Ensure that you are burning calories through cardio by:
Do Cardio before Weight Lifting, while in the fat loss phase
If you want to burn fat and lose weight, doing cardio exercise before weight lifting is the ideal approach.
You can lose an average of 2 or more pounds per week if you do cardio exercise before weight lifting.
How do I know? I did exactly that! I am 5’10”and was 232lbs with a 40 inch waist when I first started my fitness journey. The first month I tried the cardio before weight lifting method, I lost 20 lbs! Over 17 weeks, I lost an average of 2 pounds per week. (Check out my weight loss tracker below)
I was able to accomplish this consistent weight loss by shifting my focus on fat loss, through cardio and nutrition, and not primarily on weight lifting. While weight lifting helps to build lean muscle, as well as tone and shape your body, weight lifting does not help you burn the amount of fat needed to lose weight on a consistent basis. Cardio exercise is far more effective for weight loss than weight lifting is, in the beginning of your transformation. After you reduce your body fat, waistline and weight to at least half way to your weight loss goal, then you can lift weights prior to cardio.
Building muscle and losing fat at the same time can be accomplished, but it is highly complex. There are so many variables at play, such as workout frequency, intensity, nutrition, sleep, supplementation, stress levels, and so on. Only a very small segment of the exercise population fully understands how all of those variables intertwine.
In my eBook, Five Fit Rules, I recommend a approach that helps to simply fat loss and muscles building by arranging the order of cardio and weight lifting, depending on the specific goal. The key is to focus mainly on one of these efforts at a time. If the goal is to lose weight, then cardio should precede strength-training activity. If you are already lean and looking to add more muscle, then weight lifting should precede cardio. It’s that simple and it’s a method that truly works.
The most important outcome of “cardio before weight lifting” approach is the confidence you’ll gain by seeing pounds lost on the scale and inches lost around your waist week after week. I cannot overstate the level of excitement and joy you’ll experience once you start to see those pounds quickly drop after trying this method.
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If you only have a limited amount of time each week to workout, let’s say 3 days per week, 1 hour each day, then do 20 to 45 min’s cardio before any weight lifting. The duration of your cardio will be related to the intensity and style. Intense Interval-style cardio is short (15-20 min’s), while moderate intensity cardio 20 to 45 minutes, will last a bit longer. This is the best approach to lose weight at a steady, predictable rate, and gain some muscle too. By focusing on cardio first, you’ll see repeatable results with your weight loss efforts. It’s all about dividing and conquering, and simplifying your approach to weight loss can help you conquer your body.
Use a mixture of cardio styles to promote long-term fat loss
Cardio, along with proper nutrition and weight training, can deliver results. Cardio exercise involves movement that elevates your heart rate quicker than normal, such as walking, jogging, running, cycling, the Stairmaster and the elliptical. Jumping rope, swimming and Jumping Jacks are also examples of cardio exercise.
When you perform cardio exercises, your body sends out messages that it needs energy. First it will burn up the energy from the food you ate prior to the exercise. After using all of that energy, your body will start using energy from your fat cell storages. The fat will release energy so that your body can use it to keep you actively moving. Cardio exercises will not only help burn the energy in fat but will also eventually get leaner and muscular. Getting leaner and muscular means involves shrinking the fat cells and revealing the muscle underneath, in detail.
One of the big keys to shrinking your fat cells and revealing muscles is using a mixture of styles of cardio. The three styles of cardio that I have used to help me stay lean and injury-free are High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Low-to-High (LTH) and Steady State (SS). Using these three styles will help keep your body from adapting to just one style of cardio and help you stay interested and engaged in the activity. My favorite type of cardio is sprinting/running, but you can apply these three styles to all types of cardio activity, like cycling, Stairmaster, elliptical, jump roping, cross trainer, etc. Use the chart below as a guide to your weekly cardio sessions.
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