Your Cardio Workout May Be Preventing You From Losing Fat

By: Bryan Kavanagh Click author's name for more of his/her articles

How would you feel if i told you that all them hours you spend on a treadmill/stationary bike were for nothing? Wait! hear me out!

I appreciate and wholeheartedly agree that LOW intensity (>30%) WALKING will primarily burn fat. But when you think about it you are only burning energy 30% more than if you were at home or at work?! Not very productive is it? Why did you go to the gym? Walk OUTSIDE! It's nicer out there!

If you are serious about burning fat and developing the lean athletic look, go to the gym to TRAIN. Sorry ladies, but this also means staying out of the aerobics studio and away from the bums and tums toning classes. You have real work to do if you truly want to develop a lean and sexy feminine physique, and becoming a cardio queen and doing those aerobic classes and bums and tums classes at your local gym just don't cut it.

Low intensity exercise has two uses in my opinion. . active recovery (from an intense session) and performing everyday activity. Going to the gym to perform low intensity 1 hour+ long walks is inherently WRONG! Think about it. . . going to the gym to burn 30% more fat than if you were on your couch for that same hour. . NO THANKS.

Long drawn out exercise is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE . . think about it logically, you train your body for endurance with long drawn out 'cardiovascular' exercise yea? To what effect? Your body does not know you are trying to lose bodyfat. . it only knows that you began walking three times a week and it wants to become efficient at doing it. It gets BETTER at doing that activity. . i.e. in a weeks time you will use less calories doing the same exercise.

Scary Huh?

You are essentially training your body to burn LESS FAT.

It's True!

You see your body stored that fat there for a reason, due to some poor nutritional habits and/or lack of physical activity and TRAINING. Low intensity exercises in the form of everyday activity is OK. It is more erratic and unpredictable than endurance activity. Doing the shopping and cleaning the house mowing the lawn and a physical job/hobby all count as physical activity as they are a mix of differing intensities and movements. Endurance exercises WILL burn fat, YES. . but as a result your body will actually store more so that you have fat for your next endurance activity!

Come on you know it makes sense!

If you knew you had 3 bills to pay: Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7pm. . You would spare more cash until then to save getting into debt/missing a payment. You body does the same . . 'alright (you name) plans on performing a fat burning cardio workout 3 times per week. So I will keep storing fat so she can fuel these low intensity exercises. Your body is only doing as it's told, it thinks you need fat there so it stores it so you can perform the exercise next time. It's merely an adaptation to what you are doing!

Now here's the interesting part! When you perform high intensity exercise you primarily deplete GLYCOGEN stores. 'Glycogen' is 'muscle sugar' or a method which your body stores carbohydrates in your muscle. Interestingly enough you will burn minimal fat during the actual High Intensity exercise bout.

'WHAT? I thought you said you were going to show me how to burn fat '

Now listen up. . there is only one thing more precious to your body than your fat stores. . its your glycogen stores! Your body does not want to let go of them. . its like its 'piggy bank' its raw energy that it wants to keep and by performing high intensity exercises all the time and depleting this glycogen you are being a nuisance. In order to counteract this your body will do the unthinkable! It will actually begin to burn fat at higher intensities in order to PRESERVE your glycogen stores. A study done on male and female International level Judo competitors showed that following a training session (high intensity fighting average heart rate 80% + Max Heart Rate) they were primarily oxidising fat and not glycogen. Amazing! Their body adapted to the rigorous high intensity exercise and began to do the unthinkable and burn fat at increased intensities! You have turned your body into a fat burning machine!

Low intensity exercise makes you fat. High intensity exercise burns fat PERIOD.

Copyright (c) 2009 Athleticbodysystem

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About The Author: The Athletic Body System outlines dozens of types of fun and intense workouts. Just click the link below to find out more! ---> www.athleticbodysystem.com