Cardio is any low-intensity activity that you can do for a long time. And doing cardio is a great way to burn fat.
The human body uses energy all the time. Even now, reading this article, you are wasting calories. Cardio (aerobic exercise) helps increase our energy expenditure. The best way to burn fat doing cardio is that it can be done for a long time. You are unlikely to squat with a barbell for 30-40 minutes. But light running, walking, ellipse are those types of loads that can be performed for a very long time. However, there are several common myths about cardio. We analyze the most famous.
Myth #1: Short cardio workouts are useless – fat only starts to “burn” after 40 minutes of activity
Perhaps the most common myth about cardio. During low-intensity aerobic training (walking, light running), slow (oxidative) muscle fibers work, and they, in turn, use fats as an energy source. In oxidative muscle fibers, mitochondria predominate, in which lactic acid is not formed and does not accumulate. If you run aerobically, you burn fat from the first minute of your workout.
Myth #2: Fat burning during cardio will increase if you do it on an empty stomach.
This myth has long been refuted by scientific research: scientists have not identified a violation of fat oxidation in connection with the use of carbohydrates before, during and after exercise. In other words, eating before a workout will not affect fat burning in any way.
For people who are gaining or trying to maintain muscle mass, doing cardio on an empty stomach can interfere with their goal: training on an empty stomach increases proteolysis (breakdown of protein tissue), which will lead to muscle loss.
Myth #3: The ideal heart rate for fat loss is 120 beats per minute. It needs to be trained
Pulse is an individual parameter. Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine the fat burning zone of each individual person without special testing. Try to listen to your body. If during a long cardio load (40–60 minutes) you easily keep up a conversation with a friend, then this is the same fat burning zone.
As soon as you feel that you do not have enough oxygen to maintain a dialogue, your breathing becomes deeper and more intense, most likely, glycogen, rather than a store of fat, began to serve as fuel for the energy supply of your muscle fibers.
It all depends on the training of the person. If you’ve avoided physical activity all your life, the best fat-burning workout for you is walking. For a more prepared person, an easy run is suitable.
As soon as our body turns on the next part of the muscle fibers – intermediate and glycolytic – the fuel for their energy supply will no longer be fats, but glycogen. This is because there are few mitochondria in glycolytic fibers and lactic acid is formed and accumulated during their work.
Myth #4: To lose weight, you need to reduce your calorie intake.
The choice is always yours. There are several studies on this topic that show that for the same calorie deficit, for example, if the first group of people creates a deficit of 300 kcal through diet alone, and the second through diet and exercise, the percentage of fat loss will be approximately the same, but the second group will increase physical fitness, increase insulin sensitivity, normalize blood pressure and improve cholesterol profile.
Myth #5: To lose weight, you need to walk or run every day.
Each person has his own work schedule, household issues, climatic conditions. Set aside 40-60 minutes 3-4 times a week at any time of the day. This will be enough to lose weight and improve running results.
But the main condition for losing weight is a calorie deficit. If you consume more calories than you expend, you will not lose weight. Many people think that if they start exercising, they can eat twice as much. Unfortunately, this is not so. There is a norm of calories – their amount needed by the body so as not to get better and not to lose weight. If your goal is to lose weight, you need to maintain a calorie deficit. A normal deficit would be 10-20% of your norm. A calorie surplus is essential if you want to gain weight.
That is, you must correctly calculate the number of calories that you spend on maintaining the vital functions of the body, household activity and physical activity, and consume as much as you need for your goals.