Well, today is part 3 of my “Want to Lose Stomach Fat” mini-series.
So far you’ve learned the easiest things you can do nutritionally as well as how you should do resistance training to lose that tummy fat.
So I guess the only thing left, for now, is cardio.
Cardio is the most misunderstood aspect of fat loss, although a close second is doing endless amounts of crunches in the hopes of getting a flat stomach.
There are a couple schools of thought when it comes to cardio, however given that most people in today’s world don’t have tons of time to devote to exercise, let alone cardio, I’m going to tell you the quickest way to get it done by doing what I call “smart” cardio.
Personally, I hate cardio. I don’t like to run, which many people are surprised to hear.
When I do my cardio I have to do it very quickly, in front of the television, or I get very bored, very fast.
So when I talk about “smart” cardio I’m referring to the fact that you don’t have to spend hours every week doing long, boring, moderate-intensity cardio, unless you have tons of time on your hands or want to train for a marathon or other endurance race.
Rather, smart cardio, to me, refers to interval training.
Interval training has been proven time and again to burn more fat, specifically from your belly, than long, steady-state cardio (such as walking on the treadmill for 60 minutes).
Studies are routinely finding that interval training is a good way of doing cardio because it keeps your metabolism (calorie burning) elevated for hours after you’re done, while traditional cardio brings your metabolism back down to its normal state within the hour. That means you burn more fat throughout your day by doing the intervals…even while you’re not exercising.
Even while you’re sitting on your couch in the evening watching “Lost” or “CSI”, you’re burning more calories after having done interval training for 15-20 minutes than if you would have gone for a 60 minute walk or rode your bike at a low intensity for 30 minutes.
Some people misconstrue interval training for being some sort of a “sprinter’s workout”, when it really isn’t.
All it means is that you intersperse bouts of higher intensity exercise with bouts of low-intensity exercise.
Here’s an example of what I just did yesterday on the stationary bike.
Warmed up for 4 minutes.
Rode the bike at a perceived exertion of 8 on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being all out, legs shaking sprinting intensity) for approximately 30 seconds, then rode at a perceived exertion of 4, on a scale of 10, for 60 seconds.
That was 1 round.
I did that for 4 more rounds and cooled down for another 3 or 4 minutes.
That was it. I was off the stationary bike in about 15 minutes and it kicked my butt. I was huffing and puffing and it felt awesome.
On a side note, when you try this, it’s easiest to do it on a piece of cardio equipment, rather than trying to run outside. Running at higher intensity levels requires a lot of warm-up time, plus it’s a lot harder on your joints.
I was eating lunch in a park once and saw a man trying to do sprints for his interval training. I think he thought he was back in high school on the track team.
It wasn’t pretty. I thought I was going to have to do CPR or take him to the orthopedic surgeon because his hamstring muscles were going to pop off his legs.
Aside from the guy I just mentioned, interval training can be adapted to anyone’s fitness level, unless, of course, you have a medical reason not to do this type of exercise. Heart issues, etc.
Everyone can figure their own perceived rate of exertion on a scale of 1 to 10, which means that everyone can figure out what is intense.
What’s intense for you may not be intense for me and vice versa.
That’s probably the most important aspect of interval training. To go at your own level of intensity. You know what’s intense for you and maybe walking at a speed of 5 miles/hour is very intense for you, while that might be very easy for others.
I want to leave you today thinking about something.
If you look at interval training for cardio as I just explained it and remember what I teach about resistance training (doing supersets and getting done in a short period of time), is there really any difference from a cardio standpoint?
If done right, both have you working hard for a certain period of time, followed by a rest period. Both elevate your metabolism for hours after you’re done.
What that tells me is lots of cardio for fat loss is over-rated.
Don’t get me wrong, cardio is very, very important, especially when it comes to general health. I do cardio workouts 3-4 times per week.
My point is it’s not the end-all approach to fat loss.
It takes a combination of all 3 things I talked about over the last 3 weeks. Not going crazy praying to the treadmill gods and not severely limiting your food intake and not doing lots of exercises that don’t do much good from a fat loss standpoint.
Make sense?
Have a good week!
Ed Scow
P.S. – If this type of exercise tripped your trigger, then you’ll love my Fat Loss to Go workouts. What I have explained over the last 3 weeks is the basis of that program. To learn more, go to www.fatlosstogo.com
