what I recommend for people who are feeling sluggish due to fasting before their workout. Eat an apple…I like Fuji…they are only 60 calories and give you a decent energy boost. By the time you get into HIIT it will be burned off and you will be good to go.
Rod,
Mount Vernon is a pretty area…especially just a bit north. I have driven through hundreds of times on the way to Vancouver, BC. That whole area is incredible.
Kane,
I have mixed feelings on swimming. It is great for creating nice looking muscles and sculpting the body, it is a healthy activity and fun…it isn’t the best fat loss exercise. Google “swimming and fat loss” and you will find several studies on this topic, showing that it is hard to lose that last bit of body fat swimming. So my advice is swim part of the time, but also do HIIT out-of-water.
Luke,
I am way too impatient for running for hours on end. It bores me, but I like to hike from time to time. I guess it is just a matter of preference for what someone finds fun. I’m glad that short sprints work better for fat loss. It would be a bummer if it took hours to lose fat.
Anthony,
I need to address the point about the ability of sprints to build endurance. There have been several great studies on this.
Thanks guys!
Rusty
hey rusty do you think you could do a deatailed post about ur diet like the one u posted about your workout.
Thanks for the response, Spaniard and Rusty. I know there isn’t much research on pregnant people and fitness. My OB says I can keep up doing whatever I did BEFORE i was pregnant, just not to start anything new, and to try not to sweat/get overheated in the warmer months. So I think 1 hour on the elliptical with interval training on there will be fine for the next 5 or 6 months. Towards the end I may have to start walking. I just feel like walking is such a waste of time, although I know that’s how New Yorkers and Europeans stay fit.
I look forward to being back doing your HIIT plan, Rusty after I give birth.
The sport of ice/street/dek hockey is one with a great workout as there are quick, short sprints. This is basically where you run as hard and fast as you can (chasing a puck/ball) for 40-60 seconds and take a couple minute sit-down break.. then do it again.. for about an hour.
Having a blast doing it is the side benefit.
What I’d like to know is what the ladies think about the guy’s body in the video above…:)
I guess I’m in the minority here, but I love long steady state (marathon training). I think it gets a bad rap because strength trainers/bodybuilders simply don’t like it. so when some evidence comes along to show that HIIT is better, they cling to it. Like confirmation bias.
But the thing is, because so few true bodybuilders do it, there isn’t enough science to show (what I believe to be true, on personal experience) that if you time your SS cardio right, and time your nutrition right, you can have the best of both worlds: muscle gain and super endurance.
Wow! Mark does look great. That stretch he did reminds me of the horse stance we have to hold in martial arts (basically a squat with the feet pointing straight ahead and the back ramrod straight). I can’t go nearly as low as Mark though. Unfortunately, my martial arts school requires us to run 5 miles as red belts and 7 miles as black belts. I’m not built for running as I have flat feet, bunions, hammertoes and they cause all kinds of problems. Training like that put a lot of stress on the joints. Right now, I’m doing speedwalking and using my elliptical. I’m going to see if my Sa Ba Nim will let me speedwalk instead of jog/run.
There is a fellow in my neighborhood who does distance running. He has an awful-looking physique. He’s very emaciated. I assume much of his muscle has been catabolized…or maybe that’s what I’m seeing, muscle with skin stretched tightly across it. Hmmm. I wonder if he might be extremely healthy though???
The classic indicator of why marathon cardio sucks:
Look at sprinters, and then look at marathon runners. Enough said!
Olympic sprinters tend to have the type of body everyone would like. Marathon runners tend to be skinny-fat or just very “normal” looking.
On top of all of this, I have seen quite a number of people get knee surgery due to marathon-style cardio!
HIIT is where it’s at if you want to run. Sure it’s more intense, but it’s also far more effective and healthy for your joints!
It’s too bad that people are brainwashed into thinking that traditional cardio is the only answer.
Whether we evolved to sprint or run long distances probably depends on whether our roots are the east or west of Africa. (Yes, white guys too.)
An African colleague recounts stories of east African hunters running down game over several hours until the animal exhausts itself, allowing an eventual kill.
It is a myth that we were meant to sprint and walk. Having said that, and having been both a sprinter and a marathoner, from a health perspective, sprinting is my preferred training mode past 50.
Hey Rusty,
I’m a cyclist so often I can be riding for up to four or five hours say two or three times a week. Do you think long distance cycling is damaging? And to add, do you think it’s ineffective for fat burning?
For many the alternatives such as longer but slower paced walking are a great option. As well as swimming of course, however many people I have met find a sport activity that incorporates fun is the best way for them to exercise. The reason being is they don’t actually want to exercise and when they find something that they enjoy, but don’t feel as a chore, they get more out of it. Marathon running is definitely not for everyone and you have to find your individual niche to get the right mix of action and attitude?? At least thats what I think!
Cheers
Steve
I agree with Steve that Marathon running is definitely not for everyone. Speaking about myself, I don’t have enough will power to exercise in the gym. I choose such kind of sport like tennis, biking or swimming. I think it also helps me to stay slim and healthy. Thanks for the interesting article!
Jenifer
My brother won’t admit it, but I’m not sure he’s happy with the trade off’s he made being an ironman, and the issues he’s now living with. You make your choices, and live with them.
very informative. thanks for sharing this.
Hyponatremia occurs when you drink too much fluid and your body doesn’t have time to eliminate it. This dilutes the salt concentration in your cells, which is very dangerous.
Any exercise if you over do it, can be harmful. That’s why it’s important to consult a physician first before doing it.
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