Working Out Early in the Morning

If you’re like most busy people who are struggling to find time to exercise, I recommend that you do it first thing in the morning.

You may be asking why this is so. To begin with, an early morning workout gets your blood flowing. It is sure to give you that jolt which you’ll be needing for the entire day. Some people assume that exercising at the crack of dawn will wipe them out. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Exercise isn’t supposed to wear you out. It is supposed to invigorate you (unless you are overtraining, which is a big no-no).

Timing your workouts early in the morning is also advantageous if your after-office hours are regularly blocked off. This could be due to family commitments and other important obligations.  The importance of exercising in the morning is magnified ten times over if your after-office hours are unpredictable.  Doing your fitness routine to jumpstart your day is a good indication that you are a person who knows what his or her important life priorities are.

To exercise at four or five in the morning is no mean feat, especially if you have to eat your early morning pre-workout meal. This can be a bit daunting as you need at least 60 minutes to digest your pre-workout nibbles before pumping some iron. I suggest that you consume a liquid meal for faster digestion and absorption. This could be in the form of a whey protein shake (to kickstart the muscle rebuilding process) mixed with bananas (a form of simple carbohydrate) and oatmeal. Drink this upon waking up and you can begin working out as early as half an hour later.

Another pre-workout meal that I want to put some emphasis on is wheatgrass. It is known as the “King of Alkaline Food” due to its high calcium, magnesium, manganese and iron content. Now, if you regularly work out, you should know that the most important thing to take in prior to exercising are carbohydrates and protein. Wheatgrass has both of them. In fact, it has 17 amino acids all in all! That’s a tonne of protein if you ask me! For a high-powered early morning workout, drink some wheatgrass juice paired with a piece of fruit (perhaps a banana or an apple) before exercising. My wheatgrass is in powder form which I mix with water. I drink it at 5 am and I’m off to hit the weights on or before 5:30 am.

Now that you are done with your early morning workout, it’s time for your post-workout meal. This would be in the form of a heavy breakfast. Ideally, start off with a post-workout, water-based protein shake. Do not consume any fats yet as they will impede the protein absorption process. Do that later on during your regular meals throughout the day.  Once you have chugged down on your protein shake, make sure to eat a healthy and nutritious breakfast (whole-wheat pancakes or brown rice with lean turkey bacon and some fresh produce, for example).

Adjusting to an early morning workout routine can be challenging. But let me tell you, it’s all worth it. You will the energy running through your body during the day as you attempt to climb that corporate ladder. If there’s just one thing I have to say about it, it’s this: it is a risk worth taking.

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How to Create a Basic Weight Training Workout Program

If you’re training for a particular goal, it’s important to have a plan. An effective plan will provide you with guidance and structure in order to propel you toward your goals. Further, a plan is a tool by which you can measure the effectiveness of your current training approach.

Weight training is an integral part to many goals, be it weight loss, strength, muscle development, toning and so on. But just following “any” plan isn’t going to necessarily serve you well. For maximum results, you need it to be a smart and effective weight training plan.

Within this blog, I want to share some key considerations of developing your training plan. These are all important factors that we use within our online personal training service. Please do keep in mind that this is a very (very) general approach in order to develop a training plan suitable for most people. If you have specific goals, you’ll need to accommodate for them. Same goes for any injuries, muscular imbalances and so on.

Deciding on the Overall Training Format

After deciding how often you’re able to train and how many days of weights you are going to perform, the next step is in dividing those training days up in a suitable manner. Let’s assume you’re going to dedicate three days a week to weight training. We have a few options:

1. Split program. With a split program, you exercise different muscle groups on different days. This is so each muscle group has ample time to recover in between training sessions. Such an approach is often most suitable for more advanced exercisers, people focused on muscle and strength development, or those who like to train quite vigorously. If you’re new to weight training, this approach may not be for you.
2. Rotating program. This is where you can have a two day exercise plan. It’s a little simpler than the split approach with less exercises to remember. You commence with the first training day, then for the second workout in the week, you move onto day two. Then on the third day for that week, you come back to day one. The training plan is rotated. This is great for additional variety in your training and to allow sufficient recovery in between training sessions. Often this approach is best for people with little to moderate experience.
3. Full body program. As the name suggests, this is a full body plan which is repeated each training day. If you’re not training with particular vigor, or are just starting out, this can be an excellent approach. It’s simple and will yield great results for those looking to improve tone and lose weight.

