Do you want to burn more fat during cardio?

Do you want to burn more fat during cardio? For most people, the answer is usually a big YES!

You have already committed to doing some exercise, so you might as well make sure that you get the most out of that time. Once you know how to optimise your time and body a bit better, it becomes a little bit easier to keep the motivation levels high around cardio.

It is that time of year again, the clocks have changed, the mornings are getting brighter, the nights shorter and the weather warmer. It is now that we really need to start thinking about getting serious with our health and fitness.

Sydney is such an active society and in order to make the most out of the warmer months, it is only fair that you give yourself the chance to be the fittest and healthiest that you could possibly be.

If you are going to exercise, you might as well get the most out of it.

Here are some easy tips to incorporate into your cardio sessions to burn more fat.

How To Burn More Fat In Cardio Tip #1 – Calorie deficit

Weight loss is a relatively simple process when you break it down to the fundamentals. It is just a matter of burning off more energy every day than you are consuming. If you are in a deficit then your body has to find a source of energy from the inside to balance out the equation. It uses the sugars stored in the fat cells, and if you continually use these stores, you will lose weight.

If you do some form of exercise for 45-60 minutes p/day and ensure that you are eating a nutritional plan that enables a calorie deficit, then you are automatically on the path to weight loss success!

How To Burn More Fat During Tip #2 – Cardio on an empty stomach

The best opportunity that you will have to burn fat is when there are no other sources of energy in the body readily available. If you eat something and exercise before the body has had a chance to process it, you will be burning what you have eaten. The best idea is to wait 2 hours after eating to do a cardio session, this allows the food to be processed, and for your body to get into the fat cells relatively quick.

Top tip: Do your cardio session first thing in the morning, this is because it is the longest that your body is likely to go without food, and it will allow for a much faster fat burn. Not to mention the added bonus of having more energy throughout the day!

How To burn More Fat During Cardio Tip #3 – Wait to eat after cardio

When you exercise, your body immediately starts burning energy as a result. What a lot of people do not realize is that your body will continue to burn energy after you have completed the session, often for up to 60 minutes. This is a great opportunity to squeeze a bit more of a fat burn, so try not to eat for 45 minutes after your workout.

Note: Try not to wait any longer than 45 minutes after a workout to eat otherwise your metabolism will start to drop. We want to keep it as high as possible to burn fat at the rate we want to lose weight!

How to burn more fat during Cardio tip #4 – Mix up the movements

Keeping the body guessing is always a fantastic way to shock it into weight loss. After a while it is very easy to get comfortable and in a routine, which means your body does the same. When your body has adapted to a certain movement/training plan, it gets harder to achieve results at the same pace. Always make sure that you are trying new cardio machines, different ways to get the heart rate up and incorporating new movements.

Top tip: Now that the sun is up longer throughout the day, why not start or finish the day with a nice run! If you are near the water, try a soft sand run. If you have not done it before, I can tell you that it will be a workout quite unlike anything else you have experienced.

how to burn more fat during cardio tip #5 – Mix up the formula

Similar to the above point, it is always good to mix up the way in which you are doing your cardio sessions. The longer you stick to the same formula, the higher the chance that your body will adapt to it.

Different ways that you could do a cardio session include:

• Interval Training
• Endurance Training
• Metabolic Circuit Training
• Long slow distance (LSD) Training
• Circuit TrainingFartlek Training

Tip: If you are unsure about what type of cardio training you should be doing, have a chat to your trainer, or if you don’t have a trainer, find one. They will be able to help you with all aspects of your program.

How to burn more fat during cardio tip #6 – After weights, do cardio

A crucial part of weight loss is always going to be a correctly prescribed weight-training program.

Weights are vital for your ability to grow and develop fresh muscle fibres. You want to aim for the muscle you already to function at a high rate, and to ensure that your metabolism is working at its optimal ability.

A great opportunity for fat burn occurs after a weights workout. Not only has your body used up available fuel for the weights workout, but it has also ensured that all the muscles are pumping at a high rate.

Doing cardio immediately after a weights workout means that you are going to be burning the energy in the fat cells almost immediately. Take advantage of this!

How to burn more fat during cardio tip #7 – Always warm up!

It is an age-old piece of knowledge, but also makes a huge amount of difference!

When you correctly warm up you are letting your body know that there is going to be some exercise coming its way. The muscles not only warm up, but the body starts releasing hormones in preparation for an increased energy output.

This means you are putting yourself in a great position for an extra fat burn as the body has prepared itself. You are also dramatically reducing the risk of injury at the same time, which is very important!

Top tip: The best way to know how long to warm-up for is to commit approx. 10% of your workout time. I.e if you are doing a 60-minute workout, the first 6 minutes should be for warming up.

The warmer weather is here, are you prepared to have the level of consistency required to get the result that you are after?

These are just a few hints and tips designed to help you get the most out of your cardio sessions and get a bit extra fat burn happening. It is very important to understand that at the end of the day, the most important impact on your results will come from the level and consistency that you have towards your goal.

As we always say, if you are consistently bad, you will get a bad result.

If you are consistently good, you will get a good result.

If you are consistently inconsistent, then you will never make any changes!