Cardio Queens are taking over gyms worldwide and the numbers are growing out of control. We must put a stop to these people right away or our gyms & training facilities are going to turn into oversized hamster cages with people running on wheels and going absolutely nowhere. We’ve all seen them and I can tell you their routine before they even step foot into the gym. I’m referring to those individuals that base every single workout around cardio and 60-minute group exercise classes with the desire of losing fat and getting fit.

99% of Cardio Queens have the same goal in mind, to jump on apiece of cardio equipment for a sustained length of time with the goal of dropping weight or body fat. Notice I said both “weight” & “body fat”. The two are not the same and differ tremendously. Weight is everything your living body is composed of (muscle, fat, bones, organs, blood, etc.) & body fat is strictly fat and nothing else. The majority of these Cardio Queens will weigh themselves daily, before they exercise, & after they exercise to see the changes in what the scale reads. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but any changes in weight from day to day or hour to hour are not the result of body fat changes, but rather fluid fluctuations.

Cardio Queen

What in the world is a Cardio Queen? Cardio Queens are those individuals that sit on the cardio equipment for usually about 45 or more minutes and pretty much don’t do anything else. They rarely lift a weight except for their Ipod, magazine, or book, and they train at an intensity of an 80 year old. Their only concern is how long they’ve been on that machine for and how many calories that machine is telling them they’ve burned. Another reality check people, your actual total caloric expenditure (calories burned) is probably half of what that piece of cardio equipment is reading out to you. Unless that piece of cardio equipment knows your gender, age, heart rate, body composition, exercise experience, height, and weight, how in the world can it figure out how many calories you’re actually burning? All those variables factor in to determine how much energy (calories) your body is exerting to perform any given task.

Since most Cardio Queen’s goal is to decrease body fat (decrease weight) and get a tighter and firmer look, let me give you a few tips to enhance your results and turn you into a fat-burning machine.

1. No cardio program should be longer than 30-35 minutes max! The only exception to this rule is if you are training for some type of endurance event that requires you to continuously be exercising for over that length of time (triathlon, marathon, distance sports, etc.)

2. All cardio should be interval-based. No long, slow, steady-state cardio where your intensity is never changing.

3. If you’re not sweating and breathing hard, you’re not doing cardio

4. If you can hold a conversation, you’re not doing cardio

5. If you can keep a straight face, you’re not doing cardio

6. If you wear make-up to the gym (very stupid gym shit) and it stays on your face while you’re doing cardio, you’re not doing cardio

7. If your out-of-shape friend next to you can keep up with you, you’re not doing cardio

8. If you can read a book, magazine, or text message, you’re not doing cardio. The only time you should be able to scroll or skip to a new song on your Ipod is during your resting interval.

9. If you can maintain that same mode of cardio for longer than 30 minutes, you’re not doing cardio

10.  If the intensity is so low that your heart-rate isn’t increasing, you’re not doing cardio

Why spend any longer period of time doing cardio if it’s not necessary. Exercise is like anything else. You should focus on exercising smarter, not harder. Cardio Queens get way too caught up in the length of time and lose focus on what really brings results….INTENSITY! There is a time and place for long, steady-state cardio, but if your goals are to transform your body and dramatically increase your cardiovascular fitness, high-intensity interval training is the way to go.

Most gyms today designate the largest area to cardio equipment because that’s where people are spending the majority of their time. You never have trouble getting onto a squat rack or using the free weights, but how many times have you gone to get on a treadmill or elliptical machine and had to wait? Like I said before, Cardio Queens are taking over and giving cardio a bad reputation. When you do endless ours of cardio a week, you end up blowing right through all your lean-body mass giving yourself that “skinny-fat” appearance. Who wants to look skinny-fat? Long duration cardio also increases cortisol output. Cortisol is a stress-hormone our bodies produce under any time of stress. When you do long (over 40 min) bouts of cardio, the release of cortisol increases dramatically. The negative aspect of cortisol is that it’s a muscle-burning & fat-storing hormone (we want the opposite). It specifically stores fat in the stomach region, so kiss those potential six-packs goodbye!

So lets put a stop to all this “Stupid Gym Shit” of doing cardio for 60 minutes and reading a magazine while we spin our wheels. Kick the intensity up a notch and be finished in half the time. There really is no wrong way to do cardio-intervals except if your intensity sucks (meaning low). Try this next time you’re going to do cardio and I don’t care what machine you choose to do it on. You’re going to go as hard as you can for 60 seconds, and then rest for 60 seconds. Repeat this for a total of 10-12 times (20-24 total minutes). This will be less than 25 minutes of cardio if you can complete all 12 intervals. If you really challenge yourself and give a maximum effort each working 60-second interval, I guarantee you’ll want to quit between the 8-10th interval.

Every individual who exercises has the same goal in mind…..RESULTS! You will get leaner, firmer, and your cardiovascular fitness will increase all at the same time. What more could you possible ask for out of a cardio program? Oh yeah, one more thing. Don’t be fooled males, I’ve seen many of you take on the role of Cardio Queens too. So do me a favor, kick up the intensity, cut down on the total time, and inspire the person on the piece of cardio equipment next to you to do the same. Be a solution to the problem and please don’t contribute to all the “Stupid Gym Shit” that goes on! Future posts will have specific interval programs to follow, but in the mean time just kick ass in everything that you do inside the gym!