THE CARDIO QUESTION
Follow these strategies for every cardio training session if you want to burn maximum fat
Warm up well
Before you begin any session, you need to thoroughly warm up your cardiovascular system and your major muscles, preparing for the intense work ahead to reduce your risk of injury. Do 10 minutes of gentle activity, gradually increasing the intensity, until you feel warmer and a little out of breath.
Stretch dynamically
For decades, we were told that static holds and stretches where the best way to prepare the muscles for exercise. Yet forcing them into held stretches when they are cold and tight increases muscle weakness and primes them for injury. Instead do some dynamic stretching – think high knee raises and similar moves – as part of your warm-up.
Up the intensity
Once you’re warmed up you can start the session. Remember, the key is to exercise for short but intense bursts of effort to raise your heart rate and fire up your muscles for a double fat-burning effect. Studies have proven that well-executed interval sessions mimic the effects of weights workouts by both decreasing body fat levels and increasing lean muscle mass. Whatever activity you’re doing, work up to all-out efforts lasting 10 to 30 seconds. Any longer and you won’t be training at maximum intensity.
Keep rests brief
To keep your heart rate elevated for as much of the session as possible it’s wise to keep rest periods between your exertions short. For instance, if you are doing 20-second all-out sprints, then you can go at a gentler recovery pace for 40 seconds between them, keeping each work and rest set to a round minute and making it easier to be consistent with your effort levels throughout the session. If you’re doing outside sprints, then you could sprint for 40m, then walk back slowly to the start point as a recovery before repeating the interval.
Don’t overdo it
A cardio interval session can be very taxing on your heart, lungs, central nervous system and muscles, so it’s important that you don’t overdo it, especially if you are new to this training approach. If so, keep sessions short - 15 minutes including your warm-up is fine - to gradually get your body used to the demands of these workouts. A long interval session isn’t desirable or even possible, because you should approach each work set with all-out effort. That way you will become fatigued more quickly. Keeping these sessions short, sweaty and intense is the key to ensuring they are successful in the long run.
Do a warm-down
As well as warming up beforehand, you need to warm down afterwards. That way your body can gradually move back down to rest mode from activity mode. Around 5 to 10 minutes of exercise – jogging if you’ve been sprinting, or easier laps if you’ve been swimming – is enough to bring your heart rate back down and flush waste products from your muscles. Gradually reduce the intensity as your warm-down advances until your heart rate is somewhere close to its normal resting level.
Don't overdo it, especially if you are new to this training approach