“Do I need to be doing additional exercise outside of Loa Movement classes?”

All classes in the Weekly Schedule are focused around strength training, with the goal of steadily building muscle mass and strength.

But many members wonder if they need to be doing additional cardio, especially if their primary goal is weight loss.

And I want to be very clear: the absolute most important factor in weight loss and weight management is nutrition.

(Make sure to watch the Nutrition modules with Registered Dietician, Liz Raynor)

Doing hours of cardio is not only NOT necessary, but it can even impede weight loss due to increased hunger and overall increased physical stress.

BUT, cardiovascular exercise is still extremely important for overall health. The weekly recommendation is 150 to 200 minutes of moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise.

So does this mean you need to be running 3 miles every day on top of Loa classes??

That’s a big fat NO! (Not unless you want to, that is!)

This is where N.E.A.T. comes into play.

What is N.E.A.T. you ask?

This stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis and it represents your energy expenditure throughout the day, outside of scheduled exercise.

So what would fall into this category?

A lot of things you might not even realize.

HERE’S A SHORT LIST:

-Taking your dog on a walk

-Pushing a stroller around town

-Vacuuming your house

-Lugging groceries inside

-Going on a hike

-Mowing the lawn

-Chasing after your toddler on the playground

-Scrubbing toilets/showers

-Walking up and down hallways at work

-Having a dance party with your kids

Really ANY movement that increases your heart rate, but still allows you to carry on a conversation, constitutes as moderate intensity cardio.

 So in order to get the recommended 150 minutes per week, you just need to incorporate 30 minutes of movement into your day.

Here’s an example of how you might incorporate 30 minutes of N.E.A.T. into your day:

• 2 Minutes of lugging heavy groceries inside

• 15 Minutes Walking the Dog

• 8 Minutes Vacuuming the House

• 5 Minutes pacing the house while talking on the phone

And lastly, small amounts of high intensity cardio are important for longevity and mental health.

High intensity cardio means you’re unable to carry on a conversation, getting close to your maximum effort.

At Loa, we’ve taken all the guesswork out of your routine by programming a weekly “CARDIO SURGE” class.

This class is different from our full length videos, programmed as a downloadable/printable PDF.

Why is it written? By definition, when performing this type of cardio… you shouldn’t be able to talk! Which means as instructors, we can’t talk either!!

CARDIO SURGE is meant for you to perform on your preferred cardio piece (treadmill, bike, rowing machine, etc) or even taken outside on a track!

The goal is truly getting close to max effort, meaning this is not something you’ll be doing on a daily basis! In fact, we recommend 1x per week.

This is a great class to take after Wednesday’s Quick Burn, since it’s shorter than our other days!

So remember, when it comes to cardio, shoot for more movement throughout your day, and don’t force yourself to do hours on the elliptical…

Proper nutrition and consistent strength training is PARAMOUNT!

Members, Here is Where to Find your N.E.A.T. Tracker & Cardio Surge Workouts:

**On the Mobile App:

Click Programs > Cardio Surge + N.E.A.T. Tracker > Click Open on the week you want to view

**On the Website:

Click on the weekly Hello Video (first video in This Week’s Classes carousel) > Under the video click Resources > Click PDF link to open/download

Sources:

Del Corral, P., Chandler-Laney, P. C., Casazza, K., Gower, B. A., & Hunter, G. R. (2009). Effect of dietary adherence with or without exercise on weight loss: a mechanistic approach to a global problem. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 94(5), 1602-1607.

Villablanca, P. A., Alegria, J. R., Mookadam, F., Holmes Jr, D. R., Wright, R. S., & Levine, J. A. (2015, April). Nonexercise activity thermogenesis in obesity management. In Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Vol. 90, No. 4, pp. 509-519). Elsevier.

Von Loeffelholz, C., & Birkenfeld, A. L. (2022). Non-exercise activity thermogenesis in human energy homeostasis. Endotext [Internet].

Wu, T., Gao, X., Chen, M., & Van Dam, R. M. (2009). Long‐term effectiveness of diet‐plus‐exercise interventions vs. diet‐only interventions for weight loss: a meta‐analysis. Obesity reviews, 10(3), 313-323.