The Best Cardio Workouts

I know a lot of you are looking for the best cardio workouts that will 1) Burn the maximum amounts of fat; And 2) Maintain hard earned muscle.

But first, let me ask you all a question. How many of you enjoy doing 45 minutes of boring cardio? Well, I don�t, and I know most of you don�t either. I really don�t look forward to doing 45 minutes of cardio after a hard workout. I know, this seems to be one of the best times to do cardio, in terms of burning optimal amounts of fat, but I have such a hard time getting into it - Most of the time I have to force myself to do it.

Here is one of the main reasons why I don�t enjoy doing 45 minutes of cardio after my workouts. I really don�t want to spend anymore time in the gym than I have to. I will usually spend about one hour doing intense weight training. If I do another 45 minutes of cardio afterwards, that takes my total time in the gym to close to two hours. To be honest, I don�t really want to spend 2 hours in the gym.

This has always been the train of thought amongst fitness enthusiasts and hard core body builders alike.

The more cardio you do, the better it is for fat loss. Now, we all know that cardio is absolutely needed in order to burn fat - There is no denying this fact.

Research has shown that the only way the body burns fat is through the oxidation cycle.

Cardio exercise forces your body to use oxygen as a fuel source. And, in order to burn fat, oxygen has to be present.

So, it only makes sense that the more oxygen you have in your system, the better it is to burn fat.

This is a very simplified version of how the body uses oxygen to burn fat but hey, I�m no scientist and this is the way I understand it to be.

However, the latest research has shown that shorter, and more intense cardio sessions to be much more effective for fat loss and muscle retention. Let me ask you another question, how would you feel if you could do shorter cardio sessions (20 minutes) and actually burn more fat in the long run and hold on to more muscle mass? I know I�m very interested in this method.

What I�m talking about is interval cardio training. I believe it�s being called �High Intensity Interval Training� (H.I.I.T). Now, interval training is nothing new in athletics. This type of training has been going on for decades and is something that most Olympic athletes do in their daily training routines.

Alright, what are intervals and how can they be one of the best cardio workouts you can do?

Intervals are an excellent way to really increase the intensity of your workouts. This is an intermediate/advanced strategy that will quickly and effectively burn the fat right off your body. Once you get to this stage, you are well on your way to transforming your body into a fat burning machine.

An interval is basically alternating high-intensity and lower-intensity exercise such as the elliptical trainer within a single workout.

Interval example: Exercise on the elliptical trainer for 4 minutes at low resistance than increase the resistance to high and exercise at the same pace for 1 minute. This is considered one interval.

Now, high intensity interval training has just now started to gain more popularity amongst fitness enthusiasts as a more efficient way to burn fat and maintain muscle mass rather than long, steady state type cardio workouts. With interval cardio training, the workouts are shorter and much more intense, and chances are, you�ll work much harder than you did with your steady state cardio program. However, the results can be very dramatic.

You see, steady state cardio training usually involves low to moderate cardio exercises performed at 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. This usually involves long cardio sessions that can last up to one hour - Even longer for those who are cardio freaks. The idea is to burn fat while using low to moderate levels of intensity.

However, high intense cardio sessions are much shorter - 20 minutes long and use close to 90% of your maximum heart rate. The idea is to use higher intensity levels while burning maximum amounts of fat and maintaining lean muscle mass.

Why is High Intense Cardio Training gaining more and more popularity as the possible best cardio workouts for burning fat? Let�s take a look at some of the research.

One of the earliest research done at Laval University suggests that more fat can be burned using high intensity interval training. The experiment lasted for one month and used two groups. One group used a steady state cardio training for 20 weeks and another group used a high intensity interval training program for 15 weeks. The results showed that the group using a steady state cardio program lost more calories than the high intensity interval training group did. However, the group using the high intensity interval training program actually lost significantly more body fat.

Another study done in 2001 at the East Tennessee State University found similar results. Two groups followed an 8 week cardio program. One group followed a steady state cardio program and another used a high intensity interval training program. After the study was completed, the high intensity interval training group lost 2% body fat. The interesting part is that the group that followed the steady state cardio program lost absolutely no body fat. Of course, there may have been other variables involved that could have accounted for the 0 fat loss for the steady state group, but regardless, the results speak for themselves.

