Reader Question: What Type of Cardio Burns The Most Fat?
Almost all people realize that cardio training is a form of exercise that you can use to burn fat. But, what type of cardio is most effective?
Today I received a question on this topic and I’m sure many are wondering about it as well – let’s take a closer look.
Question:
I’ve been on a fat loss program for a while now but am not quite seeing the results I would have hoped for. I just don’t quite get what the best type of cardio is for me to perform. I’ve tried a few kinds but don’t really see much results, so maybe I’m doing something wrong. What would you suggest?
Answer:
Before even going into the topic of the best type of cardio training you should do for fat loss, I want to stress the importance of nutrition for fat loss here. If you aren’t eating a diet that has you taking in fewer calories than you burn on a daily basis, you are going to struggle with weight loss.
Some individuals they figure they can just ‘cardio off’ the weight, but this isn’t the case. If you think it is, you’d better set up a treadmill in your office because you are going to be doing a lot of it. It’s far more effective to make changes to your diet and then add the cardio in there for a bit of extra kick as far as weight loss is concerned.
Now, getting back on topic, all cardio is going to burn calories, whether it’s a high intensity sprint or a walk around the park, and burning calories is what helps you lose weight.
What you need to keep in mind though is that higher intensity cardio is what will cause the body to burn more calories after the cardio workout is finished. For this reason, it proves to be a lot more beneficial in terms of total fat loss.
But, (and there’s always a ‘but’) the issue with higher intensity cardio is that first, you can only utilize glucose for fuel for this type of exercise. If you’re on a low carb diet, this could become incredibly difficult (especially considering you’re also going to need glucose for your weight lifting workouts as well).
Second, too much high intensity cardio will become very hard to recover from, so again, you’re sorta in a tight position in terms of scheduling, recovering, and not winding up overtrained.
This is where lower intensity cardio comes in handy. You won’t need as long to recover from it, you can use fat as fuel to get through it, and your risk of overtraining is much lower (although not completely eliminated).
All in all, it still comes down to the calorie balance equation. Some people can’t stand doing longer sessions of cardio, while others aren’t at the fitness level required to do spring training.
My best advice to you is to worry a little less on the exact type of cardio training you’re doing and do the variety that you think you’ll do most often. Adherence is most important when it comes to anything so that must be considered.
Then, also have a good look over your fat loss diet. My guess is that there are issues with that and that is why you aren’t seeing the weight loss you’d like to be.
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