Do you need to crank out cardio to lose weight? Let’s dive into the discussion to determine if you should be doing cardio and how much in order to burn fat and look awesome.

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If losing weight was a road trip, then eating in a caloric deficit is and always will be the driver of the journey to burn fat, transform your body and keep the unwanted weight off for good.

Yes, all movement matters. But, it’s strength training that gets to ride shotgun. Even if you are short on time, lifting heavy will always win over hitting the treadmill or pounding the pavement with cardio.

Unfortunately, too many dieters have it backwards. You’ve been tricked into believing that you need to run and jog and cycle in order to lose weight. Largely because it feels like you are really doing some hard work when you lace em up for a five mile morning run.

However, if your morning jog is the only form of movement in the day, you are basically just trading calories in and calories out. Let’s say that daily run burns 200 calories and takes up 40 minutes. You’d be better served dropping 200 calories from your diet and saving the time.

This is why you should emphasize strength training as your primary movement machine. The heavy lifting builds and preserves muscle, improves metabolism and pays off in the long run when you’re looking for a leaning out and slimming down.

Instead of hammering out the cardio first and then cleaning up with a solid diet and heavy lifting, you’d be better served focusing first on calories, then strength.

Cardio should supplement as an added boost to the overall plan.

So should you being doing cardio to lose weight? If so, how much is too much? What forms of movement should you be doing in order to get the most bang for your cardiovascular buck? Is all cardio made the same?

Let’s get into it.

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The Best Cardio to Lose Weight

The best fat loss workout involves controlling how many reps of fork-to-mouths you perform. It doesn’t matter if you are a marathon runner or a bodybuilding champion, if your nutrition isn’t on point, the fat ain’t going anywhere.

But movement plays a vital role in your overall health and the types of movement you choose to perform while dieting can help mold your body composition.

Thus, the great cardio versus strength training debate ensues. It’s like a battle of politics or religion with champions and ambassadors on either side of the spectrum.

Avid runners will tell you to lace em up and pound the pavement to burn the most fat and look awesome.

Dedicated lifters will tell you that cardio will ruin all of you “gainz” and you don’t need any cardio to look awesome as long as you just focus on getting stronger.

I’ve even seen some high-profile fat loss coaches claim that “cardio can kill you.” Whoa, that’s really intense.

The murderous claims of going for a jog are just marketing silliness devised to entice you to buy overpriced workout programs. Don’t believe the hysteria. You won’t die because you felt like signing up for a 5K.

But, there are some pros and cons to know about before adding cardiovascular type exercises to your current lifestyle.

The Pros of Cardio

• It’s easier than strength training and much safer (and less technical) than having to worry about proper form with heavy weights
• Increases lung capacity
• Builds cardiovascular endurance
• Improves blood flow

The Cons of Cardio

• It’s time consuming and boring
• Doesn’t burn as many calories as you think
• It makes you hungrier, which can lead to overeating
• It can lead to muscle loss and fat retention if performed in excess amounts

You should do some form of cardio

Can you simply eat in a caloric deficit and sit on the couch all day and still lose weight? Absolutely.

Should you do that? Absolutely not.

A well-rounded fat loss program should include all methods of improving health. That means hitting your calories and protein. It means getting stronger in the gym. And it means adding in some cardiovascular movement.

What good is it to look awesome and be strong enough to pick up your kids if you can’t keep up with them when you toddler takes off running in the playground or at the park anyway?

Everyone should be performing some kind of cardio.

The key is to find the right form of movement that works for you and your goals and your lifestyle.

The two primary types of cardio: HIIT versus LISS

HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. It’s all about short bursts of movement coupled with lower intensity work or rest periods.

It’s important to note that HIIT doesn’t have to be confined to just running or cycling. The high intensity movement can be any form of exercise performed at a controlled, yet rapid pace followed by a rest interval.

An example of HIIT would be 30 seconds of sprinting on a treadmill followed by 90 seconds of walking at a steady and easier speed before repeating this cycle.

Or you could crank out 30 seconds of push ups, or even kettlebell swings followed by 60 to 90 seconds of rest. The same benefits apply to added resistance movements here.

