Burning off body fat can be a hard and arduous task so when it comes time to burn off a little extra body weight it’s helpful to know which cardio exercises will get the best results. You may have been told that low intensity exercises, like walking, are the best or you may have been told that high intensity cardio is the best, like running. So, which one is actually the best?
Simply put, they both help you burn off that unwanted body fat. But which one is more effective and will be able to burn more off of you. And what is your specific body fat burning zone?
Scientists have been trying to understand this for awhile, which means they have been conducting studies and finding different results. In one study they reported that you use up glycogen, which is a stored carbohydrate that can be found in your liver and muscles, for energy and meanwhile you burn body fat when you perform low intensity exercise. This caused a shift from high intensity to low intensity exercises.
Did it work though? That depends on who you ask. Because there are people who decided to pursue the low intensity workout and did not see results. But if it is more effective at burning body fat why did the people performing that exercise not see results?
While the scientists were right about burning more body fat during the low intensity workouts, they didn’t take into consideration just how many more calories we burn during high intensity. Because while yes, we are burning glycogen, we are also burning more calories during high intensity exercises. Overall burning more calories resulted in more weight loss than trying to target body fat specifically.
On top of everything, when you use up your store of glycogen, the carbohydrates that you consume with meals after you exercise are replenished. Simply put, they do not turn into fat but just go to fueling your body.
When you perform high intensity cardio exercises the after-burn is just as helpful as calories actually burned during. Because your body is still burning up calories to recover you continue to burn calories for hours after you finish up. It’s like revving up your engine and then it slowly coming down.
This isn’t seen to be caused by low intensity cardio exercises. With all things considered high intensity exercise burns more calories during and after a workout, in a shorter period of time, than when you do a longer low intensity aerobic workout. Rather convenient isn’t it?
You can slowly add high intensity exercises to cardio workouts in intervals to get used to them. For instance you can walk casually for a lap or two and then jog for a lap or two. Catch your breath. And then do it again. Then you can add a sprint and then jog then walk. After you get used to it you can go from sprinting to walking in a one minute interval. Do this for 15 minutes or up to 30 and you are done and can enjoy the calorie burning effect.
If you try this for 3-5 days a week and stick to it you will find yourself losing body fat and feeling healthier in no time.
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