Personally I think cardio is great for fat loss... but... I also think that most people who supposedly partake in "cardio" activities don't approach it aggressively enough. Unfortunately, I really don't think that the majority of the audience of this forum would approach HIIT aggressively enough either, but that's another story. Some people's idea of "giving 100%" is just a wee bit different than others. Seems like alot of people's idea of 100% means to elevate the level to a point that it starts to get a little uncomfortable, then stop.
But anyway, "cardio" has almost come to mean "workout for little girls". There is no way that if you aggressively do a long cardio workout you can say that it's no good for fat loss. If you can, you probably didn't go nowhere near hard or long enough. Why is it that cardio sessions have people leisurely reading a book while they are doing them? You should be sweating like a bear and feeling the need to check the clock constantly because you want that pain to end. Cardio can burn fat well after the initial workout just as well as weights or whatever. Crap, I've been on bike rides that start at 6 PM and last until 8 PM, and at 3 AM I'd still be up watching movies trying to get sleepy because I'm wired as hell and my heart rate is still elevated, yet according to some people the fat burning would have stopped soon after my ride. There's just no way. I just have a real hard time believing that some of these extremely short resistance training workouts is better than a true balls to the wall cardio session.
So basically, go compete in a triathlon then do a 20 minute HIIT session and let me know which one completely kicked your ass and made you feel like you were burning fat for HOURS afterward. Actually, do it the other way around... the HIIT session could be your warm-up.
Yes, low intensity, steady state cardio is a fantastic form of exercise. Optimal for the populations that we are speaking to here, as well as the context of their lives? And I would ask this question about the majority of people you find in gyms too. I highly doubt it.
The problem with steady state cardio is simple. In the early stages it is great. However, your body gets more efficient with it, meaning you get less out of it, the more adapted and better your body gets at performing the task. So you need to keep running harder and further. Eventually you reach a point of diminishing returns. Or, and similarly, you reach a point where, to get something out of the exercise of any significance in terms of fat loss, you need to run for a period of time that far outweighs what the average person is willing or able to allot to exercise, especially when resistance training should be thrown into the mix too.
From my point of view, it is all about finding what works for each individual. But when we speak of generalities in forums like this, I do believe it is best to share the most optimal means of reaching goals, and in the case of this forum, these goals are predominantly fat loss.
And with fat loss, total energy expenditure is what matters, so why not pick a form of exercise that creates the largest energy expenditure?
To sit and tell a bunch of people from the gen pop to run miles on top of miles would not get you very far as a coach in this industry, not that those are your intentions.
I will agree with you that most people do not exercise with enough intensity, but that goes for any mode of exercise in my opinion. Many don't know how, or are unwilling to push themselves to the levels that are necessary to reach their goals in a specified period of time. However, I am happy that they are trying. And with consistency comes improvement.
Keeping in mind that our bodies become more and more efficient with steady state cardio, recommending to a general population to run for hours on end is just ludicrous IMO. I could see if you were speaking to a room full of endurance athletes.... but you are not.
But what do I know?
P.S. Nobody said cardio is not good.
P.P.S. For those reading this and who are familiar with my recommendations, please realize that I do not expect unconditioned individuals to go out tomorrow and start performing sessions of HIIT. HIIT obviously requires a baseline level of "fitness" before implementing into your program, just as any other form of high intensity exercise.
