Cardio exercise is such a strange thing. In theory, it should work so perfectly well for all men and women, but as anyone who has tried it knows, the practicality of it just doesn't add up.
After all, some men and women do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more per week, and still have belly fat to burn. On the other hand, it works just fine for others.
And you know who it works best for? Young, fit males. The guys who don't need any help! Young guys can workout all day long, they have nothing else to do. The guys who have a fast metabolism, exercise a lot, and have plenty of muscle.
It works for them, but does it work for you? Probably not.
British researchers wanted to get more insight into this paradox, and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren't previously exercising.
(Reference: International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).
Subjects exercised 5 times per week for 12 weeks. That's a lot of exercise, but it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.You should lose a lot of weight with cardio - if it worked.
So cardio will work for some people, however, in my experience, it works best in young men, who need the help the least!
Back to the study, the variance in fat loss between individuals was huge. Check this out...
The best subject lost a staggering 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, while the worst subject actually GAINED 3.74 pounds.
The scientists think they know where things went sour. They classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the "Compensators" and the "Non-compensators".
The Compensators were hungrier, and as a result consumed an extra 268 calories per day, all but wiping out their cardio efforts.
Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and scientists believe that was due to the huge "compensatory" increase in appetite experienced by this group.
Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? Cardio might increase your appetite.
So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your appetite and calorie intake to see if you are "compensating" for your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence Training) for your weight loss efforts.
Researchers have proven intervals burn fat. And increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat- burning benefits.
In the real world, few people lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of cardio. Heck, few even achieve an average weight loss of 8 pounds with aerobic exercise.
So again, check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity exercise a go for your next workout program.
Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity fat burning workouts that don't use cardio.
When we talk about fat burning, people usually associates it with cardiovascular workouts. But that's not always true. To burn fat effectively, your heart rate needs to be at around 65% to 75& of your Maximum Heart Rate. To put things simpler, it falls under the medium intensity level.
It does not help a lot if you work out in an intensity which is too high, or too low.
The following are five of the most effective workouts that will definitely help a person burn fat, thus losing weight and toning muscles.
Weight Lifting
Weight Lifting - One of the best fat burning workouts is to hit the gym and start lifting weights. This exercise does not have to last a long time but it does need to be intense and vigorous for the best results. For instance, repetitions should be low to medium, usually between eight and twelve RM, which is "repetition maximum". For this, it is important to life the most weight possible for the number of repetitions before feeling fatigued.
While weight lifting does help burning calories, it also puts lean muscle tissue on the body, thereby burning fat. For every pound of muscle developed, between 50 and 60 calories are burned every day. That means within a one-year period, 10 pounds of new lean muscle mass would burn as much as 60 pounds of fat, something no other exercise can do.
Running
Another of the great fat burning workouts is with running, something that can be done from virtually any location. Running on flat surfaces and incorporating some hills and intervals will burn up to 300 calories in about 30 minutes, while building lean muscle that in turn, burns fat.
Cardio Kickboxing
A great exercise/activity to consider for fat burning workouts is cardio kickboxing. This particular exercise is exciting and fun, and for a one-hour session, can burn upwards of 500 calories, based on the intensity of the class. Included in this exercise are both flexibility and strength training, which works incredible for burning fat.
Cycling and Spinning
While spinning is done in a class, cycling is something that could be done on a stationary bike or a real bike from home. One of the most popular fat burning workouts, this type of exercise is great for burning both calories and fat. Using a variety of intensity workouts, significant calories can be burned in one hour, often as much as 700.
Elliptical and Stair Machines
The final option for fat burning workouts is using elliptical and stair machines, which can be found in the gym or purchased for an in-home workout. In addition to burning fat and calories, this type of exercise also protects the body's joints from other type of fat burning workouts that can cause a hard impact.
Both Craig Ballantyne & JohnMcEwen are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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