Balancing the Exercises within the Training Plan

Once you’ve decided on the format, you then need to develop a plan that is well balanced. A common mistake is to train some muscle groups and neglect others. This encourages muscle imbalances which can lead to a plethora of problems, often associated with an increased risk of injury, poor posture and noticeable physical muscular imbalance.

This part can be quite tricky, as without proper training and some knowledge of human physiology, it’s sometimes hard to identify what exercises work which muscles. I mean, there are so many exercises out there, it can be extremely difficult to decide which exercises to do and when!

For the purposes of this article, let’s stick with a simple approach for a single day program whereby each muscle group is worked equally. So, we need to pick an effective exercise to work each of the major muscle groups, which, working from the top down, will include:

• Shoulders
• Chest
• Back
• Biceps
• Triceps
• Abdominals
• Front of the thighs
• Back of the thighs

Just so you’re aware, I have left out some smaller muscle groups (forearms and lower legs). Both these area’s will generally be worked while also working the above muscle groups. Generally speaking, you would only really allocate specific exercises to these area’s if you had a specific reason to do so.

So with a one day training programme, here’s an effective exercise for each of the above muscle groups, suitable for most people:

• Shoulders: Machine shoulder press
• Chest: Machine chest press
• Back: Lat pulldown
• Biceps: Barbell bicep curls
• Triceps: Bench dips
• Abdominals: Floor crunches
• Front of the thighs: Leg press
• Back of the thighs: Seated hamstring curls

Ordering your Exercises

As a general rule of thumb, it’s good practice to begin with the exercises that expend the most energy first, when you are fresher. Then slowly work your way down to the less energy-dependant exercises. Generally speaking, legs require the most effort, so we’ll work our way down from there.

It’s also a good idea to group overlapping exercises together. For example, the leg press also exercises the hamstrings, so we’ll include the hamstring curls immediately after the leg press. Another example is the chest press, which primarily targets the chest, also recruits the shoulders. So, we’ll therefore include the shoulders right after the chest press.

Here is an example of how you would be able to structure the above exercises:

1. Leg Press
2. Hamstring Curls
3. Lat Pulldown
4. Machine Chest Press
5. Machine Shoulder Pres
6. Bench Dips
7. Barbell Bicep Curls
8. Floor Crunches

Of course, there is no “one” way to order them, but this would be one of the better ways.

Decide on your sets and reps

Sets and reps sound confusing, but they aren’t. Here are some definitions:

Rep: A rep is an abbreviation of repetition. For example, if you perform one pushup, that would be one rep. If you perform 10 pushups, that would be 10 reps.

Set: A set is a collection of a number of reps. If you perform 10 pushups in a row and then rest, then perform another 10 pushups, you therefore performed two sets of 10 pushups.

There are no rules when it comes to sets and reps. Because you generally won’t want your workout time to exceed roughly 40 minutes (as fatigue and stress hormones kick in), it’s a good rule of thumb to not perform too many sets of any single one exercise. Plus, keeping the number of sets short helps to avoid boredom. So three sets is generally going to be a good number to aim around, but of course this will vary dependent on individual goals.

Reps can vary greatly, again based on goals. In a very general context, I’m a believer that it’s best to begin with higher reps as you’re learning new exercises. With low reps (and therefore lifting heavier weights), it’s easier to hurt yourself. So why not begin with something a bit lighter, aim for around 15 reps and really become confident with the movements.

As your experience increases, you may find it more effective to increase the weights and thus decrease the repetitions you are performing. The lower the reps, the greater the focus on strength. Around 8-12 reps is focused more on muscle size. Once you hit above 15 reps, you’re training more for endurance. Of course, these figures are very general in nature and should only be used as a very loose guide.