LISS stands for Low Intensity Steady State cardio. It’s the typical setup you see in your commercial gyms where people flock to the ellipticals and treadmills and pound away at a moderate pace for an extended period of time.

It’s lower intensity work and thus easier to perform than the higher intensity option.

While the most popular option of LISS is oftentimes considered jogging and cranking away on a machine of choice, there are additional examples that still carry the same benefits. Namely, walking.

Walking gets overlooked in this cardio debate. But it is far easier on the joints. It doesn’t increase hunger the way a traditional jog or treadmill session does and it’s the most accessible movement option known to humankind.

What’s the best cardio option for fat loss: HIIT or LISS? Both.

HIIT cardio will help improve metabolic output and can actually help shape your body to look more toned and lean. After you’ve focused on strength training, adding in a session or two of HIIT per week can elevate fat loss and improve metabolic rate.

Where many fitness enthusiasts get into trouble is by adopting the “if some is good, more is better” approach to HIIT. There’s some diminishing returns to hitting too much HIIT. It’s provides a ton of wear and tear on the body.

Ideally, you’d only perform one to two sessions of HIIT per week, and no more than three or four. Anything else is going to get in the way of your body’s ability to properly recover from the strength training programming that should be the focus of your plan.

LISS cardio burns calories and promotes optimal health. This should not be the primary focus of movement if your goal is to burn fat, rather LISS should be treated as a supplement to a solid fat loss workout program.

Jogging, or cranking out steady sessions on the treadmill, bike or elliptical, can be performed once or twice per week. But any additional sessions of traditional cardio might start to eat into your energy and elevate hunger in ways that are unattainable.

It’s also important to note that your body is highly adaptable. It gets better as you acquire a skill and continue to practice it. In other words, your body will get more efficient with the cardio you perform. You metabolism will adapt and the calorie burning benefit will diminish over time. Which means you’ll be stuck needing to add more cardio to your plan to keep up.

Adding chronic levels of cardio every day when you’re just starting out on a weight loss program sets the table for a difficult trend. You’ll have to add more and more cardio in order to see the same results.

So both approaches, HIIT and LISS should be included in your workout and weight loss plan.

The perfect mix should look something like this:

• Strength training 2-3 times per week
• Sprint or HIIT sessions 1-2 times per week
• LISS session of about 25-30 minutes once per week
• Walking every single day

Depending on your lifestyle and goals and time available, this setup hits all facets of a solid fitness regime without taxing your body too much.

It should allow you to perform optimally without burning you out and leaving you hangry and exhausted.

Things to consider before you add cardio to your current plan

Do you actually enjoy cardio?
If not, dude, don’t worry about it. Again, remember that your caloric deficit is the driver of your weight loss program. Cardio is just an extra passenger in the backseat asking, “Are we there yet?”

What is your current calorie maintenance?
If your calories are already pretty low, then you might need to add some form of cardio. Not as a device to burn calories necessarily, as much as a boost so you can actually eat more food and still remain in a deficit.

Remember, a deficit is always achieved if you eat fewer calories than you burn. And while calories are easily manipulated through watching how much you eat, activity does play a bit of a role here and adding in a 30-40 minute cardio session might give enough of a boost to add an additional 100-200 calories to your day.

For someone on a really low calorie diet, let’s say a shorter female that is stuck with only 1200 calories per day, that extra 100-200 calories is a nice buffer and probably worth the extra effort.

Have you hit a weight loss stall?
This is my least favorite reason. But, sometimes adding a bit of cardio to your plan can kickstart the fat loss if things have slowed a bit.

I caution this one because typically a slow down in fat loss is usually just a slight slip up in dietary adherence. In other words, things have been going well on your diet so you’ve inadvertently started sneaking a few extra bites and snacks here and there.

The calorie creep is a real culprit and not an excuse to add more activity. So before you jump on the treadmill and punish yourself, it’s important to do a real inventory of how solid you are in your food and calorie tracking and button that up first.

But, sometimes the body just likes to be a troll and mess with our heads and slow things down just to mess with you. In these cases, adding a little cardio to the mix can help jumpstart things.

