Here Are The Two Main Cardio Workouts
If your goal is to burn body fat, you have a few different approaches to chose from. The majority of trainers recommend you take the low intensity approach to cardio. The idea behind doing cardio at a low intensity level is that most of the calories burned will come from body fat. Many people believe that if you workout too hard, you are burning carbohydrate energy in the body and not targeting fat.
An argument for high intensity cardio workouts is that more total calories are burned at a higher intensity level. Although this is a combination of both carbohydrates in the muscles as well as body fat calories. So you have low intensity cardio with a higher percentage of calories burned from body fat and high intensity cardio that burns more total calories overall. Let's look at each in more detail.
The Popular Low Intensity Cardio Workout
Low intensity cardio is the most popular form of cardio and is pushed by many personal trainers. Low intensity cardio works at targeting body fat and that is why it is recommended by many personal trainers. University studies have proven low intensity cardio uses fat calories instead of burning muscle carbohydrate calories for energy. If the body burns fat for energy, you will lose body fat. It just makes sense.
Pick cardio equiptment that has a built in heart rate monitor. You want to do this to insure that you hit the ideal intensity level. It will take about 10 minutes to reach your target heart rate and at that point you will want to stay in that zone for about 30 minutes.
The High Intensity Cardio Workout
This form of aerobic exercise can be tougher to perform than the lower intensity version. Although not as popular, this is a very effective way at burning tons of calories. The calories burned in high intensity cardio workouts come from both carbs stored in the muscle (glycogen)...as well as stored body fat.
When you burn more calories in your cardio workout than what you consume, you create a calorie deficit. If you burn a more calories during the day than what you eat in food, you will lose weight.
The Limitations of the 2 Types of Cardio Workouts
Once you get your heart rate up to the correct level, the low intensity cardio workout will burn body fat. The downside is that it can take up to 10 minutes to get your heart rate to the correct level to burn body fat. The first 10 minutes of this cardio workout are somewhat unproductive.
The problem with high intensity aerobic exercise is that it is really hard to maintain for a long time. Things really get tough after 10-15 minutes if you push hard.
How to Combine The Two Approaches Into One Awesome Cardio Workout
Since the first 10 minutes of a low intensity cardio workout is unproductive, you are going to start out at a high intensity level. You will burn a ton of total calories for the first 10 minutes now, instead of wasting that time. After 10 minutes, you will back down to low intensity level and now you will burn a ton of body fat. The best of both worlds!
The way to accomplish this is find your favorite cardio machine...an elliptical machine, treadmill, exercise bike, etc. Start your workout by setting the machine at a tough level and maintain that level for 10-15 minutes. The idea is to have a tough time reaching the 10 minute mark. After 10 minutes, back down to an easier pace and maintain that pace for 30 minutes. You are now going to burn tons of calories, create a calorie deficit, as well as burn body fat directly. This is quickly becoming my favorite cardio workout, since it is so effective.
Fitness Products on our marketplace
Additional Articles From -
Home |
Fitness