In summary

We have only covered the bare basics of developing a plan, as this is something that is highly customizable based on your preferences, goals, lifestyle, injuries, training history and so on. I hope this gives you some insight into some very important considerations when embarking upon a weights training plan.

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How to Develop an Exercise Routine

Whether you’re seeking to lose weight, gain muscle or just tone up, developing a regular exercise pattern is going to help you greatly in accomplishing that goal. As we’ve discussed in numerous articles, a long-term consistent approach to your training will yield the best results. Short-term stints may yield “okay” short-term improvements, but these are quickly lost once motivation subsides.

Before we go on, I’ll ask you to consider your training history and how “routine” you are in your approach. This will help you to identify how appropriate this article is for you. If this is the case, it will help you internalize the messages contained within. Beginning in this context will also provide you with some context as to what I’m referring to by a “regular training routine”.

Consider your training over the past year. Yes, the past year. Because exercise must be a long-term commitment for sustainable results, we need to take a macro-view of your habits. Have you sustained a regular exercise pattern without fail?

You’ve probably heard before that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. While this is a widely held belief, in my professional experience, I would disagree that 21 days of regular exercise constitutes forming a “habit” of exercise. This is because I have seen countless people engage in regular physical activity for one, maybe two months, only then to lose motivation and ease exercise. So it is extremely important that we look at exercise with a long-term perspective.

If your training has not been consistent and structured, then this article is for you.

Why is an exercise routine so important?

It’s fairly obvious that exercising regularly over a sustained period of time will generally result in significant results (assuming of course you’re following an effective training programme!). The results of each exercise session accumulate in a snowball-like manner. Eventually whatever you are training for should improve, whether that be fitness, strength, body fat, muscle size, endurance, tone and so on.

However what is commonly overlooked are the significant psychological advantages of exercising regularly and making it a habit. Think about it – how often do you need motivation to:

• Brush your teeth
• Get dressed
• Get up out of bed
• Take a shower

The degree to which such tasks require motivation seem trivial as compared to the motivation often required for exercise. While this could partially be attributed to the fact that such tasks require less effort than an exercise session, nonetheless we do them every day (well, for the most part!). This is because these are habitual and need to be done. I bet you don’t “think” about whether or not you feel like brushing your teeth in the morning, it just gets done.

The same should be true for exercise.

Just as there are consequences for not brushing your teeth (smelly breath, yellowing teeth, large dentist bills, teeth falling out, decay etc.), so too are there consequences of not exercising (not achieving your goals, reduced work productivity, lowered self-esteem, increased health bills, reduced brain function, overall happiness, increased risk of injury etc.). But it’s much easier to find an excuse not to do something that isn’t already part of your habitual nature, only because you have to consciously “think” about whether or not you feel like doing.

If it’s habitual, you don’t think or try, you just do. (Sounds a bit like Yoda!)

Let’s get to some practical tips on how to make your exercise routine and sustain it indefinitely. The more you do these things, the more automatic your training will become and the more satisfied you will be with yourself:

Structure your training on a micro level. Do you have a training plan that is down on paper and provides you with a clear exercise protocol? Do you know exactly what you are about to do as soon as you prepare to exercise? Or, are you doing it on the fly?

You need to develop a plan that is automatic. Don’t leave your training to fate by deciding on your plan based on how you’re feeling on the day. If the plan is predetermined, it’s a matter of simply following the plan.

Structure your training on a macro level. Further, you need to know what you’re training on each day of the week. Different workouts should be assigned to different days in order to maximize your training results and avoid boredom. Go one step further and plan your training out for the month. As a general rule of thumb, aim to vary your exercise routine on a monthly basis to avoid plateau’s and keep interest alive.

Exercise at the same time each training day. Assuming this fits in with your lifestyle, train at the same time each day. Studies have shown that it’s far more likely that you will sustain an exercise routine long-term by exercising first thing in the morning, before the day gets the better of you. Your routine could very quickly become:

Wake up -> Eat a light breakfast -> brush your teeth -> exercise -> shower -> go to work

Keep your overall lifestyle routine constant. If at all possible, aim to get to bed at the same time each night and awake at the same time each morning. If this is not possible for you due to work commitments, try to make things as consistent as possible so you can develop a rhythm.

