The ongoing question everybody always asks..... what cardio should I be doing in order to burn the most fat?!
Well, first and foremost I must stress that the foundation of any routine to burn fat NEEDS to be strength training! We can't just perform a cardio routine every day with no load or resistance exercise and expect to burn fat! Now that we all understand that strength training needs to be number one, lets talk about the forms of cardio.
1) Long Form- Your typical gym enthusiast who just wants to "trim" or "lose weight" gets stuck on this method to accomplish their goal. Unfortunately, these people often find themselves disappointed because they're not losing the fat they want to..... why? - Have not found their foundation- your foundation is the mode of training that you base your whole routine around. This foundation is dedicated to pushing you towards your overall fitness goals - Not focusing on diet- if you don't monitor your diet and caloric intake, it doesn't matter how much you exercise because the poor nutrition to your body will lead to a lack in performance and no progression seen towards your fat loss - Doing cardio not built for their goals- long form cardio is for long distance runners / endurance athletes. For those who compete in runs, triathlons, marathons, etc this long form cardio would be great as the foundation, but for optimal fat loss we need strength training as the foundation!
2) HIIT (High Intense Interval Training)- THE ANSWER TO FAT LOSS Making sure your diet is on point and lifting weights are the best ways to burn fat..... but if we want maximum fat loss, we need to incorporate HIIT. HIIT combines short, but intense periods of exercises that require maximum effort to complete. There are so many types of workouts to incorporate into our HIIT routine: think sprinting, running uphill, and even high resistance on a stationary bike. This type of cardio is very effective because the foundation behind HIIT is strength training. The weight ligting can even be incorporated into the interval workout! From High Intense Interval Training gives you an insane metabolic boost, therefore burning a lot more calories than the traditional long form cardio. Since we're working at such an intense pace, your body will keep burning calories even after the workout.... and this can all be done in 15-30 minutes. If you incorporate this into your strength training program at least 3x per week, you will see a drastic change in your body fat within a matter of months
3) Then we move on to LISS (Low Intense Steady State cardio). LISS involves working at a low intensity and focuses on fat maintenance. This is often done in a fasted state and first thing in the morning. LISS provides an easy and less intense way to burn a few extra calories so you can be sure to keep that extra fat off without risking any gain in your muscles or compromising your recovery from the cardio workout. This can lead to aiding muscle recovery, helping you feel less sore and back to 100% quicker, and doesn't require a lot of effort, so leads to simple way to keep fat off if the body fat percentage you're at now is where you want to be.
So if we're looking to SHRED fat, stick to strength training with supplementary HIIT training! This will be the most effective way to burn the fat you are looking for. Now if you're at the body fat percentage that you're looking for, let's start performing LISS in the morning to make sure we stay at that preferred body fat percentage!
