Take a look at your average gym. You will notice people doing various forms of exercise and cardio training.
What you will NOT notice is that people do more than one style of cardio training. In fact, 95% of people in the gym will stick to some form of cardio. Whether it’s a slow and boring cardio workout, sustained cardio at a faster pace, or high intensity interval training.
What these same people don’t realize is that to get the best fat burning workout, you have to combine different styles of cardio.
Now, let’s first take an in-depth look at the different types of cardio practitioners:
bodybuilders They believe that medium to high intensity cardio burns muscle tissue, so they turn to long, slow cardio on an empty stomach to burn fat. The advantage of this type of cardiovascular exercise is that it uses fat as a fuel source. The downside to this format is that because the intensity is so low, you burn relatively few calories even when exercising for long periods of time.
Addicted to traditional cardio just do prolonged cardio at a faster pace for 20, 30, or 45 minutes straight in hopes of burning off the extra calories they ate that day. This type of training burns more calories than low-intensity cardio, but most of the calories burned come from carbohydrates. After a cardio workout of this nature, your body wants to replenish all the depleted carbohydrates. As a result, your body naturally craves sugar. That’s why most people who do this type of cardio never lose fat. They burn over 400 calories or so just to eat it all.
Interval Training Fanatics I swear by high intensity interval training as the only acceptable form of cardio. They view lower intensity cardio as a complete waste of time. HIIT is amazing at:
1. Increase your metabolic rate
2. Raise your body’s natural fat-burning hormones (Human Growth Hormone)
3. Trigger the release of your body’s fat cells into the bloodstream.
The only drawback is that if this type of training is not followed by additional exercise, all those fat cells that were released into the bloodstream are washed back into the fat stores.
So what is the best workout to burn fat?
The Ultimate Fat Burning Workout
5-10 minute warm up: jump rope, light jogging or dynamic exercises
HIGH-INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING on a treadmill, recumbent bike, rowing machine, or escalator: 12 to 16 minutes total of short bursts of intense exercise alternated with periods of active rest
LOW INTENSITY CARDIO: 20-30 minutes of slow, steady cardio, like walking on a treadmill at 4 mph with a 3 degree incline.
How does it work?
Intense exercise forces your body into a fat burning state. Most people call it a workout here and let the released fat cells go right back into your body’s fat stores. We do not. We’ll take advantage of the fat burning state we’re in and follow the intervals with low intensity cardio to burn as much fat as possible.
Interval Training Options: These are just a few options. Feel free to experiment with your own ratio of work to rest.
1. 30 seconds of work / 90 seconds of rest x 8 counts = 16 minutes
2. 30 seconds of work / 60 seconds of rest x 10 = 15 minutes
3. 30 seconds of work / 30 seconds of rest x 12 = 12 minutes
4. 60 seconds of work / 120 seconds of rest x 5 = 15 minutes
5. 60 seconds of work / 90 seconds of rest x 6 = 15 minutes
6. 60 seconds of work / 60 seconds of rest x 7 = 14 minutes
Training Notes:
No food three hours before training for maximum fat burning effect. As a result of doing your training in a fast state, you will burn up to 3 times more fat. I also recommend not eating for at least an hour after your workout. High intensity intervals stimulate your body’s natural fat burning hormones (HGH). Once you put food into your body, your insulin levels go up and your HGH levels go down.
If you’re doing intervals on a treadmill with less than 60 seconds of rest, place your feet to the sides of the treadmill during the rest portion. It will take too long to change the speed. For intervals, only use a machine that you can really push yourself on.
Lastly, if you do intervals on a treadmill, you can increase your top speed. So if you alternate 60 seconds of exercise with 60 seconds of walking and your top speed for 60 seconds is 10 mph, then you can do your first interval at 7 mph and increase your speed by 0.5 mph at each interval.