Other factors that you can aim to keep relatively constant include meal times, working hours, workout duration, days you socialise etc.

I hope this has given you some insight on how to develop and maintain a long-term consistent approach to exercise. This really is the key to amazing success. And the real beauty about such an approach is that exercise is no longer a burden, it is just part of your lifestyle.

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Is Weight Lifting Good For Weight Loss?

It is commonly assumed that weight lifting is reserved exclusively for people who want to gain muscle. Examples include bodybuilders and professional athletes who often require an above average amount of muscle mass to excel within their discipline.

But what about the average person? For those who want to lose weight, weight training is commonly overlooked. Rather, cardiovascular exercise (such as going for a jog) is automatically assumed to be the most effective approach to weight loss in terms of exercise.

Interestingly, this assumption will hold you back from achieving optimal weight loss results.

While cardio exercise certainly has a profound impact on weight loss, weight training exercise can be just as (if not more) effective. The notion that weight lifting will make you bulk up is completely mis-understood. In order to accomplish muscle bulk, you must exercise and eat in a very specific manner, very different to those seeking to lose weight.

Weight lifting will help you to lose weights via several very important mechanisms:

1. By stimulating slight muscle growth (and not necessarily bulk), your natural metabolic rate will be increased. Hence you’ll be burning more energy each day, thus enhancing weight loss.
2. By placing excess stress on your muscles, they undergo an intensive repair process for up to a week after that training session. This period of recovery is when a heightened amount of energy is expended, again encouraging weight loss.
3. Immediately following an intense weight training workout, your body is going to be in an increased state of recovery (commonly known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC). During this time, for up to about 24 hours after training, you expend excess energy which helps facilitate weight loss.

But won’t weight lifting bulk me up?

Weight lifting does not necessarily mean that you’re going to bulk up. As mentioned previously, to bulk up you need to train and eat in a very specific manner. Although the specifics of this approach are too detailed to go into within this short discussion, here’s a quick run-down. To bulk up from weight training, you need to:

1. Train very intensely and consistently over many years. Muscle growth is a very slow process for men, and even moreso for women.
2. You need to eat an excess number of calories from very specific foods, at specific times of the day. With a weight loss approach (on a calorie restricted diet), your body is not going to have the nutrients available for any muscle bulk.

If you are interested in reading further into building muscle, please browse around this website as we have written extensively on the topic.

The most effective way to lose weight is by combining weight lifting, cardio exercise and an effective diet. All three of these disciplines must be effectively geared toward weight loss and work together for optimal results.

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The Benefits of Using a Pedometer

Many of us live sedentary lives. Although our bodies are designed to constantly move throughout the day, we tend to sit still in office chairs for most of the day, then commute home and relax. Exercise, or even movement in general, is often an afterthought.

One major reason as to why Australia has an overweight population is because we don’t move around enough. The many prevalent medical concerns within our society are also encouraged by us living our sedentary lifestyles. Living in such a fast-paced world often means that work, family and social obligations get the better of us and reduce our desire to exercise.

If you are seeking to lose weight, improve work productivity or improve your health in general, then you need to find a way to perform exercise on a regular basis. We’re going to discuss ways to do this, and the benefits of using a pedometer to accomplish this goal.

From my professional experience, I have found that many people seem to lack the time and desire to dedicate an hour a few days a week to an exercise programme. While this can often be overcome (as discussed within various other articles), incidental exercise should be utilised as an effective tool to assist you in achieving your goals.

What is Incidental Exercise?

Incidental exercise is everything outside of your “structured” training plan. So, while you may have had a professional develop an effective cardiovascular and resistance based training programme, all the additional exercise that you perform falls into the category of being “incidental”. Typical examples include:

• Walking to the shops
• Walking up stairs
• Movement at work

All this additional movement throughout the day can significantly enhance your progress in terms of weight loss and general health. And the beauty about incidental exercise is that you often do not have to devote an entire “chunk” of your day to it. You simply need to get creative with your. For example:

• Park a little further away from wherever you are going
• Take the stairs instead of the lift
• Take the scenic route, rather than always the most direct path

Often you’ll actually save time by finding ways to incorporate incidental exercise into your routine. The reason why many of us don’t naturally do these things is because they require more physical effort, rather than being time poor.

