Be effecient. Be, be effecient YAY!!!!!

"Bro, I spent like 3 hours in the gym today".  If I had a nickel for every time I heard that at the gym I'd have at least $10...... no wait maybe $20  I don't really care how much time you spend at the gym, and neither should you.  The quality of the time spent in exercise endeavors is what's important.  As a general rule of thumb, I workout 5 times a week for no more that 1 hour at a time.  This keeps me happy, healthy and fit while still giving me plenty of time to do the things that I enjoy.  Mostly Starcraft 2.

So what am I trying to get at?  Well the real meat and potatoes is this people.... Stop doing "cardio"!  Cardiovascular conditioning by definition is the bodies ability of your heart, lungs and organs to consume, transport and utilize oxygen  The funny thing about most "cardio" type workouts is that the longer you do them, the more you get used to them.  The more you get used to them the less effective that exercise will be!  If you run 5 miles everyday and it takes you 1 hour every time your cardiovascular system will adapt to this workload.  This results in a lower heart rate during that run and thus less calories burned over the same period of time.  This is true of all endurance type sports that maintain a steady even pace (biking, running, swimming).

For those reasons I prefer the interval style workout of kickboxing and the full bore approach of crossfit style workouts.  Both workouts require your maximal effort followed by a brief rest period before doing another explosive motion.  Your recruiting more muscles in more explosive motions and in return by keeping your body in constant flux of a 85% - 90% heart rate your burning more calories over a extended period of time (during and after the exercise).  


"but wiiilllllll, I love to ride my bike and run for hours at a time!" and that's fine, kudos to you for doing something rather than nothing.  My advice to you runners and bike riders would be to change up either your intensity or duration.  Shoot for more miles in the same amount of time or the same amount of miles in a shorter amount of time.  This goes for runners as well.  

Or you could get of your bikes, put down your shoes and join a kickboxing class, either works.  I prefer the latter.