Start small, because you’re only going to have to add more later. So, a few sessions per week of about 25-30 minutes should do the trick.

So, should you do cardio?

Depends.

Do you enjoy cardio?
Are your calories already really low?
Have you hit a stall and need a boost without dropping calories?
Do you have the time and are you willing to put forth the effort?

If cardio ain’t your thing and you aren’t feeling that “runner’s high” that everyone seems to talk about, totally cool. You do you, boo boo. Instead, focus on hitting your macros or finding a good strength training routine.

If you do fall into one of those categories, you can explore adding some LISS or HIIT to your current plan. Here are a few options:

1. Go for a walk.
Seriously. Walking is so ridiculously overrated, yet it is my favorite form of cardio. Put on your shoes, crank up a podcast or an audiobook or even just a walking meditation app and go for a leisurely stroll in your neighborhood or local park.

It’s the most time-consuming form of cardio. But, it’s the easiest and most friendly form of exercise on your joints and won’t get in the way of your recovery from all that heavy lifting you do in the gym.

2. Sprint it out.
HIIT-style workouts are short on time, long on intensity and a fantastic way to burn a bunch of calories in a short amount of time.

Here’s an easy to implement cardio-style HIIT routine (can work with any piece of cardio equipment):

2-3 minute warm up
15-20 second sprint
15-20 seconds rest
Repeat 5 times
2-3 minute cool down

You’ll be done in under 10 minutes.

3. Lift weights faster.
Get creative with your weight training. Lowering the rest time between movements provides many of the same cardiovascular benefits as going for a jog or sprinting on a treadmill.

HIIT style resistance training doesn’t have to be all about bouncing around to some expensive workout DVD with sweaty abs on the cover. You can get the same benefits with a pair of dumbbells, kettlebells or a barbell.

Performing the following dumbbell complex:
Hip Hinge – 4×6
Row – 4×6
Hang Clean – 4×6
Push Press – 4×6

Perform these exercises in order, flowing between each movement without rest (do not lower or put down the weight between movements). Rest 2-3 minutes between circuits.

4. Dance, play, move.
Reimagine your cardio. Crank up the music and just start moving to the beat. Or play a sport, or even just a game of tag with your kids.

All movement matters.

5. Lace ‘em up.
Pound the pavement for a good 30-40 minutes of the traditional old school kind of cardio.

Not as time consuming as a walk in the park, but burns a few more calories. Just keep in mind that the steady state cardio like this can beat up the joints and might increase your hunger.

But at least it won’t kill you.

FAQs on Cardio to Lose Weight

Q: Can I do fasted cardio to lose weight and burn fat quicker?

There was this old school (and very popular) belief that if you performed cardio on an empty stomach, you’d burn even more fat because your body would tap into the fat stores as energy for your morning session.

This is not true.

It doesn’t matter if you run in the morning, afternoon or the middle of the night on a full belly. The calorie burn is still the same.

Q: Should I do cardio before or after lifting weights?

This is highly dependent on your goals. However for most of the population who’s interested in losing weight and looking awesome, you’d likely want to go with strength training first and then cardio.

If your focus is on getting stronger, then it makes sense to maximize your energy on strength training first. You are at your strongest and freshest when you first step foot into the gym and if lifting heavy is the goal, you’ll want to hit the weights before hitting the cardio.

However, if your goal is to perform better with running, cycling, swimming, etc., you’d obviously want to maximize your energy stores with the cardio first, before you start the strength training portion of your workout.

Q: Should I add the calories burned from my cardio back into my daily diet?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: No.

Calories burned and activity trackers are notoriously inaccurate. The truth is that your 40 minute treadmill session only burned a minimal amount of calories. So if you’re adding those calories back into your daily diet, you’re likely overshooting by a vast amount.

Just treat the calories burned as a marker for your next session and a number to beat. It’s really just reference and should never be an excuse to add that same amount of calories back into your day of eating.

Let me help you figure if you should add cardio to lose weight … 

Finding the right time and right workout plan can be incredibly overwhelming. But, I’m here to help you out.

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Cardio to Lose Weight” and I’ll answer any questions you have about training.

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