Why Your Cardio Isn't Working and How to Fix It | Bonus

Register for the Adaptive Cardio Workshop this Tuesday, September 16th at 12pm Eastern (replay included) at live.witsandweights.com

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Confused about cardio?

Tired of wasting hours on exercise that does nothing for fat loss?

This episode introduces a brand new concept called adaptive cardio, where you use the minimum effective dose to maximize fat loss, muscle, and longevity. 

Ready to stop wasting time? Join the Adaptive Cardio Workshop this Tuesday, September 16th at 12pm Eastern (replay + bonuses included).

Get the complete Adaptive Cardio Pyramid (and guide), baseline assessment tools, personalized planning framework, a custom 6-month fat loss plan, and a full month in Wits & Weights Physique University. 

Register at live.witsandweights.com

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 0 (00:00):
Hey everyone, philip here with a quick Sunday bonus
episode because I want to talkabout cardio.
I get asked about this all thetime and the questions are
usually do I need to do it asI'm lifting weights?
Do I need to do it for fat loss?
Will it help?
Is it going to mess up my gains?
What type should I be doing?
How can I fit it all in?
I don't like cardio.
I hate it.
Do I really have to do it?

(00:31):
And it comes from this confusionwhere people either think they
have to do hours of cardio toadd up to the calories needed to
lose fat, or they avoid itcompletely because they're
afraid it's going to kill theirgains, using something called
the interference effect, wheretoo much cardio can slow down or
blunt the adaptations fromstrength training.
So if you're asking yourselfwhether you should be doing it
at all, the answer is yes, butmost people are doing the wrong
type of cardio or they thinkcardio is one thing when it
really is something else.
So I'm going to come at thisfrom the positive lens of how

(00:53):
you would do it right, becausestrategic cardio happens when
you are using movement that doeswhat.
It enhances your recovery, itdoes support your fat loss and
it improves your health, becausea lot of us are trying to
improve our health markers, ourcardiovascular health, all
without taking away from yourstrength training and your body
composition goals.
So I want to bust some mythsreally quickly.

(01:15):
I think that's a great place tostart.
The first one is that cardioequals more fat loss, and that's
nonsense, that there's not adirect correlation.
Most people are doing way toomuch cardio and they're not
getting anywhere, and it needsto be strategic so that you get
the results while feeling better.
The second myth is that cardiois going to kill your gains also
wrong, because the right dosecan improve your recovery

(01:37):
between training sessions.
And again, that's if youdepends on how you define cardio
.
If you're defining cardio as anhours, hours of running, well,
no, that's probably going tokill your gains, but that is not
what we're talking about.
We want to make our liftingmore effective with how we use
cardio in between our liftingsessions.
And the third myth is that youhave to suffer through some
version of boring exercise thatyou hate, and that's wrong as

(01:58):
well, because there's anapproach that I call adaptive
cardio, where you match the typeand amount to your goals and
lifestyle, and that includespleasure and enjoyment yes,
absolutely All right as well asschedule, sustainability, all of
that stuff.
Now, when I talk about adaptive,when I use the word adaptive,
think about what that means itneeds to adapt to you.
So I think of that as a pyramidof priorities.

(02:19):
The foundation is what I callminimum effective movement.
This is walking, maybe somerucking, hitting your daily
steps.
Most of your results are comingfrom this layer and, by the way
, tomorrow's detailed Mondayepisode is going to dive into
these in more detail.
I'm just giving you a littletaste.
The middle layer is enjoyablemovement that makes things
sustainable Sports, hiking,dancing, whatever you like doing

(02:41):
to stay consistent and that'sone way to really change your
framing on quote unquote cardio.
And then the top layer, thevery tiny top layer of the
pyramid is the precision work,the performance work, whether
it's sprints, intervals, steadystate sessions, some of the
cardio we traditionally think ofas that's cardio.
Do I have to do cardio?
This is optional and there'sways you can do it that are

(03:03):
short and actually fun, in myopinion, if you can find the
right thing that works for you.
So what happens duringsuccessful adaptive cardio?
This framework is what happens.
Your energy stays high, yourlifting performance continues to
improve, you're recovering wellbetween sessions and your body
composition is changing in thedirection you want, and the
cardio is just an acceleratorfor that.

(03:25):
Now I've had clients who aredoing spin classes five days a
week, exhausted all the time,and they weren't getting their
physique to change.
So we switched them to justwalking more and doing no spin
classes at all maybe one funactivity a week and maybe, if
they like spin, they could dothat.
And suddenly it all clicked.
They're like wow, I'm just lessstressed, I'm making progress,
my metabolism's higher, the fatis starting to fall off, and so

(03:48):
if all of this sounds like youbecause it was me for many years
if you've been confused aboutcardio or doing way too much or
avoiding it or just not surewhat to do, you've come to the
right place.
What I teach instead is thisstrategic approach where you use
just enough cardio to supportyour goals without overdoing it.
So I'm actually going to divedeeper into this topic, as I

(04:09):
said, tomorrow, but then we'regoing to go one more level
deeper to help you implement andcome up with a personal plan
for this.
On Tuesday in a workshop, wehave a live workshop, called the
Adaptive Cardio Workshop, atnoon Eastern.
The replay will be included ifyou can't make it and I'm going
to break down't make it and I'mgoing to break down the pyramid
I mentioned.
I'm going to show you how toassess where you are starting
from.

(04:29):
We're actually going totogether in the workshop
document your starting metricsexactly what you should be
tracking and then give you astep-by-step plan for your
situation so that you can choosethe right type of cardio very
explicitly, and you'll learn howto adjust it based on your
goals.
And I think you're going toactually start to enjoy.
You're going to look forwardand say hey guys, look what I'm

(04:49):
doing now.
Going forward, it's nothinglike I've ever done before.
It's not this chronic exercisethat I hated.
It's going to be fun and it'sgoing to support my lifting.
If you want to join, or if youjoin the workshop, you're going
to get a lot of bonuses in there.
It's all on the page where yousign up at livewitsandweightscom
.
One of those bonuses is acustom six-month transformation

(05:12):
plan that I will put togetherfor you, included in the price.
No extra price for that.
So you get the workshop, theframework, the nutrition plan,
you get our training templates,you get the replay.
If you can't make it, you getthe downloadable guide from the
workshop.
So you can do this as manytimes as you need and if this
sounds like you're looking for,like what you're looking for, go
to livewitsandweightscom orclick the link in the show notes
.
It is this Tuesday, september16th, at noon, eastern replay

(05:35):
included.
Just go tolivewitsandweightscom and I'll
talk to you tomorrow.