4 Reasons You Should Definitely Skip Cardio Today

Cardio.

The word alone is enough to instill procrastination in even the most motivated gym-goer. Yet even in the face of plenty of excuses, the treadmill and its cohorts usually come out victorious, roping us in for yet another long bout of steady movement in the name of "burning calories."

It turns out the conventional wisdom of getting in at least 30 minutes of steady-state cardio in order to burn fat could actually be doing our bodies more harm than good—and is also a waste of time when it comes to fat loss.

Cortisol, also referred to as the "stress hormone," tends to garner a lot of confusion. While it is essential to the body, as it's responsible for regulating our energy needs and waking us up in the morning, too much can wreak body-wide havoc. Namely, high circulating levels signal the body to store fat, especially around the abdomen.

Why and how do we end up with high cortisol levels? One word: stress.

When the body is under stress, cortisol comes into play by storing fat as an "emergency fuel" in the face of our stressor. While this is valuable in a true life-or-death situation, it's not an ideal state to be in on an average day. Which brings us to the kicker: Steady-state cardio has been proven to increase levels of cortisol.

Thyroid hormones are directly responsible for the state of our metabolism and weight. A particular hormone produced by the thyroid, T3 or triiodothyronine, either rises or falls in response to diet and activity. In general, low T3 levels result in a lowered metabolism, which equals fewer calories burned not only during your workouts but overall throughout your day.

It may seem that the hormones testosterone and HGH (human growth hormone) are of concern only to men who lift heavy weights. However, it's important to note that these two hormones are extremely important for anyone, male or female, trying to lose fat and gain muscle.

Ironically, the less time you spend performing steady-state aerobic exercise, the better your chances are for fat loss. When compared to high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which involves short, intense workouts, longer aerobic workouts were found to be less effective at reducing subcutaneous body fat.

The reason steady-state cardio is less effective is because it lacks the intensity that HIIT offers, which prompts the release of HGH (as we spoke of earlier) and catecholamines like adrenaline and norepinephrine.

These hormones stimulate the release of fat from fat stores to be used for energy and were found to be released in negligible amounts during steady-state aerobic exercise.

HIIT workouts, which alternate periods of high-intensity exercise with short rest periods, are proven to increase your metabolism and harness the afterburn effect we spoke of earlier. Need ideas for how to structure a HIIT workout? Check them out here.