The Benefits of Pedometers

Pedometers are an effective tool you can utilise to help implement conscious changes into your daily routine. A pedometer has the ability to objectify your movement and measure exactly what you’re doing. In doing so, you’ll be more likely to make a concerted effort toward implementing more movement into your daily life.

Using a pedometer also helps you to set goals. A great goal would be to hit 10,000 steps a day. Then, each day, you can aim to better your previous record. This approach not only makes your routine goal orientated and purpose-driven, it also helps to create a sense of fun, excitement and enthusiasm about your exercise regime.

Pedometers also have various other functions, such as calculating the distance travelled and calories burned. Again, these figures can be used to assist in setting goals.

We’ve found that many businesses purchase pedometers as part of walking challenges. By getting employees moving, this helps to improve their work productivity and boost morale. Of course, those participating in the challenge benefit in many regards, including weight loss, health and even just a sense of accomplishment. Whether you’re an employee or manager, this may be something to consider to instill a sense of excitement within the workplace.

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Finding Time to Exercise

Almost all of us know what needs to be done for weight loss and muscle gain – eating in a healthy manner and exercising consistently. This is commonsensical. Most of us also know that regular exercise is critical to our physical and mental wellbeing. Exercise is an integral part to our quality of life – not only our lifespan.

But in practice, many people find this difficult to accomplish. After all, we lead very busy lives and finding the time to exercise is often a very difficult task to accomplish.

The vast majority of people who enquire about our personal training services are time poor. Whether they be working one (or more) full time jobs, a parent, or both, time is a scarce resource. So exercise is really put on the backburner.

We have discussed this topic in the past and I have put fourth a few practical idea’s on how to manage your life by planning out your week in advance. Planning is a very effective tool and one which you should employ, if you are finding that time to exercise is scarce. We have also discussed effective shorter workouts to maximise your workout efficiency. You may wish to read my article entitled “No Time to Exercise?”

But planning can only go so far. We all have 168 hours in the week. The typical person requires 56 hours of sleep each week (and on a side note, if you’re not getting this amount of sleep, you are doing yourself a disfavour with respect to mental health, physical health and body composition). Therefore, we have 112 other hours in the week – a few of which should be devoted to exercising to lead a healthy and fulfilling life.

If you are struggling to find a mere 2-3 hours (ie. less than 2% of our week) to exercise, it is likely to be associated with your priorities in life. We all have the same amount of time each week, we just choose to use our time differently. If exercise is not a top priority in your life, it likely will not be done.

Let’s consider a four quadrant matrix discussed extensively in business litterature. Here is one pulled from Covey and Merrill’s book, “First Things First” (a book that I would highly recommend):

The top line demonstrates the important tasks in life, while the lower line are non-important tasks. The left column are urgent tasks that require immediate attention, while the right column are non-urgent.

Most of us spend our lives in the urgent column. Important and urgent tasks must be dealt with immediately to avoid a disaster. But once these are dealt with, often the third quadrant (urgent and not important) take precedence over the tasks that do not have time pressure applied. For many of us, urgent tasks seem to be important, only because they are “immediate” in nature.

Although quadrant four contains tasks that are not urgent and important, many people tend to spend a lot of time in here too, as it can create the perception that you are being productive. In effect, spending time here results in work being done, for the sake of “doing work”. These tasks add no real value to your life.

Ask yourself – what, if you did it consistently over a sustained period of time, would dramatically improve your quality of life and help you accomplish your goals. After considering this question, you’ll likely identify that all these tasks reside in quadrant number 2 – the important and not-urgent area.

The second quadrant contains tasks that we all know should be done, but many of us never actually get around to doing (often because urgency distracts us from the important tasks). Exercise falls right into this category, because exercise doesn’t need to be done immediately – it can be done tomorrow, next week, next month or even next year. There is no “immediate” consequence of not doing exercise.

