Running might actually be making it harder for you to get in shape!

You see them everywhere, no not taxi cabs, Starbucks, or CTA’s, runners. Chicago must be one of the fittest cities with all of the cardiovascular fit people literally, running around. This may come as a surprise but Chicago isn’t in the Top 10 of 2009 Health Living’s Fittest Cities. We did rank on another list, in fact we’re rated #13 but on the Fattest Cities list. Clearly there is a problem, something is missing. How can we be #13 of the nation’s fattest cities if we have bike lanes for everyone who pedals to work, and our sidewalks are shoulder-to-shoulder with people walking,? Here’s a list we made of our own, to help find the solution. Drum roll please….

5) Stress. Waiting for a treadmill stressing you out? You could be doing even more harm by stepping on that treadmill. Studies have shown that adding additional stress from aerobic activity can increase body fat. Additional stress from an excess of continuous aerobic work can wreak havoc on your weight loss goal by raising stress hormone levels and increasing fat storage.

4) Efficiency. Once your heart rate recovers from cardiovascular training, the calorie burning stops. During a bout of cardio exercise you are elevating your heart rate and sustaining that elevated heart rate for about 30 minutes. During your30 minutes the constant elevated heart burns about 300 calories. That’s 300 calories, 5 days a week, equaling about 1500 calories. That’s less than we consume in one day. The daily recommendation of caloric intake is 2000! On average Americans are consuming anywhere from 1,800-3,500 calories a day.

3) Your Kidneys. Aerobic exercise can increase adrenal stress. Adrenal stress can be caused by excessive aerobic work by disrupting the normal functions of our adrenal glands. This can compromise the adrenal glands functions of minute secretion of steroid hormones. This can lead to adrenal fatigue which is associated with, inability to lose weight after extensive exercise, tiredness, allergies, anxiety, arthritis, depression, difficulties concentrating, insomnia, and many more!

2) Fountain of Youth. Cardiovascular training increases oxidative stress which in turn can accelerate aging. The word “aerobic” means with oxygen, oxidation is a process that forms free radicals throughout your body. Antioxidants are used to neutralize these free radicals, when there is an excessive build up of free radicals, the body can neutralize all of them. Subsequently your metabolism can change and accelerate the aging process.

1) It can prevent muscle gain. Aerobic training worsens your testosterone/cortisol ratio which slows your ability to add muscle. Muscle burns fat, if your testosterone/cortisol ratio is lowered your ability to add lean body tissue, muscle, is sacrificed which makes weight loss difficult.

Although cardiovascular training is an important part of your weight loss goal, it cannot be your only solution. Resistance training is a much more effective way to burn fat and reach your goal than continuous cardiovascular activity. Next time you reach for those sneakers and hitting the pavement, think about hitting the weights first.