Cardiovascular / Aerobic Training
Losing Body Fat
Cardiovascular and aerobic training is usually called cardio. It's lower intensity exercise sustained for a longer period of time to work the heart and lungs and burn calories. Running, biking, working out on an elliptical machine, and playing sports like basketball or soccer are great forms of cardio training.
Cardio itself is relatively easy to do, but there are some guidelines you should follow to burn more calories faster. First of all, if you can you should do cardio in the morning on an empty stomach. The body's preferred source of energy is the stored carbohydrates in your muscles, also known as glycogen. Glycogen is depleted upon waking up because you haven't eaten since the night before and it helps with the body's functions while you are sleeping. If you do cardio training later in the day after eating you'll need to train longer since your body will be burning glycogen before it starts burning bodyfat. If you can't do your cardio training in the morning, do it after a weight training workout. Weight training will burn a lot of glycogen, so you'll be burning more fat when you get to your cardio training.
You should also vary your cardio workouts. Doing the same form of cardio training for the same amount of time everyday will cause you to eventually hit a plateau in your attempt to burn fat. At first you may not be able to do cardio for very long, but as you get used to it your endurance will increase, allowing you to do longer cardio sessions. That being said, you don't want to overdo your cardio and lose muscle mass. Doing short bursts of higher intensity cardio followed by longer periods of lower intensity cardio can also help you burn fat more efficiently. If you're doing cardio training on a treadmill, do 20 or 30 second sprint every now and then.
Cardio training can be boring. Bringing an iPod along while you're jogging or walking is a good idea. If you're cardio training in a gym grab one of their magazines or bring your own magazine or book with you so you can read while training. A lot of gyms have TVs; turn the game on and watch it while you're doing your cardio.
If you're new to cardio training start out by doing 15-20 minutes every other day. Increase your cardio training time by 5 minutes a week until you can do a good 40-45 minute session. At this point you'll be well on your way to permanent fat loss.
If you're trying to lose body fat, eating right is only one step to losing weight. You can't eat right and not exercise at all and expect to reduce your bodyfat percentage. You need to do some type of cardiovascular or aerobic training.