It is essential to spend as much as your time as possible in the second quadrant. Of course, first quadrant tasks must be completed immediately – but then quadrant two tasks should be attended to.

If you do not currently consider exercise to be in this second quadrant, I would strongly suggest reconsidering (you can read through this website extensively on the importance of regular exercise).

Prioritising exercise is essential in order to accomplish your goals. In order to find time to exercise, you need to place it right up the top of your priority list of “to-do” things. You need to identify that exercise is important, even though it is not urgent. Further, you need to eliminate the non-important and urgent tasks from your life, to free up more time to attend to the important things that need to be done.

One final thought. If you do not attend to second quadrant tasks, they can eventually move into the first quadrant. Exercise, for example, has the potential to become urgent as soon as your health begins to deteriorate and you are advised by a medical professional that exercise is necessary, immediately, as your life (and health) greatly depends on it. With such time pressure applied, it is much easier to “find time” to exercise. But the thing is, exercise is no more important in this circumstance – it is simply more urgent.

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Are you Time Poor? Cannot Make the Time to Exercise?

New video blog is up, in which I discuss prioritising your life and fitting in your exercise programme consistently. If you are time-poor and keep delaying exercise, this topic will be of great value to you. You can watch the video below (it’s broken up into 2 parts):

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Weight Loss – Calorie Deficits, The Calorie, Food and Exercise (Video Blog)

Within this new video blog, I discuss weight loss and how your energy balance (energy in versus energy out) affects the rate of weight loss.

Throughout the discussion we touch on topics such as:

• What is a calorie or a kilojoule?
• Calories in versus calories out
• Food energy density
• The three macronutrients and their energy composition.
• Forms of energy expenditure (or calories out)
• Cardiovascular training versus resistance training
• Tracking your weight loss progress

In later blogs we’ll be expanding this topic and getting a lot more specific about the area’s introduced in this discussion.

I hope you enjoy it!

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How to Record Exercise Results Objectively

Do you record your exercise results? Although there are a plethora of benefits associated with keeping a training journal, most people don’t bother. Without seeing figures indicating your strength, fitness and body composition, how can you possibly evaluate the results that you are obtaining from your training?

If you cannot accurately assess your training results, it is not possible to confidently determine how effective a training and/or dietary programme is.

Although we could discuss in detail the benefits of maintaining a training journal, this has already been discussed extensively within this blog. This article takes this discussion one step further by discussing the necessary approach to record your results in an objective manner.

Objectivity guarantees a measurable and more accurate method of assessing your progress. Almost any exercise can be measured and your job in recording your exercise results is to find a way to measure your performance.

Having said that, it is never possible to record your results in a completely objective manner. No matter what exercise you are performing, there are many variables that we cannot possibly account for – whether that be exercise technique, different machines, different terrain, temperature, stress, mindset, nutrition etc. Although these factors may affect your performance, it is still worth recording your results to remain goal orientated and to ensure progress toward your goals.

Measuring Weights Objectively

Measuring your weight training is so important to assess muscle, strength and endurance development. The most common form of objective resistance training recording is based on repetitions and weight lifted, for example:

x reps @ y kg

This is the most fundamental and universally accepted manner in which to record your weight lifting results. Of course, comparing results recorded in this manner assumes that the execution, equipment, exercise load and recover times remain fairly constant from week to week.

But what happens when you’re not using an arbitrary weight? If you consider the exercise, there is almost always a way to make it as objective as possible:

Pushups: Count the number of repetitions performed. If you’re unable to perform a full ranged pushup, use an object underneath you during the exercise to assess your distance from the ground. Record this height along with your repetitions.

Theraband standing rows (a Theraband is an elastic band used to for resistance): Measure the distance from the object to your body, along with your reps. The longer the distance, the greater the resistance.

Measuring Cardiovascular Exercise Objectively

If you’re chasing after a fitness goal, or just want to stay motivated with your cardiovascular exercise, recording your cardio results in an objective manner can be highly advantageous.

