Best Cardio Workout For Burning Fat And Keeping Muscle
If you are looking to really get in shape and lose fat quickly, you’ll need to know what makes for the best cardio workout.
Generally, the best cardio workout is something which is steady, and sustainable. What I mean by this is, something you can comfortably do at a steady pace for a prolonged period of time.
Cardio constitutes any form of exercise which is performed for prolonged periods of time. Aerobics, jogging, cycling, or rowing, for instance. Even dancing could be considered cardio.
So, what should you do, when, and how should you do it?
It is entirely up to you how often to do cardio. Some do it every day because they enjoy it.
For others, it’s simply a means to an end – fat loss and staying in shape. If you simply wish to use cardio to get, and stay in shape, I would recommend cardio 2 or 3 times a week, for 30 minutes each time. Also, if you bore easily (like I do), then you can spice up your cardio workouts by performing jogging one session, cycling the next, and perhaps rowing the next. I also like to listen to my iPod nano whilst doing cardio, and find I takes my mind off the monotony and puts me in something of a trance.
For the amount of calories burned, rowing is hands down the king of cardio. It incorporates so many muscles its unbelievable: the legs, back, shoulders, arms. It really is a full body workout which annihilates calories and has the capacity to force your body’s metabolism to rise into fat burning mode. Which, in short, means whatever you eat the same or following day, you’ll metabolise much quicker – meaning far less fat will be stored.
It’s important to perform cardio on an empty stomach. That is so the body is forced to burn fat stores for energy rather than food you’ve just ingested, which would defy the idea.
Don’t forget to sip plenty of water, also, to stop you from becoming dehydrated.
If you can, try to measure your heart rate. If you can keep your heart rate around 140 during the entire half hour session, then that is thought to be the ideal fat burning ‘zone’ for most people.
