The dreaded cardio. Yes, it can be a pain in the rear end many times. Do you know the most important muscle in your body? If you said biceps gym bro, then… well, I actually don’t know what then.  I guess you can go flex in a corner. Anyways, it’s your heart! If your heart isn’t beating, you’re dead! Being not dead is a good thing (no, that’s not debatable). That being said, you should work on your cardiovascular endurance whether you are trying to lose weight or not.

What’s the best form of cardio?

Now which cardio is the best? Well, it’s honestly up to you. Do what you like. If you like walking on a treadmill, do that. If you like the elliptical, do that. If you like walking outside and are able to do that, then do that. If you like basketball, play basketball. If you like going to the park and scraping up doggy doo-doo, do that. You get the idea. Do the form of cardio that YOU ENJOY THE MOST. If you despise all forms of cardio, do the one you hate the least. Just make it somewhat challenging. I’ve lost weight through many different forms of cardio. I’ve used an elliptical, I’ve jogged outside and I’ve walked on a treadmill. Right now, I’m doing a combination of treadmill and elliptical. I’m honestly just trying to maintain my weight for now though.

For my treadmill, I put it on the settings as follows:

• Speed: 3 miles/hour
• Incline: 13

When I do the elliptical, I try to do around 10 resistance. I attempt to get a total of 150 minutes of cardio a week. I lift 6 days a week (no you don’t have to lift 6 days a week, 2-3 days a week is fine. We’ll discuss lifting in a later blog), so I do at least 10 minutes before every workout. Then on the 7^th days, I do 60 minutes. That leaves 30 minutes, I scatter this wherever I can fit this into the week. You can split it up however you like.

How much cardio?

Now you shouldn’t just start doing tons of cardio every day, you don’t want to put your body in a crazy caloric deficit right off the bat. Maybe start off with 30-60 minutes dispersed throughout the week or do it all in a single day, whatever doesn’t make you drop a log in your pants. Whatever is realistic for you and your time constraints. Also, it does NOT have to be high intensity interval training (HIIT) cardio. I’ve used HIIT cardio to lose weight, but prefer moderate intensity cardio. If you enjoy HIIT, do HIIT. It might burn a few more calories when being performed, but you’re fine doing moderate intensity cardio. As for increasing cardio, potentially increase by 20-30 minutes over the course of a week, every week or two. Or even less if that’s too much for you. This approach is all about taking it super slow so you don’t feel overwhelmed. If you’re increasing cardio for the week, potentially don’t decrease calories that week as well just not to increase your deficit by too much. Or use a small combination of both, whatever works for you. There are no right or wrong answers.

Cardio Timing

A few things to touch on, timing of your cardio. A lot of people talk about fasted cardio. Is this a requirement to lose fat? No, it’s not. You just need to be in a caloric deficit at the end of the day (or even the end of the week, month or even year if you want to look at it like that). If you feel like you need energy while performing cardio, you can eat something prior. Don’t overcomplicate it. You’ll find people online saying it’s better, it’s really not. “But..but I watched all these professional body builders online who do cardio first thing in the morning”, ok big guy. Do that then. Maybe when you’re on an elite level like that, it might make a difference. You’re just trying to lose weight, probably not trying to win a bodybuilding competition. Keep things simple and get in the gym or wherever and get the work done. Now for cardio before or after lifting weights. As I mentioned, I do 10 minutes of cardio before my lifting to warmup. Now, if you plan do extended periods of cardio, do it after your liftings session if you’ll be lifting. Otherwise, you’ll be depleted while trying to lift.

As a side note, those calories burnt trackers on the machines at the gym most likely aren’t accurate. N….Nannniii??? I know, right? It’s ok, they should be give you a rough estimate though. Just try to use the same machines as much as possible.

As long as you stay consistent and challenge yourself, you’ll be on the way to losing weight. You don’t have to just keep decreasing your calories, cardio is a great way to help put you in more of a caloric deficit as well. By the end of your diet, you might be doing a lot of cardio, but you don’t want to start off like that.

Key Points

1. Cardio is important for you heart.
2. The best form of cardio is the one you enjoy the most
3. Take it slow, start off with 20-30 minutes as week. Then increase by 20 to 30 minutes of total cardio per week every week or two. Or just as needed
4. You don’t have to do fasted cardio. Do cardio when you can. You can split it up however you’d like
5. Prolonged cardio (more than 10 minutes) or really intense cardio, should be ideally performed after weightlifting

Disclaimer: I’m not your doctor. Please consult your doctor, nutritionist or any health care professional before making any changes in your own lifestyle. These blogs are just me sharing my knowledge for you reading entertainment purpose only. None of this is medical advice.

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