Everyone pretty much agrees that cardio exercise does burn fat
but the question keeps arising as to which type of cardio exercise is
the best fat burner. Fat is burned during both high intensity and low
intensity exercises. But which is the best form of cardio exercise to
help you in burning off excess body fat?
Glycogen is made primarily by the liver and muscles and forms an energy reserve to be used for short bursts energy. When it was first discovered your body burns glycogen during high intensity exercise it was assumed by many that no, or little, fat was burned. The further assumption was that your body burn a lot of fat during low intensity cardio exercise.
Like so many theories, this does not hold up. If your body actually burned a lot of fat just doing low intensity routines, such as walking, there would not be so many over weight people walking around.
But the researchers were not in error when they said that you burn more body fat during low intensity cardio exercises like walking or swimming. Your body actually does burn more calories during high intensity cardio routines but fat and calories are not the same.
The calories burned during high intensity exercise, for the large part, come from glycogen but many fat calories are also burned.
This is not bad and still leads to fat loss. As the store of glycogen is depleted, your body converts the carbohydrates from your food into glycogen rather than storing them as fat.
Another benefit is that high intensity cardio routines exercise keep your metabolism at an elevated rate even after you finish your workout. This causes your body to continue to burn body fat even while your body is at rest. Low intensity cardio routines do not have this effect as they do not produce a spike in your metabolic rate.
Over all, your body will burn up more and more calories during and after you have finished a high intensity cardio exercise than it will with low intensity.
Interval training is a good way to take advantage of this phenomenon. You do this by:
- walking, for say 5 minutes or so
- then breaking into jogging for another 5 minutes
- then adding a period of brisk walking
- and finally doing a short sprint
Then just alternate your walking and sunning until you finish your workout. This gives you the benefits of both low intensity and high intensity cardio exercise routines.
A benefit of cardio that you should not overlook is the increased energy you get. The more cardio you do, the more energy you build. Cardio does help you burn the fat calories, but its big pay back is helping you maintain high levels of energy.
You really should include cardio in your workout routines. If you like to exercise, adding cardio will help keep your energy up and permit you to exercise longer and at a higher rate of intensity. But you need to start slow. Don't push yourself beyond your capabilities and you'll find that cardio exercise really does help you burn that fat as well as providing more energy so you can enjoy life to the fullest!
Glycogen is made primarily by the liver and muscles and forms an energy reserve to be used for short bursts energy. When it was first discovered your body burns glycogen during high intensity exercise it was assumed by many that no, or little, fat was burned. The further assumption was that your body burn a lot of fat during low intensity cardio exercise.
Like so many theories, this does not hold up. If your body actually burned a lot of fat just doing low intensity routines, such as walking, there would not be so many over weight people walking around.
But the researchers were not in error when they said that you burn more body fat during low intensity cardio exercises like walking or swimming. Your body actually does burn more calories during high intensity cardio routines but fat and calories are not the same.
The calories burned during high intensity exercise, for the large part, come from glycogen but many fat calories are also burned.
This is not bad and still leads to fat loss. As the store of glycogen is depleted, your body converts the carbohydrates from your food into glycogen rather than storing them as fat.
Another benefit is that high intensity cardio routines exercise keep your metabolism at an elevated rate even after you finish your workout. This causes your body to continue to burn body fat even while your body is at rest. Low intensity cardio routines do not have this effect as they do not produce a spike in your metabolic rate.
Over all, your body will burn up more and more calories during and after you have finished a high intensity cardio exercise than it will with low intensity.
Interval training is a good way to take advantage of this phenomenon. You do this by:
- walking, for say 5 minutes or so
- then breaking into jogging for another 5 minutes
- then adding a period of brisk walking
- and finally doing a short sprint
Then just alternate your walking and sunning until you finish your workout. This gives you the benefits of both low intensity and high intensity cardio exercise routines.
A benefit of cardio that you should not overlook is the increased energy you get. The more cardio you do, the more energy you build. Cardio does help you burn the fat calories, but its big pay back is helping you maintain high levels of energy.
You really should include cardio in your workout routines. If you like to exercise, adding cardio will help keep your energy up and permit you to exercise longer and at a higher rate of intensity. But you need to start slow. Don't push yourself beyond your capabilities and you'll find that cardio exercise really does help you burn that fat as well as providing more energy so you can enjoy life to the fullest!
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