Conventional wisdom says the best way to build your fitness is to lace up your runners,  find your ‘Cardio Zone’  and stay there for 45-60 min several times per week.

But increasing evidence is piling up suggesting this is – in fact – not the best way to get lean, strong and fit and can actually be downright dangerous.

In part 1 of this blog I went pretty deep into the nuts and bolts of how the body responds to exercise and the broad effects of buying into the cardio myth.

In this post I want to get specific and look at some key by-products of chronic cardio and how that may be holding you back from reaching your health and fitness goals.

Thankfully, some of these myths are dying but if you read, watch or listen to most popular magazines, TV shows or podcasts most of the information you are being fed is still just plain wrong.

Please know that I don’t think these industries are full of unethical liars who are out to hurt people.  I don’t think they are misleading you purposefully.  I do think they are sharing what they learned from others who came before them (I did the same thing for years!).

Unfortunately, they’ve never thought to question what they learned, and they too have dogmatically accepted the exercise myths that pervade our culture.

Let’s be clear:  Health does NOT come from a bottle.

No matter how compelling the advertising or convincing the stories, there are no magic pills or super potions that magically make you healthy.

In a perfect world, the best source for all your nutrient requirements is from real food.  Whether its macro-nutrients (protein, fat, carbs) or micro-nutrients (vitamins & minerals) you are always going to be better off satisfying those requirements with real food.

But…

By now we’ve all heard at some point that good spinal posture is important – from our parents, teachers, and coaches, there seems to be a general consensus that having ‘proper’ posture is good for us.

What you may not have heard before is WHY having a slumped over posture is a serious health problem.

At the core of our bodies is a forgotten organ called the spine. Made up of 24 moveable bones and 23 spongy discs, it is held together by over 220 specialized ligaments, made moveable by 120 muscles and, most importantly, it protects the most vital system in the human body – your Nervous System.