Cardio + Fat Loss = ?
Sadly, cardio is the most misinterpreted exercise nowadays. Especially when it comes to talking about fat loss.
Very small amount of people actually give cardio the credit it deserves. On one side we have people that overestimate cardio training., On the other side we have people that simply ignore cardio and think of it as a total waste of time.
In this chapter we'll do our best to crush all the myths concerning cardiovascular training and its effect on fat loss and health.
No to Cardio?The latest trend in the industry is to lift weights .therefore, develop muscles and have a healthy diet to lose fat or stay fit. Without any doubt this can be an effective method and great for people that are just starting to get into fitness.
The lift and diet approach only works well for two types of people.
First type – people that just want to maintain their weight and don't want to get into a caloric deficit.
Second type – people who are fairly active during the day and have larger energy expenditures during the day.
However, for those of us who are mostly inactive, this "no cardio" approach can mean one of two things when it comes to losing weight:
1) You lose weight at a slow rate
2) You have to consume very low calories
Sadly, the vast majority of people nowadays are inactive.
We drive to work, sit all day and spend insignificant amount of time on our feet. Nowadays if a person walks for 20-30 minutes it is basically considered to be an accomplishment since our lifestyle nowadays is HORRIBLE !
Advantage of Cardio ExerciseWhen we increase our movement and walk for at least 45 minutes , we burn around 300-400 calories. This gives us a chance to do some changes in our dieting scheme.
Studies show that inactive people, getting 30- 45 minutes of exercise on non- lifting days can amazingly help. You’ll be enjoying this method as you’ll be eating considerably more food and burn fat.
Moreover, 30- 45 minutes of cardio is pretty short.
There’s always a chance that someone will think that a fair amount of cardio is beneficial, therefore an severe amount of cardio will be even more helpful. This cycle of thinking is harmful and has more disadvantages than advantages.
When doing too much cardio you can cause a condition called cardio compensation. This is where you reach a point where any extra calories burned will have a result of you becoming hungry. This is specifically appropriate when doing longer cardio sessions (1-2 hours). These long cardio sessions usually create an insistent appetite. Moreover, very long cardio sessions can harm your ability to recover and badly impact your muscle development.
Putting Cardio Into Your Viewpoint
let's set an example,you do cardio for 1 hour and burned 400-500 calories. A portion of dessert after dinner could totally waste that one hour of cardio. In this case you traded one hour cardio session for a dessert .
This scheme is quite common with people who only use cardio to stay fit. Without any doubt this is not the best method for your body balance.
Nevertheless, we do not recommend using this approach. We advice you to take good care of your nutritional scheme and use cardiovascular training efficiently.
We'll try to pass our cardio mindset to you, and explain why cardio carries so much value for you .
Let’s presume that you’re a typical guy who isn’t very physically active besides doing 3 strength workouts weekly. On your strength training days your maintenance calorie necessities are around 2500 calories. Nevertheless, on your rest days your maintenance necessities are slightly lower at 2100- 2200 calories. On your lifting days you can have about 2000 calories and be at an optimum 500 calorie deficit. Sadly,on your rest days you need to lower your calories down to around 1600 to be at that same 500 calorie deficit.
Wouldn’t it be far more easier to exercise at a comfy intensity for 30- 45 minutes and consume 2000 calories than being obligated to eat very low calories ?
If you agree then cardio is definitely for you! So eventually , with cardio, you should be eating below your caloric necessities.
Cardio will help increase that caloric deficit so that you can lose fat at an enjoyable level.
Cardio Tips & Hints
If you want to do cardio to get lean then it’s an element of burning calories while avoiding over-training and increased hunger rate.
Don’t let the appeal of a mega charged metabolic state mislead you . That’s a total myth. The after burn effect of intense exercise is at best, around 20% of calories are burned.
Basically, which type of cardio you should do , strictly depends on what you like.
Acknowledge those two point and you’re clear.
The options are infinite! You can go for a long walk, alter nate walking and jogging, mountain bike, jump rope, hit up the cardio machines, play a multitude of sports, swim, hike, dance…
Cardio Workout Scheme1.) Treadmill I-P
2 min walk / 1 min jog x 6- 8
or
1:15 walk / 45 second run x 10- 12
For this exercise we recommend a 3 degree incline and walk at 3.5 mph. For the first interval run we recommend speed of 6 mph. With each interval that passes try to build up the speed. go up by 0.5 or 1 mph each interval.
Note: We’ll be tracking calories during cardio. Make sure to manually enter your weight into the machine for a more accurate calorie burn reading.
2.) SSC Workout
15- 20 minutes
During the first intervals , you should be able to burn around 200- 400 calories. This mainly depends on your body-weight, cardiovascular health and level of hard work.
During the second intervals of the workout you will aim to burn the remainder of your calorie target off. Go at a low to moderate intensity for active recovery and fat burning.
Again the options are infinite for cardiovascular exercises, we recommend elliptical style machine, the one with the handles that you can push. We advise you to stay away from the bike and the rower for a reason: The vast majority of people spend their day in a seating position, why do that while exercising?
The best types exercises for this part of the cardio workout include: jumping rope, elliptical (pushing handles) and incline walking.
Calorie Goals
We advice aiming to burn about 1.5- 2 calories per pound of body-weight. For example if you’re 150 lbs, you would aim to burn 225- 300 calories per cardio session. This is a reasonable number, shouldn’t take too long to complete and will result in a equivalently smaller boost in appetite than calories burned. So you might find that it’s just as easy to consume 2000 calories per day on complete rest days as cardio days.
Instead of going to the gym for cardio is to simply get 40- 60 minutes of energetic walking. Aim to walk about 5 km.
Walking method is actually better than a typical gym treadmill , especially on non-lifting days. You could plug in an audiobook go for a 45- 60 minute walk. You can break this into two halves , walk in the morning for 30 minutes and in the evening for 30 minutes.
You kill two birds with one stone; You get some reading done and burn a moderate amount of calories.
