Cardio to Lose Weight Puts Stress on Your Heart and Body

Cardio to lose weight is a combination of many different weight loss strategies. It should not be thought of as the be all and end all. You must also consider your lifestyle when choosing cardio to lose weight. Are you active? Are you currently exercising at a high intensity level? Do you find yourself getting bored after a while?

Cardio is often thought of as something that should only supplement other efforts such as diet and strength training. So why should you be performing cardio to lose weight, then? If so, how many calories are too many? What types of movements should you be performing to get the most bang for the cardio buck? Here are some tips to help you determine the right amount of cardio to get the results you want:

o If you have relatively little body fat and want to reduce your waist size, you will need to eat more than you normally would to maintain your current weight. Since muscle weighs more than fat, this means that the muscle you have will have to carry more weight. If you carry too little body fat and your metabolism is high enough, you will burn calories from muscle, resulting in little to no weight loss.

o If you have a very high metabolism, and you already have excess body fat, you may benefit more from strength training during your cardio workouts. Strength training can increase your metabolic rate and help you burn more calories at a higher rate. This means that you won't have to cut back on your calories if you want to lose weight. In fact, you may be able to perform strength training for an hour per day and still lose weight.

o When you add in strength training during your cardio workout, you will also find that you don't get sore after exercising. While cardio can be very punishing, it usually results in minimal swelling. This makes it easier to push through and finish your exercise routine. On the other hand, strength training often causes major muscle groups to become sore and this makes it more difficult to get through your cardio sessions without feeling the negative effects.

o If you are already extremely muscular but have very little body fat, it may be best to avoid cardiovascular exercise altogether and concentrate instead on working your muscles. Cardio exercises actually help you lose weight by burning calories. In fact, it may even be more effective than weight loss supplements such as ephedra or stimulants like Adderall. Since you have so little fat and so much muscle, you will find that you can get a similar weight loss result as you would from using these kinds of pills.

o If you have a lot of body fat and are not muscular, it may be best to do some form of strength training during your cardio workouts. If you want to increase your lean muscle mass, your cardio shouldn't be done all day long. Instead, do some isolation strength training for 10 minutes a day and move on to lighter weights and more cardio for the next day.

o There is one thing to remember about doing cardio and weight training side by side. Sometimes the effect of either exercise can be counter productive. When you are lifting weights, your metabolism will raise, which means you burn more calories at a faster rate. However, you also use up more of your energy reserves because you are expending so many calories. For this reason, it may be better to do your cardio first and then lift weights. By doing this, you will conserve your energy and won't feel tired during your workout.