Your results are most easily recorded by noting down one (or a few) particular variables when using an exercise machine at the gym. For example:

1. If you’re running on the treadmill for 30 minutes, you may record your total distance score.
2. If you’re performing an interval training session on the bike, you may record your total calorie expenditure, or distance score as an indication of progress (assuming the levels remain consistent in between workouts).

This is fairly easy to adapt and can be very motivating when striving to set new personal best’s.

But what happens when you don’t have access to gym equipment?

A common scenario is when you’re going for a run – how do you compare your performance? Again, you need to minimize the number of variables. So, if you are able to maintain the same running track, focus on reducing the time taken to complete that circuit.

It is important not to rely on your heart rate monitor’s calorie expenditure to gauge the effectiveness of a workout. The calorie score provided here is calculated as a result of your heart rate. Because your heart rate can be affected by a number of factors apart from your exercise intensity (stress, sleep, nutrition, time of day etc.), the calorie total will not be an accurate figure to assess performance.

So the key concept is to isolate one variable and use it to measure your measure progress. This can be applied almost universally and will serve you well when evaluating the effectiveness of a training approach.

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The Best Type of Cardio Exercise for Weight Loss

Although weight loss is not exclusively affected by cardio exercise alone (weights, dieting, sleep etc. will also affect weight loss), this form of exercise can have a profound effect on shedding the extra kilo’s.

Cardiovascular exercise has the unique ability to raise the heart rate substantially and increase the energy expenditure of your body for a period of time during your workout. It can also induce additional calorie expenditure after your workout has completed. Furthermore, cardiovascular exercise has the ability to improve your level of fitness, so in subsequent workouts you can expend even more energy within a given period of time.

But when it comes down to the different formats of cardiovascular exercise, what is the best type of cardio for weight loss?

If we were to consider the science exclusively, interval training has been demonstrated to result in significantly more fat oxidation (or fat loss) as compared to steady state cardiovascular exercise (or maintaining the same level of intensity for a prolonged period of time). A classic example of this was in a classic 1994 study lead by Angelo Tremblay, where it was demonstrated that a high intensity interval training cardio workout was far more effective at breaking down fat tissue, relative to an endurance based exercise group. In fact, the interval training group only exercised for a quarter of the time that the endurance group exercised at and managed to lose nine times more fat weight!

We have written a comprehensive article on this topic and if you would like to find out more about this 1994 study, please read “The Fat Burning Zone”.

Science has shown time and time again that interval training is significantly more effective for weight loss as compared to steady state exercise. Does this necessarily mean that interval training is the best cardio for weight loss?

Certainly not!

No, I am not dismissing the very conclusive science that has been conducted in this field. I whole-heartedly agree that interval training is a highly effective approach for fat oxidation. That being said, an even more important consideration is how consistently you undertake the cardiovascular exercise.

Interval training, while extremely rewarding, is physically and mentally demanding. It requires 100% effort and as such can be extremely discouraging to anyone who doesn’t particularly enjoy exercise. Interval training will only be effective if it is completed on a regular basis – as the cumulative effect of multiple cardio workouts is what results in significant amounts of weight loss. If you thrive on a challenge, then this may be for you. If however you cannot sustain a consistent approach with such a full-on exercise format, then it may be far more effective to undertake a lower intensity training regime.

Another major consideration is your fitness. If you are particularly unfit, or have minimal recent exercise experience, it is unwise to initiate training with a high intensity approach. This can place far too much physical strain on your body, resulting in a lowering of the immune system and an excessive amount of fatigue following your training session. Doing “too much” can be quite counterproductive, so it is important how capable your body is of handling the physical workload that you wish to subject it to.

When it comes down to the best cardio for weight loss, you need to be smart and be consistent. Sporadic workouts are not going to yield fantastic results. Doing too much (or too little) is also not going to result in an optimal degree of weight loss.

Begin with a moderate approach if you do have limited exercise experience and then gradually increase the intensity as your fitness improves. A gradual approach is generally more effective in regards to sustainability and thus long-term and significant weight loss.

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