Other than “how should I eat to lose fat,” the most common question we are asked as trainers is, “What is the best type of cardio for fat loss?”
The traditional wisdom is to spend 30-40 minutes in a target “fat burning” heart rate zone. The same trainers and experts would say that if you are too winded to talk to your next door neighbor on the treadmill you are working out anaerobically and not effectively burning fat. The message was very strong and powerful Aerobic…GOOD…Anaerobic…BAD.
The truth is that leaving the traditional target heart rate zone and going anaerobic is actually far more efficient in terms of both time and fat loss.
First the Myths
Myth 1: Long slow cardio puts you in the fat burning zone.
Actually this myth has a basis in fact. Truth is that your body uses more fat than carbohydrates for energy when exercising in the “fat burning zone”. However with high intensity training the body burns a far greater number of total calories. The rule is simple: if you are burning more calories that you are consuming you will lose weight. It doesn’t matter if the calories are from of fats or carbohydrates.
Myth 2: I can do extra cardio on Monday to make up for a weekend of binge eating and drinking.
It would take an extra 3 hours of cardio for the average person to burn off 1 extra big mac or 2 hours of EXTRA cardio for 4 glasses of wine. Not very encouraging but there is hope. The thinking around this myth is simply flawed. There simply isn’t enough time to burn off bad eating habits. What we can do is increase the calories we do burn doing cardio and more importantly increase overall metabolism. Increasing metabolism is far more important than calories burned. Interval based cardio training along with the increased strength and muscle from a well designed Pilates based fitness will raise the body’s total daily demand for calories thus opening a huge door for fat loss.
Myth 3: You don’t start burning fat until you are a minimum of 20 minutes into your long slow cardio session.
The reality with this one is that long slow distance over time will burn muscle tissue as fat as well and consequently will slow metabolism.
Current research and practical results state that it’s the high intensity anaerobic activity that burns fat. The reasons are simple:
1. Interval training burns far more calories per minute of exercise and is therefore far more efficient.
2. Interval training supports muscle size and mass which increases metabolism, resulting in lower body fat levels. In fact research supports the fact that traditional cardio burns muscle tissue which actually lowers metabolism. (Anyone ever lived on a treadmill or elliptical machine and not lost any weight or fat at all?)
3. Traditional cardio only burns calories during the workout. Interval training causes one’s metabolism to remain elevated for 24 to 36 hours after the workout as well as the increased metabolic demands of increased muscle.
The Workouts
Pilates work builds long and strong muscle which increases metabolism. This is good! To increase our overall fat loss we recommend
adding an interval based cardio program; one that burns more total calories than a traditional program; and one that adds muscle to burn calories 24 hours a day.
We know most of us don’t have the time to add 40-60 minutes of cardio on top of our Pilates workouts- we’re simply too busy! That’s why we created these workouts: We want you to get the best results in the lease amount of time! Our LSS Interval cardio workouts take only nine minutes; 15 with a slow warm-up.
If you are new to interval based cardio workouts there is some good and bad news. The good news is that you are in and out very quickly. The bad news is that you have to work a lot harder.
But don’t worry. We aren’t interested in how high your heart rate is as much as your perceived exertion. The RPE scale rates your perception of the work from 1 (easy) to of 10 (running for your life), so everyone is equal on the chart. This means if you feel you are at an 8, you are working relatively as hard as any professional athlete based on this scale.
adding an interval based cardio program; one that burns more total calories than a traditional program; and one that adds muscle to burn calories 24 hours a day.
We know most of us don’t have the time to add 40-60 minutes of cardio on top of our Pilates workouts- we’re simply too busy! That’s why we created these workouts: We want you to get the best results in the lease amount of time! Our LSS Interval cardio workouts take only nine minutes; 15 with a slow warm-up.
If you are new to interval based cardio workouts there is some good and bad news. The good news is that you are in and out very quickly. The bad news is that you have to work a lot harder.
But don’t worry. We aren’t interested in how high your heart rate is as much as your perceived exertion. The RPE scale rates your perception of the work from 1 (easy) to of 10 (running for your life), so everyone is equal on the chart. This means if you feel you are at an 8, you are working relatively as hard as any professional athlete based on this scale.
Using this scale to measure your exercise intensity is easy. During the “work” phase you are giving it everything you have, I mean push with all you have even if you are totally out of breath (8-10). You follow this with a “rest” or recovery phase is very slow or at a level 1-3 on the exertion scale. Your total effort and calories burned increase as you become more fit. As your stamina and fitness increase, your ability to push that envelope increases as your need for recovery decreases. That means: more calories burned in a shorter amount of time!
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