There a couple of school of thoughts when it comes to
performing an effective cardio workout in regard to burning
body fat. On one side, it is recommended to perform a cardio
workout at a low intensity for a long period of time. The
thought process is that you need to train at a moderate
intensity to get your heart rate to the target zone to burn
body fat. It has been argued that if you get your heart rate
too high, you will begin to burn carbohydrates instead of
body fat. Others argue that you will burn many more calories
in your cardio workout if you exercise at a higher
intensity. They reason that if you simply burn more calories
than you consume in a day, you will lose body fat. Lets look
at each school of thought in more detail...
The Low Intensity Cardio Workout
This is the cardio workout that is currently being pushed by
the mainstream. The reason this cardio workout is so popular
is that it gets good results. It has been proven in numerous
studies that cardio performed at a moderate intensity will
burn fat as energy instead of carbohydrates as energy. This
is a great goal to have, since if the body is using fat as
energy during the cardio workout, then you will get rid of
fat exercising in this manner. Most of the cardio equipment
these days comes with a heart rate display. It will let you
monitor your heart rate during your cardio workout to allow
you to hit the ideal intensity level. Usually it takes about
5-10 minutes to get up to the optimal heart rate. It is
suggested to stay within that zone for at least 30 minutes
for good results.
The High Intensity Cardio Workout
This is a much less popular cardio workout. It is hard work
to workout at a high intensity level. Although it is used
less, this cardio workout gets good results as well. If you
get your heart rate above the typical moderate intensity
level, you will burn a lot more calories. Some of those
calories come from your body fat and some come from glycogen
(carbohydrates stores within your muscles). The logic of
burring a ton of calories in during your cardio workout is
to create a daily calorie deficit. If you burn a lot more
calories throughout the day than what you consume, you will
lose weight.
The Challenges of 2 Types of Cardio Workouts
*The low intensity cardio workout will burn body fat once
you get your heart rate up to an optimum level. The
challenge is that it takes about 10 minutes to get to the
point where your heart rate is in the fat burning zone. The
first 10 minutes of this cardio workout are somewhat
unproductive.
*The high intensity cardio workout is great, but it is hard
to exercise in this manner for a long period of time. Many
people would have a tough time working out at an intense
level for more than 10-15 minutes.
Creating the Ultimate Fat Burning Cardio Workout
If you haven't guessed already, there is a way to benefit
from both types of cardio workouts in the same session. You
can make the first ten minutes of the low intensity cardio
workout productive, by starting your cardio workout off at a
high intensity level. What I recommend is to spend the first
10-15 minutes of your cardio workout running on a treadmill
or really pushing hard on an exercise bike or elliptical
machine. Once you are really working up a sweat, switch to a
low intensity and keep it there for 20-30 minutes. You will
burn a lot of calories and a lot of body fat. I keep my body
fat around 8% year round training in this manner.
Rusty Moore is an avid trainer who has been helping people
get lean for over 18 years. He specializes in giving advice
to those who want to develop a lean sleek physique. Want to
look like Brad Pitt did in Fight Club -or- Jessica Alba in
Into the Blue? His recommended resource is
http://www.StellarWorkout.com. | |
