Cardio For Weight Loss 101

Cardio is never the best part of working out but highly necessary for weight loss. Today I will be outlining some cardio workouts you can incorporate into your routine.

Slow and Steady Cardio

Under this method you can pick your cardio machine such as the treadmill, elliptical, stair climber, etc and go for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. Don't over exert yourself pick a slow pace to make sure you can last for the whole session.

Interval Cardio

My favorite to do on the treadmill, pick your jog speed, say 6.5 mph and then pick a sprint speed and plug it into the treadmill (there should be an option for jog speed/run speed). Jog for 5 or so minutes then change to your sprint speed which may be 8.5 mph for 2-3 minutes or as long as you can then immediately switch back to your job speed to recover. This is a pretty aggressive method and works great.

10 and 10 Cardio

This method is all about switching the type of equipment you use. You can start off on the elliptical for 10 minutes, have a short recovery period and move over to the treadmill for another 10 minutes. You can repeat and switch machines up to 60 minutes of cardio.

You want to vary the type of cardio you do every day or every week to keep your body guessing, and just like the 10 and 10 method switch up your machines regularly to keep your body guessing.

To jumpstart your weight loss do your cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. This should be done 3-5 times per week. Lastly, your diet will be crucial during this time, make sure you eat clean and do not eat 3 hours before bedtime.

Author: Patrick Flaven