Most Effective Cardio
Most people trying to lose fat believe that cardio is the answer. Most believe that more is better, and proceed to spend up to 60 minutes sweating away on the treadmill, x-trainer or bike, keeping their fingers crossed that maybe this week they’ll lose another pound…The truth is, most of this hard work is a waste of time. Plodding along at one set pace for a prolonged period of time will only help you burn a few hundred calories. We call this ‘steady-state’ cardio – one speed, one level of effort, total boredom…If you really want to see a change in your body, you need to start upping the pace. What YOU need is ‘interval’ cardio. By ‘interval’ I mean a variety of speeds. By upping the speed or the effort in short bursts throughout your workout, your body will find it hard to adapt. Here’s a little known fact for you; performing cardio at one continual speed will only burn calories while you are exercising.
With intervals you keep your body guessing. It never gets bored, you constantly adjust the pace throughout your workout and you chew through a whole ton of calories, both during and after your workout! Interval work will send your calorie burning into orbit, as your body has to work so much harder, and, like resistance work, will keep your calorie burning efforts sky high for up to 48 hours afterwards! The results have to be seen to be believed… This torching of calories is what is known as EPOC – Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption, if you want its full title. Without getting too technical, EPOC is important for fat loss and increased fitness. It basically indicates the amount of extra oxygen your body will need to recover from exercise. The more oxygen you consume, the higher your metabolic rate will be. Regular intense exercise will persistently raise your metabolism, and keep it raised between sessions. The higher your metabolism, even if only temporarily, the more calories you will burn! Interval training involves using cardio equipment, such as the rowing machine, the bike or the treadmill, for short bursts of high energy exercise, interspersed with active recovery. Doing intervals effectively 2-3 times a week will see you frying body fat in less than 20 minutes at a time – guaranteed. www.leidelfitness.com
BOB LEIDEL 813.610.5641