Cardio
If you’ve been following so far you know that nutrition is the biggest component to all training programs and that strength training is a close second (because muscle mass burns calories all day long).
REGULAR cardio training improves your overall fitness level, reduces your chances for lifestyle related diseases (obesity), increases energy levels and helps reduce stress levels. This is all done by supplying the body with oxygen!
Cardio or Aerobic training is done with oxygen. This means that the exercise allows the body to use oxygen to perform the work. It is oxygen that burns the fat! Therefore if you are training at too intense of a level and are no longer training with oxygen the amount of fat burned is less. That does not mean to train at such a low intensity so as to not even break a sweat. In order to challenge the cardiovascular systems you must work harder than what you can already easily do, just as in strength training—you must challenge the muscle, but in this case the muscles are the heart and lungs!
In order to make your cardio effective these 3 components must be present; Frequency, Intensity, and Time (FIT).
Frequency: 3-5 times per week
Intensity: not too easy and not too hard!
Time-: 20-30 minutes at the correct intensity level (any longer and you start experiencing the laws of diminishing returns). And if you can’t hit 20 minutes the first time out, don’t sweat it, just do what you can and eventually you will get there! DO WHAT YOU CAN!
And don’t forget to cool down, this is the time to let your heart rate come down gradually and lets the blood flow from your extremities back to your heart, if you stop too suddenly you could pass out from not enough blood in the brain! Move slower for about 5 minutes.