How intensity of cardio exercises
can burn body fat effectively
Have
you ever wondered which cardio exercises are best for burning off unwanted
body fat fast and effectively? Is walking (low intensity) or sprinting (high
intensity) better for burning body fat more effectively? How about a
combination of both types of exercises (high intensity interval training)?
Well,
both low and high intensity exercises will help you burn body fat as both type
of exercises will burn calories. The question is which is more effective and
burn more body fat.
When
scientists first reported that during intensive exercises, your body burn
glycogen, which is a form of carbohydrate stored in your liver and muscles for
energy and that during low intensive exercises, your body burn body fat,
everyone suddenly change their workout routines to perform low intensity
exercises to burn body fat.
Does
it work? If low intensity exercises do work, then why are there still so many
obese people around although they are working out with low intensity exercises
frequently? Why are low intensity exercises not working as effectively? Were
the scientists wrong?
No,
they are not wrong. The scientists were correct when they said that our bodies burn
more fat during low
intensity exercises like taking a stroll or a leisurely swim. But during a
high intensity exercise like running, our bodies burn a lot more calories.
Even if some of the calories burnt are from glycogen, we will still burn many
fat calories as well.
More
good news when you are performing high intesity exercises is that when your
store of glycogen is low, the carbs from your meal you eat later gets
converted into glycogen to fill up the low glycogen stores and so much so that
the carbohydrate calories will not be converted into body fat when left unused
for energy expenditure.
Furthermore,
high intensity cardio exercises crank up your metabolism even after your
cardio workout is done. This will mean that your body will continue to burn
fat calories hours after you have left the gym or stopped exercising.
This effect is almost non
existent in low intensity cardio aerobic workout. Accumulatively, your body
burn many more calories during and after high intensity cardio exercises than
low intensive exercises. That will mean that you will be losing
weight much faster!
Now
as a personal trainer, I do agree with many written journals that high
intensity interval training (HIIT), is best for blasting away body fat. I
don't need to read any scientific journals or what. Just watching my clients losing
their body fat rapidly with
high intensity interval training is already enough to convince me that this is
the best fat burning exercise.
You
can inject high intensity interval training exercises into your cardio or
aerobic workout. You can walk briskly for 3 minutes to warm up and then
breaking into a jog for another 3 minutes. Then walking briskly again until
you have caught your breath and then sprint for a minute before walking again
for another minute.
From
this point onwards, alternate between a one minute sprint with a slow one
minute jog to catch your breath. Carry on this one minute alternates for the
next 20 minutes and you are done.
When I said to sprint, I meant
to go all out in your run, so that you are puffing and huffing and breaking
into sweat for that minute. This is to keep your heart rate up and keeping
your heart rate up is crucial for effective fat burning.
Do
this for 5-6 days a week to blast
away your body fat. You
will soon see your body transformation as you lose pound after pound of fat
surely and gradually. When combined with a healthy eating habit, you will see
an average of at least 1-2 pounds of weight loss per week.
This high intensity
interval exercises may be tough for beginners but it will be a breeze when
your stamina and your endurance catches up. "Mirror mirror on the wall, who
has the sexiest body of them all?"
Chris Chew
Your Fitness Coach