stress management  |  nutrition  |  health  |  fat loss  |  fitness

Do you dread going to the gym for what feels like hours at a stretch? Or do you avoid working out altogether because you just don't have the time? Then what I'm about to tell you should be music to your ears: sometimes when it comes to exercise, less is more.

 

According to American College of Sports Medicine, recommended duration of work out should not be more than 45 minutes or so at a time, another 15 minutes can be added for warm-up, cool-down and stretching

Regular cardio exercise is important. As your heart rate rises, the amount of oxygen in your blood improves and endorphins, which act as natural painkillers. Aerobic exercise activates your immune system, helps your heart pump blood more efficiently, and increases your stamina over time.

 

But is doing cardio sufficient for loosing fat? Studies suggest that long cardio session can actually harm your body, leading to:

 

· A catabolic state, during which your body starts breakdown of muscle tissue

· Increase in cortisol release, which not only contributes to catabolism but also chronic disease

· Decrease in testosterone levels, which will lead to decrease in muscle tissue and slowing your BMR i.e. decreased fat burning

· A weakened immune system

 

What it means is that too much cardio can lead to muscle loss, stress, cardiovascular problems, overtraining, and fitness imbalance. The metabolic rate slows down, while your resting heart rate becomes unusually low. Over time, it gets harder and harder to lose fat. In other words, too much cardio could prevent weight/fat loss. The more cardio you do, the more you have to continue to do to get results.

 

In order to determine how much cardio you need, you have to understand the fat burning mechanism. Your body burns, in order:

 

• Glycogen stored in muscles

• Glycogen stored in liver

• Amino acid in blood

• Fat

 

It takes 20 to 30 minutes for your body to start burning fat once you start doing cardio. In this interval, you will burn glycogen and amino acids. Therefore first 20-30 minutes of cardio are a waste for fat burning.

For optimal results, you should lift weights for at least 20 minutes and then do cardio exercises. This way, your muscles will be depleted of glycogen when you start doing cardio. As a result your 15-20 mins of post weight training cardio will give you the result of 1 hr of pure cardio oriented workout. Moreover devoting time to weight training will help maintain or increase your muscle mass i.e. more shaped up and toned body, increased BMR(higher fat burning), higher bone density, increased testosterone

 

A combination of strength training and cardio is the single best way to lose fat and preserve muscle

 

A scientifically correct workout pattern should look like this

 

• 5 mins for limbering (moving all the joints in their range of motion)

• 5 mins warm up on any cardio equipment for getting the blood flowing

• 25 mins of High intensity weight training session

• 20 mins of cardio on a bio mechanically correct equipment at 60-70% of Target Heart Rate

• 5 mins for cool down and stretching