Oregon native Stan Efferding remains impassioned about seeing fitness and bodybuilding thrive since stepping away from competition. In a recent interview with Chris Williamson, “The White Rhino” explained why sleep is more important than cardio when it comes to achieving your weight loss goals.
“Sleep does affect insulin levels as well. We also find that people who don’t get sufficient sleep when they start losing weight, they might lose a disproportionate amount of muscle as opposed to fat. The body becomes stingy at preserving the fat,” Efferding shared.
Competing in the IFBB Pro League in the 2000s, Efferding knew how to command a crowd. His massive arms and conditioned legs made him a standout within the Men’s Open division. The highlight of his bodybuilding tenure came in 2010 when he was declared the “Mr. Olympia World’s Strongest Pro Bodybuilder.”
Efferding also led a successful powerlifting career and was highly regarded for his explosive strength. Having made his mark in two disciplines, Efferding has now set his sights on spreading health and wellness through personalized training routines. He created a system called “The Vertical Diet” which he best describes as a sensible way of living for those who boast higher caloric intakes.
Given the world’s growing concerns about obesity, Efferding offers an educational and comprehensive approach to losing weight with specific parameters. Even though it might shock some, he contends that a better night’s sleep outweighs cardio training for weight loss, and explains why below.
Stan Efferding Says Better Sleep Beats Cardio: “I’m Cautious About Prescribing Cardio for Weight Loss”
Efferding began the discussion by underlining that a lack of sleep results in increased ghrelin release and also compromises insulin sensitivity, making it “a little easier for you to gain weight.”
“When you don’t get sufficient sleep you have increased ghrelin release, which makes you hungrier, makes you want to eat more. You also have compromised insulin sensitivity which makes it a little easier for you to gain weight,” Stan Efferding explained.
“When you eat foods your blood sugars elevate and there’s no place to store them because you’re over fat, your fat stores are full so you can’t put those there. Your muscles maybe don’t have sufficient muscle mass to store there, and that stays elevated for an extended period of time.”
“Just being awake more hours in the day just gives you another opportunity to get hungry and eat. Sleep through one meal and you’re probably better off.”
According to Efferding, he generally doesn’t advise cardio training to his clients because his program hinges on being sustainable over time.
“I did put it this way once: if you’re waking up at 4 a.m. to do your fasted cardio after only five hours of sleep, you’re stepping over one-hundred dollar bills to pick up nickels. That’s what I’ve said for many years.
To me, I would do the cardio later or I don’t even really recommend cardio at all to most of my clients because it’s a pretty significant departure from their standard lifestyle, it might not be something they enjoy, it might not be very sustainable and we see it has diminishing returns over time as your body adapts to that stimulus and becomes more efficient and reduces the calories it burns.”
If he had to choose, Stan says he would rather prescribe his clients one extra hour of sleep than an extra hour of cardio activity. Efferding prefers 10-minute walks and movement that equates to “non-exercise activity.”
“Too much exercise activity, particularly aggressive exercise activities, I’m not shitting on any forms, the best exercise is the one you’ll do if you enjoy doing it, do it. But if somebody goes and starts crushing themselves, I call it battle ropes and burpees thinking they are going to burn calories for fat loss. A phenomenon called compensation takes over, where you just go home and sit more and eat more because you’re hungry, you’re tired.”
“I’m cautious about prescribing cardio for weight loss for all of those reasons. I’d prescribe an extra hour of sleep and more non-exercise activity. I just think the barriers to entry, having to come home get in your car, drive to the gym, do your cardio, we’re too busy, especially if you have a family and a career. That’s the first thing that gets sacrificed in that scenario. That’s why I like 10-minute walks.”
The Power of Walking
Efferding maintains that people see significant improvements to all health markers when they walk 5,000-6,000 steps a day.
“We see dramatic improvements in health span simply from going from 2,000 steps a day to 5,000 steps a day. We see a significant decline in blood pressure, intermittent heart rates, all the health markers, it also improves satiety, of all things.
Just walking somewhere in that 5 or 6,000 steps a day. You can get about 1,300 steps from a 10-minute walk. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest moving periodically throughout the day, say 10 minutes three times a day, is more effective than 30 minutes once a day on all-cause mortality as well.”
“The sitting for an extended period of time actually does some damage and moving more frequently throughout the day, getting your heart rate up, even if it’s five minutes every hour while you’re at work, they have those standing desks, bike things, just movement in general and getting sufficient steps in.”
In addition, the 55-year-old praised the benefits of walking for those healing from injuries or surgeries.
“I find it helps with people a lot that are trying to recover from things, like hips and knees, getting lots of movement,” added Stan Efferding. “A lot of people think that posture contributes to soreness, back tightness, neck tightness.
They’ve studied people that use good posture and poor posture, they have similar outcomes. Some of the good posture people have worse outcomes in terms of pain. It was really the duration of time you stayed in one position; it wasn’t the position itself. So the movement becomes pretty critical.”
Stan Efferding hasn’t been the only prominent bodybuilder to bring up the effects of walking and sleep on weight loss. Recently, former seven-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger tackled the subject.
Schwarzenegger concluded that people who slept less than five hours a night typically outweighed those with better sleep routines. As for walking, “The Austrian Oak” claims the benefits are overwhelming. He argued that “for every one meter per second faster you can move, you see an increase in lifespan.”
Stan Efferding has a proven track record in fitness and his insight always serves its value to fans. While gaining an extra hour of sleep might serve as a challenge for some, Efferding says the reward is well worth it.
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