What if
I were to tell you that most if not all of the cardiovascular exercise you do was
worthless? Well, guess what… over 50% of the people who perform
cardio in an attempt to burn fat are wasting their time… hours and hours of it! Are
you one of them?
Before you call me crazy, let me explain. I’m not saying that
cardiovascular exercise can’t or doesn’t burn fat; it’s just that most
people are not performing the right type of cardio workouts. Before I get into the
details, let me first cover some of the basics.
Just like anything in life, if you want to be successful you must do
two things:
Know what you’re doing (or learn); be knowledgeable
Have a plan (detailed/well thought out)
How Cardio Exercise Affects Your Body
Well, I’m going to make sure that after reading this today you
will be able to do both. So let’s start with your knowledge. It’s critical that
you understand how your body works and what happens when you exercise.
The human body is constantly burning a mix of fuels or energy sources:
fat and glycogen. Glycogen is energy stored in muscle cells that is primarily used during
intense muscle contractions. Some examples of these intense muscle contractions would be
strength training, running, hard physical work, etc. So basically, during low to moderate
activity levels, your body first uses what’s in the blood stream and then uses
primarily fat.
When you are highly active you use more glycogen and less fat. You are
probably wondering what all this has to do with you and your cardio workouts… right?
Well, it matters… a lot!
There are different benefits of different level of activity. Let me
explain to you the system use, why I use it, and why it’s the most effective. I
recommend three basic level of cardiovascular exercise:
Level 1: Long easy workout (ex. walking 60 minutes
Level 2: Moderate intensity / moderate time (ex. fast
walk 45 minutes)
Level 3: Short, hard workout (ex. running 20 minutes)
NOTE: It doesn’t matter what activity or piece of
equipment you choose. All that matters is that you get to the desired level.
Let’s talk about what happens at each of the three levels. When
exercising at the Level 1 pace, your body burns more colonies from fat, HOWEVER the total
number of calories is small. In order for you to burn a lot of body fat at the easy level
you would need to do it for hours at a time! Not too practical is it? This is not to say
there aren’t benefits because there are…it’s just not the best choice when
it comes to fat loss. The primary benefit is increased blood flow and circulation, which
means you’ll feel better, you’ll recover more quickly, and you’ll be
healthier in general.
Ok, let’s talk about Level 2 now. At this level you burn more
calories but less are from fat. Moderate work will result in a larger increase in
metabolism than the easy Level 1 and will last 2-6 hours in most cases. You also get the
benefits of increased blood flow but you also have to remember that it’s a bit more
stressful than Level 1. The main benefit, or I should say possible benefit is increased
endurance (cardio/respiratory) IF your workouts are progressive (challenge the body’s
systems to work harder over time nearly each workout if possible).
Last but not least Level 3. At this level you burn the most calories
per unit of time. You also burn less fat during the workout, but the plus side is you
deplete muscle glycogen which means you’ll be les likely to store "new" fat
because any excess calories will be stored in the muscles instead. This typed of workout
also results in the largest increase in metabolism, which will generally last 4-24 hours
or more.
The Level 3 workout is by far the most effective when it comes to fat
loss for four reasons:
- Burn more calories in less time
- Largest increase in metabolism that lasts the longest
- Helps to add and maintain muscle tissue
- Depletes muscle glycogen which means you’re less likely to store new fat
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