A Fast Benefit From Cardio

I’m not a huge fan of traditional aerobic cardio workouts for fat loss. They’re inefficient, ineffective, and can cause injury. However, aerobics can have an immediate health benefit for anyone who makes the mistake of indulging in too much food.

For example, sometimes even fitness professionals tend to eat one more burger than they need, as I did on a holiday last week. But I recently read a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicating that performing aerobic exercise after a high-fat meal can help alleviate the damage. So after the BBQ, my dog and I went for a brisk walk.

In the study, 15 subjects were put through several experiments, each time eating a meal containing 100 grams of fat. (By the way, you’d have to eat 11 hot dogs to get that much fat. And, although that sounds like a difficult task, this year’s 4th of July Nathan’s hot-dog-eating contest winner stuffed down 59!) When the subjects performed aerobic exercise after the high-fat meal, the researchers found that their triglyercides were lowered by an average of 32 percent as compared to eating the same meal without post-meal exercise.

I’m not recommending that you do aerobic exercise every time you head to the gym. For long-term fat loss and fitness, you should couple high-intensity interval exercise with bodyweight training. But if you make a dietary mistake, do yourself a favor and get a move on. It will not only burn a few calories, it will also help with cardiovascular damage control.

[Ed. Note: No one’s perfect. If you falter in your fat-loss program, you can easily regain control. Just make sure to follow a proven system that will help you lose weight and build muscle. ]