By Adam Reid

'I think I need to do more cardio...'
 
I hear this comment from time to time from people that have put on a little extra around the midsection.  My usual reaction - and I can safely speak for Craig here as well - is, 'No. No you don't.' 
 
If eating too much junk got you into this mess, there's only one way out that won't compromise your joint health: eating less junk.  Why waste hours a week running/jogging/cycling around when the same amount of progress could be made - more progress really when considering the negative effects of cardio - by chewing on less (crappy) food?    
 
Eat plenty of protein and fat, and time your carbs appropriately if you feel the need to include them.  Something that most low-carb advocates miss the boat on is physique optimization - few bodybuild even recreationally, and most look like they have never touched a weight.  I'll touch on this angle in a future newsletter as there are a few factors involved, but if you're training hard, getting lean but also getting 'flat', i.e.., losing muscular hardness, then consider tweaking your strategy until you see what you're looking for. 
 
But back to the main point:  if you don't have the will power to stop putting crappy food in your mouth, but can manage to find the time to put hours of cardio in, something is seriously wrong. 
 
'But what about my heart?'
 
What about it? Like any other organ/muscle, not everybody's is functioning equally with regard to strength.  But if one can make it through regularly performed activity that is challenging enough to cause the large muscles of the hips and thighs to fatigue in roughly 60-seconds - like to the point of not being able to produce enough force to continue movement in the squat or leg press - then one's heart is going to be strong enough to handle almost every strain imaginable.    
 
Years of such exercise hitting the entire body's major musculature 2-3 times per week will do more for heart health than running a few miles 7 days per week.  Coupled with reduced sugar/grain intake, and your heart - really your entire vascular system - will be in tip top shape. 
 
'But bodybuilding/weight training/resistance training/fill-in-the-blanks training is hard!'
 
Well then you're a wimp.  Sorry, but it's true.  Hard exercise quite frankly sucks - we're not going to BS you on that - but it's not going to kill you.  It's perhaps the most uncomfortable thing you could do short of running yourself over with your car.  But the positives are SO well known, SO numerous, and SO quantifiable that there is no excuse for anyone not to train with weights/rubber tension/rocks - whatever can safely challenge the muscular system. 
 
Without delving too deeply into psychology, this is pretty simple stuff:

• Safely exercise to muscular discomfort with weights/rubber tension/rocks --> watch muscles harden and (potentially) watch body fat disappear --> feel better mentally and physically

• Decide not to exercise with above listed tools --> watch muscles soften and body fat appear in greater amounts along with decaying of bones --> feel like crap both physically and mentally --> feel and look even worse due to side effects from pharmaceuticals that doctor prescribes to deal with physical and mental health

Fun stuff, huh?  As with what you put into your body, the choice is yours with regard to what activities you choose to perform with your body.  Choose wisely.