Cardio To Lose Weight With Resistance Training And Stretching

Here is the bad news: Yes, you do need to do cardio to lose weight fast. So why does most of generic weight loss advice out there (which there certainly is a fair amount of) recommend brisk walking, 10k steps a day, or some other type of fast-paced activity three times per week? Is it because the people who give this advice know something that you don t know? If so, they are quite aware that their advice is not based on sound principles. That in fact, the only reason they recommend this exercise at all is that they get commissions from it. It makes perfect sense to me.

But what is the best way to burn calories and fat while doing cardio? Should you do free weights or should you use some form of resistance training to increase your metabolism? The answer is cardio and then some. I will explain why in this article.

First, if you want to build a lot of lean muscle mass you need to really increase your calorie intake. Forget everything you hear about low calorie diets and calorie cycling. If you want to put on size and strength you must increase your calorie intake above your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Once you reach your BMR, which is about one pound above your resting metabolic rate, you will begin to accumulate a significant amount of additional lean muscle mass.

This extra lean muscle mass is burned for energy during cardio sessions and it helps to keep your BMR high. Your goal should be to create a fairly substantial deficit with each workout session. What is a deficit? A deficit is the difference between your total caloric intake and burning through your aerobic (oxygen dependent) muscles. Your average oxygen consumption requires only about three calories per minute of exercise. For the duration of your routine, you should create a fairly substantial deficit by jogging or running outside for five to ten minutes and at least three days in advance.

Most weight loss trainers advocate a two to four week period of high intensity cardio followed by a four week period of low intensity cardio. After that interval period of low intensity cardio, you should alternate with high intensity strength training. This alternating pattern forces your body to burn different calories at different rates. It is this fat burning process that makes cardio a key component of any successful weight loss and fitness plan.

Cardio workouts do not have to be done exclusively in the gym or at home. You can also get a great aerobic workout at the beach or in the park during your lunch hour. The beach has many beautiful places that will allow you to spend a few hours at a time working on your cardio without affecting your diet plan. Many local parks will allow you to hire a bike and even charge a small fee for a one hour session. This type of cardio workouts will get your heart pumping and will burn off many calories throughout the day.

When using a treadmill, one of the keys to burning off calories and losing weight is to vary the intensity of the workouts. If you simply walk on the treadmill for an hour and a half, you will burn about the same number of calories as running or jogging on a treadmill for one hour. If you do two minutes of walking on the treadmill and two minutes on another exercise machine, you are burning more than twice as many calories. By adding two or three different exercises to your routine, you will quickly burn off more calories. If you combine cardio and strength training, your total physical exercise program will be much more effective.

Many people believe that a strength training routine and steady-state cardio workouts are all you need to lose the weight they want. While it is true that a combination of these methods will help you lose the weight you want, there is one component of the diet and fitness plan that should always be part of your lifestyle. This component is proper rest.