Now that I’ve let you in on some of my successful experiments, I thought I’d tell you the sad, sad tale of a failed one. So, pull up a chair and heat up a mug of schadenfreude. It was a dark and stormy night…
The Experiment
Actually, it was about 7 months after the birth of my fourth baby and I decided that I was tired of being eight pounds away from my prepregnancy weight. It was coming off – no matter what I had to do.
One of the first books I ever read on weightlifting and performance nutrition was Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, by Tom Venuto. It’s a great book and I highly recommend it, especially for someone who is just starting out trying to figure out a healthy exercise and nutrition routine. In the book Tom (who has abs so washboard that actual washboards hide in shame) says “If I were to wake up one morning fat, I would do double cardio every day until I wasn’t.” (Incidentally, I don’t blame Tom for what happened next. He’s a smart cookie and can’t be held accountable for my predilection for extreme behavior. One look at the guy and you can tell that what he does obviously works – for him.)
aHA! Double Cardio! I would do two daily sessions of cardio work until those pesky eight pounds (and 6% bodyfat) melted away. Then I would return to a more sane schedule. That was the plan anyhow.
The Claims
It is an oft-spouted adage in bodybuilding circles that if one session of cardio is good, then two is better. Proponents of double cardio claim it will double (!) your fat loss in just seven days. I like an extreme mindset. I love extreme results.
My Experiment
My original workout was one hour of cardio (with at least 3 days of intervals) six days a week. Three days a week I followed the cardio with an hour of weight lifting. With a regimine like that you’d think I’d already be ripped with Popeye biceps, right?? Nope. I was still breastfeeding so my bodyfat was at a healthy (but still too high for me) 23%. Plus those eight pounds. I went into obsession mode.
To my original workout I added an extra hour of cardio a day. I had to get creative because I didn’t want to take any more time away from my kids. So I took up running. At night. In the dark. In the winter. When I couldn’t handle the -40 (with windchill!) temps anymore, I’d head to the gym at 0-dark thirty before my husband went to work. I’d take the kids to the park and run laps around the perimeter with my baby in the stroller. As a last resort, I’d do videos while the kids napped. It wasn’t easy at first but eventually I settled in to the new schedule.
After two months the scale hadn’t budged but I thought maybe I was gaining muscle so I headed into my gym for a bodyfat test (otherwise known as the “pinchy-pinchy”). I’d gained two percent. I almost had a breakdown. Oh, who am I kidding? The personal trainer had to flee his own office to escape my torrent of emotion.
How could I have gained fat (and lost muscle) when I was working out so hard? It must be nutrition, I decided. I slashed my calories. First by 100, then 200 and finally by 800. Yeah, I know, not smart for a nursing mom.
Two more months of this madness and the scale actually started to creep up on me. You’d think that my highly honed skills of observation would have made me realize at this point that my experiment wasn’t working and I needed to do something else. After all, it was Einstein (not Dr. Phil, people!!) who said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. You would be underestimating the amount that I really wanted this to work.
I knew I was losing precious muscle so I figured I should add some weight lifting. I upped the ante from 3 days a week to 5. And I kept the double cardio because I was afraid that if I stopped at this point I’d gain even more weight. I lasted two more months (bringing me to a grand insane total of six months of double cardio) before my body decided to give out on me. I got a stress fracture in my right shin. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t kickbox. I couldn’t do step aerobics or bosu or even regular floor aerobics. The treadmill was dead to me.
Thankfully, at that point, I came across The Case Against Cardio on Mark’s Daily Apple and my problem (besides being a borderline anorexic with exercise-purging behaviors) became clear. I ended my experiment with double cardio.
The Results
Utter, dismal failure. You know you have a problem when the local gymorexic tells you “wow, I see you here all the time!” Not only did I not get I wanted with this nutty routine, I actually harmed myself. It took three solid weeks of only low-intensity cardio (restricted to 3 days a week) to let my shin heal. It took longer to stop mentally beating myself up for being such a moron. Thankfully my baby (well on solid foods by this point) thrived and was not affected by his mother’s craziness. Hopefully he won’t inherit my compulsive nature either but that remains to be seen. (He’s got a chance, his father’s very mild mannered!).
I gained weight and body fat. I lost my mind. End of story.
My Conclusions
Don’t do it. Contrary to our more-is-always-better culture, sometimes doing less of a good thing gets you better results. Once I went on my “cardio diet” (to my current schedule), I returned to “my” weight – the one I always seem to be within 5 pounds of – and I dropped effortlessly to 18% bodyfat. Lesson learned. Don’t be stupid.
