An Effective Cardio Workout That Torches Body Fat

The Traditional Cardio Workout Programs

There are definitely a couple schools of thought when it comes to burning body fat. Personal trainers recommend varying cardio workouts, depending upon their training. A common way of doing cardio is by exercising at a low intensity level. It is suggested that the majority of calories burned will come from body fat at a lower intensity level. A common belief is that if one exercises too hard, then the calories burned will come from carbohydrates in the muscles and not from body 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.

Low Intensity Cardio Workout Approach

This lower intensity cardio workout is what you will see in most gyms. It is a great way to burn body fat, since it targets the fat directly. No wonder why it is so popular! There have been numerous university studies that prove the effectiveness of performing aerobic exercise at a low intensity level. If done properly, it is great for directly targeting body fat.

It is important to choose cardio machines that can track your heart rate. It will let you monitor your heart rate during your cardio workout to allow you to hit the ideal intensity level. After about 10 minutes or so, you should be close to reaching your ideal heart rate. Staying within that target heart rate for at least 30 minutes is what is recommended by most experts.

The High Intensity Cardio Workout

Want to burn the most amount of total calories in the shortest time? Try a high intensity cardio workout. This is definitely the tougher of the two types of aerobic exercises and is probably one of the many reasons it isn't as popular as the low intensity version. There is a great benefit to burning more total calories.

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.

Comparing the Limitations of Each Version of Cardio

It takes about 10 minutes to get your heart rate into the fat burning zone, with the low intensity cardio workout. It is great once you reach this point, but those first 10 minutes or so are kind of a waste of time.

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.

A Hybrid Cardio Workout That Uses Both Methods

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.

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