You want to know what�s really interesting about this study, is that the subjects who followed the high intensity interval program burned 100 more calories per day during the 24 hours, post exercise.

The most recent study is from Australia. The study involved two groups of females. One group followed a 20 minute high intensity interval wind sprints (8 second high intense sprint followed by 12 second rest), while another group followed a 40 minute steady state cardio program performed at 60% of maximum heart rate. The group that performed the high intensity wind sprints lost an amazing 6 times more body fat than the steady state cardio group.

From the research I�ve done, it seems that the most relevant aspect to the success of it�s fat burning capabilities, a high intense interval training program, is it�s effect on metabolism. A study done by the Baylor College of Medicine reported that those individuals who performed a high intense cardio workout on a stationary bike burned a lot more calories during the 24 hours than those who followed a steady state program. The fat burning properties of a high intensity interval cardio is due to it�s ability to raise a person�s resting metabolic rate.

� Subjects who performed high intense interval cardio exercise burned 10% more calories during the 24 hours post exercise than subjects who performed a steady state cardio exercise.

How is this possible? Since it takes so much energy and effort to complete a high intensity interval training session, your body requires more energy to repair itself afterwards. It only makes sense because by increasing the intensity of any type of exercise will only increase the amount of work it takes to repair the body.

Ok, so what types of cardio exercises are best for high intensity interval training?

Really, you can incorporate any type of cardio exercise and adjust it for high intense interval training. You can be perform high intensity interval training on a stairmaster, elliptical trainer, mountain bike, local track, treadmill, a stationary bike or a host of other cardio exercises. Let�s take a look at using an elliptical trainer. Take a look at the following chart:

Time	Resistance Level
5 minutes	2 � warm up
1 minute	5
Interval1- 1 minute	10
2 minutes	5
Interval 2 - 2 minutes	10
3 minutes	5
Interval 3 - 3 minutes	7
4 minutes	6
Interval 4 - 3 minutes	10
5 minutes	7
3 minutes	2 Cool Down

I'm going to be honest with you, if you're just starting out, you may want to take it easy and do one to two weeks of straight elliptical exercise with no intervals. That is, set your elliptical trainer to the setting of 3 and do that for 5 minutes each day. Follow a steady state cardio program for about 2 weeks.

After two weeks, once you feel comfortable with your elliptical trainer, try adding some interval training. Now, you might want to do just two intervals to start out with but what you want to do is work your way up to 4 maybe 5 intervals. Once you get to interval 4, you're going to be in pretty good shape and really starting to burn the fat. Remember, high intensity interval training is just that, it�s high intense and it is very hard to complete. However, the results are undeniable, you will lose maximum amounts of fat and get into the best shape of your life.

For those of you who are interested in maximum fat loss and building muscle, this may be a very important tip for you. Why not couple your high intense cardio sessions with high intense, compound movement weight training? Personally, this is probably your best way to gain maximum muscle mass while at the same time, keeping fat levels maintained or even burning fat. I�m not going to go over the whole weight training program, because I�ve discussed it at the following web page:

� Perform your high intense interval training routine after your weight training program or first thing in the morning.

� Try mixing 10 grams of BCAA�s with water 20 minutes before your sessions. If you can�t get BCAA�s try using some whey protein powder. This will help ensure that you don�t sacrifice muscle for energy instead of fat.

� Supplement with a good fat burner. A fat burning stack consisting of caffeine and carnitine will help enhance the amount of fat you burn during exercise.

� Try and combine your high intense interval cardio sessions with a high intense, compound movement weight training session.

So there you have it. Let�s face it, nobody likes doing cardio but it has become a staple in order to get into top shape. Although cardio has to be done in order to burn fat, it doesn�t have to be boring and monotonous to be effective. By using high intense interval training, you will spice up your cardio sessions with constant challenges and speeding up your fat burning efforts while cutting down on your cardio time.

If you were looking for the best cardio workouts to do, try doing high intense interval training, you�ll be amazed at the results.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to use high intensity interval training for maximum fat loss, I'm going to recommend you take a look at Mike Geary's book, "The Truth About Six Pack Abs�. It�s a solid resource that will definitely get you on the right track to effectively burning fat and properly using high intensity interval cardio. Check out Mike's book at: �The Truth About Six Pack Abs�.

�The Best Cardio Workouts For Building Muscle And Burning Fat