If you have read my blog posts before you will know that I am not a big fan of traditional forms of cardio such as running, cycling, cross trainer, etc that most people tend to do.

However that doesn’t mean there is no place for cardio in your workout routines. But of you are going to to do cardio you MUST do it right.

Most people will do what I call ‘constant cardio.’  This means they will basically go to the gym, get on the treadmill or cross trainer, put it at a certain speed and leave it there for a set amount of time or until they have burnt a set amount of calories.

This really is the least effective way to workout and burn fat.

Here are some other far more beneficial options. But they all rely of one key, very important variable – changing the speed and intensity of your workout constantly.

I will use the treadmill as an example, but the same thing could just as easily be replicated running outside or on any other cardio machine. I will also base the following on a 20 minute workout.

Option A -2 minutes normal speed, then 2 minutes faster. So you walk/jog at a comfortable speed for 2 minutes then increase it so you are working harder for minutes. Change between the 2 until your 20 minutes are up.

Option B – 1 minute normal, then 1 minute faster. Same routine as above.

Option C… Read more->

Pretty much everyone that I have worked with and helped lose fat hate gyms. Most people have tried joining the gym on several separate occasions during their lives. And the vast majority of these people either gave up and cancelled their membership, or barely ever went.

Does this sound like you? If so, is it your fault or the gym’s fault?

I’m not saying that gyms won’t work for anybody. However in my experience of working in a gym (many years ago now!), very few people achieve any real fat loss results at the gym. This may sound crazy, but it’s honestly the truth. Here’s why;

1/ Equipment Imbalance

There is fat far too much ‘cardio space’ compared to free weight and bodyweight exercise space. Cardio is not the best way to burn fat, yet the set-up of gyms suggests that it is. There is space for dozens of people to use the cardio equipment at the same time, but only space for a few people to be on the mats at the same time. It should be the other way around!

2/ Mirror Overload

If people are trying to burn fat, the chances are they are at least a little bit self-conscious. However gyms have mirrors literally everywhere. So not only do people end of looking at themselves and getting depressed, they end up looking at other people and comparing themselves and getting even more depressed! This sort of environmentis not conducive to burning fat and quickly leads to cancelled memberships.

3/ Not Enough Time

This is the most important factor. People… Read more->

If you use any standard cardio machines, such as the treadmill, bike, cross trainer, etc, you will know they provide you with a lot of information. They will tell you how many calories you have burnt, as well as what ‘heart rate zone’ you need to be in to burn fat most effectively. But what if the information it gave you wasn’t accurate?!

The ‘Fat Burning Zone’ is something cardio machines love to show off about. Many of them have diagrams (like the one above) showing what heart rate zone you need to be to burn fat most effectively.

It obviously depends on your age as to the exact figures. They may say your fat burning zone is between 120-140 beats per minute. And your ‘cardio’ zone is 150 beats per minute and above.

In my mind, the fact these companies can get away with providing people with this kind of information is scandalous. Honestly the ‘fat burning zones’ they talk about are such rubbish and lead people into doing ineffective workouts.

This issue really is amazingly straightforward. The harder you work and the higher you push your heart rate the more fat your body will burn. This idea of working at a lower intensity to burn fat is utter rubbish.

Ideally you would use interval training to achieve this ‘elevated heart rate’ but even if you are going for a run of a set distance, the faster you do it, the more fat you will burn.

And the danger zone on the chart above should only be used if you are a beginner to exercise. If you are an experienced exerciser, you can definitely push yourself beyond the levels in the chart.

Today’s Takeaway – Forget this idea of low intensity training for fat burning. Your optimal fat burning zone is as hard as you can work!

The vast majority of people that do cardio have no idea what they are doing. Sad, but true. I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad about themselves, but very rarely do I come across someone doing what I consider to be ‘smart cardio.’ Find out what that is below…

Firstly let’s just clairfy what ‘bad cardio’ is. This is when you go jogging, swimming, cycling or whatever else, and plod along at a comfortable pace for 20/30/60 minutes.

But i’m still burning fat by doing that right? Well, barely. Doing this ‘bad cardio’ is a monumental waste of your time and the sooner you get out of the habit of it, the better.

Tweaking your ‘bad cardio’ into ‘smart cardio’ can generate some amazing fat loss results. I am going to give some examples of what you should be doing;

1/ Jogging. This can be done whatever you fitness level. Jog slowly/power walk for 2 minutes followed by a 30 seconds jog/quick run.

2/ Swimming. Do 8 lengths breaststroke followed by 2 lengths fast front crawl. Don’t worry if your front crawl isn’t very good, it doesn’t matter. I splash around all over the place doing front crawl but I get the desired result – i.e. being out of breath at the end of it.

3/ Cycling – Put bike on a comfortable level for 2 minutes, then put the resistance right up for 30 seconds and try to maintain the same speed you were doing before.

I’m sure you begin to get the idea. The key, whatever you are doing work as hard as you can during the interval periods. It is here where you are generating the fantastic fat loss results.

Today’s Takeaway – Bin the bad cardio and take up ‘smart cardio.’ The results will speak for themselves.