If I were your mother I’d really worry about you!
Boy does that sound familiar! A year after the birth of my second child I still wasn’t back to my pre-pregnancy weight, so I stared doing multiple workouts every day. This was at a time when my 3 year-old had just been diagnosed with autism, my 1 year-old was showing signs of autism (she was diagnosed with it 6 months later), my husband was on a 3 month theatrical tour, and I had no help with the kids. It finally dawned on me, over a year later, that the reason I got so skinny after my first child was born was because I’d been on anti-depressants!!!!
I’ve since put on 10-12 ponds, but I’m working on the inner issues, as well as weight loss. It’s amazing how obsessed we get!
Laura – Thanks for the concern:) But I’m fine now. No worse for wear!
Alyssa – You have two kids with autism? And a husband in theater?? You are my new hero! I’m glad to know though that I’m not the only one that gets caught up in this craziness. Sometimes it’s easier to deal with the physical pain at the gym than to deal with the stress at home – at least that’s how it is for me:) Glad to hear you came to your senses as well.
Wow, you put yourself through some serious paces, girl! I laughed/cried a bit at the image of you running circles around the neighborhood playground, pushing a stroller with a thought bubble over your head: “Must burn fat!” amazing how we headstrong women can put our minds to something and then just. not. stop. Glad you did 🙂
I just love how you mention in passing your anorexia and obsessive personality. And you cut calories down too much! Tom Venuto NEVER talks about cutting calories like you did, especially when working out so hard. Your distorted mind took solid advice and then you twisted it all up into your own distorted formula and then you want to blame double cardio for your results. Honey, your MIND is to blame for your results.
I hope you have received help for your anorexia. I know, an eating disorder is no way to live. It’s only a way to survive and possibly kill yourself.
Another thing you glossed over was the fact that you were breast feeding while trying to do this. Did it occur to you that your body held on to the fat and calories because it was in your baby’s best interest for it to do so?
I did a search for double cardio and found your post. I am doing Tom’s plan. I weighed above 250 pounds when I started and with Tom’s advice, I ate 1800-1900 calories a day (good, solid nutrition) and am doing double cardio. I’ve also burned off 5% of body fat in 2 months. But, my mind is no longer distorted because I am now recovered from my eating disorder/mental disorder. So I don’t do crazy things and distort good quality advice.
Take care and I hope you have worked it all out (the mental part I mean) by now. HUGS.
the double cardio is not the issue,
If one is going to increase physical activity one needs the nutrition.
If you cut your nutrition, you are in big trouble, the body can not be healthy / whole.
This whole fitness / nutrition thing is a mess. Common sense prevails. I have found after many years an answer for me. Whole foods, mainly vegetables and fruits.
People are on this protein craze. the body needs amino acids to make proteins, not necessarily proteins directly. The body needs living foods, minerals, enzymes, chlorophyl.
The body also needs sugar, the brain needs sugar. Sugar from fruits, vegetables, etc.
Get a Vitamix, fruits and vegetable smoothies, fish, and superfoods, goji berries, macca, hemp seed, berries, acai. I am coming to realize the quality of food not necessarily the quantity. When the human body gets all these things, all works well, one is not really that hungry since the body has what it needs.
I am sorry to say this, but – you did everything wrong! You cut calories while increasing activity. This only slowed your metabolism. You did the extreme for too long! This lead to the body adapting to your rigorous workout. You did weight training AFTER an hour of cardio which allows for almost no muscle gain. (Please always do weight training first.) You also were doing your split sessions for far too long. cardio (preferably intervals) for a half hour in the morning and a half hour in the evening is fine.
My latest workout for shedding about 4-5% body fat is a half hour of cardio twice a day for four days a week and a half hour of cardio in the morning with an hour of weight training in the evening for 3 days. I will only do this for about 8-10 weeks before completely redesigning my workout schedule so my body does not adapt. I will then go back on it whenever I need to shed a few % or for a plateau breaker.
WOW !!!! Such an enlightening story.Im still a LOOOONG long way to my ideal weight and there's a tendency for me to be like you during your insane days.Now I know better and BIG THANKS!
I got myself a copy of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle and I really got alot out of it. Made things simple, when most make things more complicated than it really needs to be.
Ow thats bad news it failed !
You’re crazy. You set yourself up to fail. Poor nutrition and that much cardio is a recipe for disaster.
I use to play club soccer and I would run twice a day, at least 5 miles during each sessions. I lost over 10 lbs in the span of 3 months, and I would eat whatever I want. Was it healthy? No but at least my body had fuel.
You shouldn’t experiment when you don’t know your stuff.