Short and Hard or Long and Hard: What’s The Best Cardio Workout?
You’ve finally decided to slim that stomach. You’ve set a goal and dedicated yourself to reaching it. Motivated and ready to go you pick up a few fitness magazines to find the correct way to reach your goals. After flipping through a few you notice that each one recommends something different. What was once motivation starts to turn into frustration. Should you do it this way or that way? Luckily you found this article before you completely gave up on your goals. The truth is, even the best ab workout will not flatten your midsection unless you also work on losing the fat. The best plan to slim your midsection actually has three parts. First, you’ve got to have a good abdominal workout. Your plan should include several different movements that target all muscles in the midsection. Next, you’ve got to have a good cardiovascular plan. Cardiovascular exercise is a great way to burn excess bodyfat and any extra calories you have consumed. Finally, you’ve got to have proper nutrition. No amount of training will make up for a poor diet. When you combine all three parts you’ll notice a big change in your midsection. As a personal trainer, I get many questions about losing the “love handles.” Most people seem to understand the relationship between diet and exercise. I do, however, get lots of questions about cardiovascular exercise. Which is best, long and slow cardio workouts in the “fat burning zone, “ or short and hard workouts? Truthfully, they’re both good. You just have to know when to use each one. We’ll look at it based on the numbers of calories burned. Let say you go out and run a mile in about nine minutes. The next day you walk the same mile, but it takes you about 15 minutes to cover the distance. Many people will tell you that you burned the same calories each time, it just took you longer when you walked. That is just not true. Studies have shown that you’ll burn more calories when you move faster. Moving faster has a much higher metabolic demand, meaning you’ll burn more calories when you do your cardio at a faster pace. Working harder also means you’ll have more post exercise oxygen consumption. Meaning you’ll continue to burn calories after your workout is over. When you go slow, the calorie burn is over almost as soon as the workout is. Now, I bet you’re wondering about the “fat burning” zone. Yes, it’s true, moving faster does mean that most of the calories burned do come from carbohydrates. Burning carbs is fine, but you must also train your body how to use fat as a fuel source. Teaching your body to be more efficient at burning fat means you’ll be able to go harder longer and recover quicker between efforts. While you always use both fat and carbs to fuel your workout, pay attention to your breathing to determine what is being used the most. When you start huffing and puffing you’ve switched over to burning mostly carbs. So when to you do the different workouts? I usually tell my clients to perform their short hard workouts when they are pressed for time or after their weight training workouts. They can perform their long and slow workouts when they have more time or on days when they do not lift weights. Often, they find that the long and slow workouts help them recover from their hard workouts, which leads to better results.
If you purchase my “Thighs, Butt and Gut” program you receive a complete 12 week interval plan, three downloadable audio workouts along with a complete 12 week fat loss workout plan. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at coxfitness@gmail.com
Train Smart, Greg Cox
About the Author: Greg Cox holds a bachelors(ECU) and masters degree(ASU) in exercise science. He holds both the CSCS and NSCA-CPT certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He was a nominee for the 2008 NSCA Personal Trainer of the Year Award. He is currently trains clients in Boone, NC and teaches in the Dept. of Health, Leisure and Exercise Science at Appalachian State University.
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