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Saturday, April 07, 2007

Cardio for Weight Loss or Not!

I have just read an article by a very interesting fitness professional that is known to be "anti cardio" and has his own belief that were very interesting to me. Let me tell you his point of the argument.

This fitness buff hates cardio and can not remember the last time he has ran on a treadmill, jump roped or biked. Cardio training just was not for him but that doesn't mean he didn't work his butt off at the gym.

What is Cardio for Weight Loss?

Most people view cardio as endlessly jogging on the treadmill, feeling the burn on the bike, and pumping your way on the elliptical glider but he calls this "traditional cardio."

No wonder people get tired of there workouts and give up a couple months after starting."

But when you really define what cardio is you find out that it is any exercise or activity that strengthens the cardiovascular system. A simple way to look at it is if your heart starts pumping faster and you beginning to breath harder because of the exercise difficulties than it's cardio.

Weight training can be as good or even better training for conditioning your heart than any treadmill or bike.

Some great examples of exercises are going from a dumbbell so-called clean & press to a shoulder press and back down. This can be done with heavy weight or can even be done with light weight for women scared of gaining an muscle and just want to lean, tone, and achieve weight loss.

Many people disreguard barbells from being anything besides weight training and stregth exercise but this fitness professional uses when for his weight training, cardio, and flexibility.

If you challenge yourself enough doing reps of 10-15 your heart rate is most likely around 80-90% of VO2 max. This is just like spiriting short distances as your exerting a huge amount of energy for one exercise and this is the best way to burn fat and achieve weight loss.

Try the same thing in a set of 20 reps doing a one-arm snatch or swing with each arm having a dumbbell. Your legs will be burning and your heart rate will be racing just like spiriting. Want to take it to the next level, try doing 5 minutes of straight bodyweight squats, lunges, and push-ups with very little rest in between. Your heart rate will be pounding faster than it has ever done before.

These weight training methods are fulfilling your cardio and strength training needs at the same time turning you into a leaner and healthier you.

I challenge you to give it a shot as it am using his methods and feel great so far so lets see if the results are what we were told.

For more information on weight loss, nutrition, and exercise visit top weight loss site for the leading information online.
Have a great day and God bless!

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