There are several types of exercises and workouts that will help you lose weight. Cardio exercise is just one of the things you need in your weight loss toolbox. Experts say that the best way to exercise is a combination of various types of exercises, so that you push your body in all manners. Understand each type and then select the one that best suits your body’s needs.
A cardio workout simply burns your calories faster, and is also fun to do especially in a group. What is important to know is how much cardio you need, how hard to work and the best cardio exercises. As a personal trainer in Orange County I know that your first step in setting up an effective cardio program is to learn just what it can do for your body.
Weight loss has a very basic rule. You need to burn more calories than you eat. The best way to do that is with a combination of cardio, strength training and a healthy diet. It helps you burn more calories in one workout. Getting your heart rate up means your blood is pumping, you’re sweating and burning calories. With many cardio exercises, you can burn 100 to 500 calories depending on how hard you work, how long you exercise and how much you weigh. zSB(3,3) Burning calories with exercise means you don’t have to cut as many calories from your diet. You can do cardio exercise most days of the week without worrying about injury or overtraining. And cardio exercises are great for increasing your metabolic rate.
It’s important to understand the types of cardio exercises required and how much you need to exercise for optimum weight loss. Any cardio exercise that is done on a regular basis and with true effort yields fastest results. So when you plan to workout, pick up forms and movements that you enjoy, and can maintain over a long period of time. Sustaining your cardio workout and sticking to it is critical to reach your weight loss goals.
Some cardio exercises offer more intensity than others. If you’re just beginning to workout, start with low intensity and then work your way up to high energy and high impact exercises. Here is an overview of the various types of cardio exercises:
· Impact activities: Exercises that involve some impact, like walking, will usually boost your heart rate quicker than less or no-impact activities like swimming or cycling.
· High impact activities: High impact, or exercises that involve running or jumping, will often burn more calories than lower impact things like walking.
· Whole body activities: When you involve both the upper and lower body, as in cross-country skiing, it’s often easier to get the heart rate up and burn more calories.
Often, people who begin exercising for weight loss want immediate results and do not bother with low impact exercise. However, both high intensity and low impact cardio exercises offer opportunities to burn calories. Being a personal trainer in Irvine I can tell you that high impact burns fat faster and low impact will tone and stretch your body and will keep the flab away. Doing both gives you a well-rounded program.
To get an idea of how much cardio can do for you, see the list of common exercises. This list shows the number of calories burned for a 150-pound person in 30 minutes:
· Step aerobics: 340 calories
· Stationary cycle: 238 calories
· Swimming: 270 calories
· Walking at 4 mph: 170 calories
· Running at 5 mph: 270 calories
· Mowing the lawn with a push mower: 200 calories
So, you can see that everything from walking to cutting the grass can burn a significant number of calories. How much exercise do we really need? It is very tough to know how much exercise is really needed for weight loss. Different body types, varying body needs and vastly varying lifestyles, make it difficult to fix the number of minutes required for visible weight loss. Here are some factors that can determine the type and the amount of cardio you need for weight loss:
· Amount of calories you eat
· How hard you exercise
· Your metabolism, age and gender
· Your fitness level
· Your body fat percentage and weight
· Your exercise schedule
Fitness experts and trainers recommend about 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity activity on most days of the week. Here are some useful tips for setting up an effective cardio program:
· If you’re a beginner, start with 3 to 4 days of the cardio exercise of your choice, working at a level you can handle.
· Add time each week to work your way up to 30 to 45 minutes of continuous exercise.
· As you get stronger, try interval training once a week to help boost endurance and burn more calories. Interval training involves alternating high intensity exercise with recovery periods.
· Work your way up to 5 to 6 days of cardio and try to vary what you do and how hard you work.
Sustained cardio exercises will definitely help you lose weight over a period of time. But as a personal trainer in Long Beach I tell my clients that cardio is most effective when combined with strength training and a healthy, low-calorie diet. But, cardio isn’t just for weight loss. It also helps condition the heart and lungs and promotes health, well-being and enhances your fitness levels.
Tags: strength training | carbohydrates | carbohydrates | lose weight | lose weight | exercise | calories | muscles | muscles | cardio | fat
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Fitness workouts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.