I’ve had enough of all the theoretical stuff! Here’s an article from my newfound friend Jessica over at http://www.visfitness.com .
Enjoy it!
Get results from your cardio workout by following these simple tips. Burst through your cardio fat loss plateau and eradicate boredom from your routine
Cardiovascular exercise is a vital part of any good fitness program. By doing cardio, you to keep your heart & lungs healthy, reduce stress, improve circulation, burn fat, increase your metabolism, and more. The benefits of cardio are well documented in scientific journals, often recommended by physicians, and always talked about in reference to any exercise program. There’s no question as to the importance of cardio in living fit and staying healthy for life.
Every person wants to be as healthy as possible, but we also want to look our best as well. In addition to the health benefits cardio provides, it’s also important to realize that cardio is an important tool in helping you look great and feel empowered. If you use cardio correctly in your exercise program, you can increase your metabolic rate and burn more overall calories. Here are a few of the secret techniques I use when doing cardio.
1) Choose a weight bearing exercise.
Choosing a weight bearing method of exercise is a great way to ramp up the calories burned during your workout. If you accustomed to using a recumbent or stationary bike (sorry spinning lovers) for cardio, consider switching to a treadmill, elliptical, or stair climbing machine. Using a weight bearing method of cardio increases the caloric demand placed on your body during exercise because your body is no longer being supported by the machine (in this example, a bike seat). All the work is now being done by your own bones & muscles. Making this simple change should increase your calories burned by about double.
2) Interval training.
Interval training is an excellent variation to add to your exercise routine. Instead of doing long hours of boring cardio each day, use all the buttons and gadgets on your cardio machine to increase the intensity for a few minutes at a time (you can also achieve this outside). By increasing the intensity (speed, incline, resistance), you’ll be placing increased demand on your body. The increase in demand will challenge your heart and lungs and cause all sorts of adaptive changes to occur after your workout. The great thing about interval training is that you can potentially burn more calories after your workout while your body adapts to the new, higher intensity exercises you’ve done.
3) Good Form.
Another very important part of cardio is performing all your exercises with good form. Good form includes both perfect posture and using the right muscles to do the exercise you’ve chosen to do. Perfect posture while exercising will support you in developing a balanced body, free of muscle imbalances that can lead to injury. Use perfect posture by keeping your shoulders back, chin up, and abs slightly tightened. By using perfect posture, you’ll naturally use the right muscle groups to perform the exercise. Another important tip for using good form to benefit from your time spent doing cardio is to keep your hands on your hips or at your sides swinging (similar to a natural walking motion). The handles on cardio equipment should be used for balance and stability only, and your goal should be to place as little of your body weight on the handles as possible. Leaning on the machine or hanging on with a death grip pulls you out of your perfect posture and decreases the weight bearing load (caloric demand) to your body.
Jessica Dawn is a leader in teaching health & fitness through the
internet. You can also visit her blog @ www.visfitness.blogspot.com and
learn proven strategies to make your fitness program effective. To receive
a free 5 day fitness e-Course, visit: www.visfitness.com
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