One of the most common questions that I receive from clients on a regular basis is how much cardio should they do in order to lose weight. To be honest, there is no set magical amount of time of cardiovascular exercise that a person should do to burn body fat, as this will depend on each individual. There are however a few tips and tricks that I try to teach our clients to implement into their overall training programs that will enable them to get the most out of their cardiovascular workouts.

Train Smarter, Not Harder

In my opinion there are two optimal times of the day to perform your cardiovascular workouts: a) First thing in the morning in a fasted state or b) Post workout.

Fasted Cardio: Our bodies are smart. Our bodies know how to reserve fuel and expel fuel efficiently. Our bodies preferred source for burning energy are carbohydrates. When we take those carbohydrates away our bodies are forced to look for another source of fuel to use to burn energy. And that other source of fuel is fat. But not just any fat – Body Fat! When you wake up in the morning from 6-8 hours of sleep you most likely have consumed little to no food during that time period. Therefore your body is in somewhat of a fasted stated. It’s also in a carb depleted state. Hence, if you jump out of bed and onto the treadmill, your body will be forced to use fat as it’s main source of fuel to get you through your cardio workout. This will allow your body to burn fat more efficiently and more effectively then if you were to do your cardiovascular training immediately after a meal full of carbohydrates, which would still be somewhat effective but not nearly as efficient.

Post Workout Cardio: Another optimal time of day to do your cardiovascular training is immediately after your resistance training workouts. This is actually the time of day that I’ve always done my cardiovascular training as I typically start my workday around 4am. The reason why this type of cardio is just as effective as fasted cardio is because just like fasted cardio, post workout cardio ensures that you are using fat as your primary source of fuel to burn fat and not carbohydrates. Remember, our bodies preferred source of fuel are carbohydrates. When you have a meal or two before your resistance training workouts (which if you’re working out in the late afternoon or evening I recommend you do) your body is using carbohydrates to get you through your weight workout. Once your weight workout is finished, your glycogen receptors have been depleted, which essentially means your body has been depleted. Jumping on the elliptical trainer immediately after your last weight set in the gym for 20-30 minutes will force your body to use it’s next preferred source of fuel to get you through the rest of your workout – Body Fat!

How Much Cardio Should You Do?

Just as I mentioned at the beginning of this week’s blog, the amount of cardio a person needs to do to burn body fat will depend on multiply factors. However I’ve always liked to use the “Less is Best Approach” when it comes to utilizing cardio to burn body fat. Therefore if a new client is following my advice and performing their cardiovascular workouts either first thing in the morning or after their workouts then I generally will start them off at 20 minutes of cardio. Once they hit a plateau with their weight loss then I will gradually begin to increase that time from 20-25 minutes. Where this becomes more complex though is that the lower your body fat becomes, the harder it becomes to lose it. Therefore just increasing the amount of time you do on the Stair Climber or Stationary Bicycle is not always going to be the answer. In fact, doing too much cardio can lead to adrenal fatigue and cause a metabolic meltdown. That’s when it’s time to look at the diet and see where it can be cleaned up so that you’re not one of those people in the gym that is stuck doing hours upon hours of cardio in the gym day in and day out and not getting anywhere.

Do You Do Cardio?

Finally do you even do cardio? Most people are under the assumption that the only way to burn body fat is by performing intense cardiovascular training all day everyday. This is a very common misconception. I can guarantee you that if you are training hard and lifting heavy in the gym during your resistance training workouts and keeping your diet relatively clean in the kitchen, then you should be able to maintain low body fat levels year round. Performing 20-30 minutes of additional cardio a few times a week, will not only help you keep these levels lower, but will also aid in your recovery time between your working sets and help improver your overall cardiovascular health. So even if you’re one of those lucky people who’ve never struggled with their weight, you should still be doing your cardiovascular workouts for the numerous health benefits that it provides.

Remember, our aesthetics might begin to deteriorate as we become older. But in my opinion, there’s no reason as to why your health should deteriorate with them.

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove
Forever Fit Performance