The Fat Inferno Cardio Program
by Olesya Novik
Have you ever stopped to wonder whether the cardio you're currently doing (or maybe not
doing) is maximizing your fat burning efficacy? Have you stalled out
and crash landed that elliptical or bike right back into the garage? Maybe
there's a better way to lose those unwanted pounds, one that will have
you melting that fat away before the end of summer arrives. Let's
get together and cook you up a new cardio routine; a perfect fat
burning recipe that will keep you on the right track, focused, and
looking forward to your next cardio workout. We
all seem to put so much emphasis and energy into our diets and workout
plans, yet we neglect to do the same with our cardio routines. This is
somewhat understandable as we all have hectic lives; whether we're
professionals in an office, busy at home with kids, or even work in the
fitness industry, it can be extremely difficult to give enough
consideration to our cardio routine. Cardiovascular activity
seems to end up last on our "fitness check list," with diet and
training being at the top. What many of us fail to realize however, is
that some type of aerobic exercise is not only important for helping to
rid the body of unwanted adipose tissue, but also to keep our most
significant muscle healthy — our heart. It's recommended by
doctors and fitness professionals alike that we all perform at least 30
minutes of aerobic exercise each day. If you have plans to step on
stage as a Figure, Fitness or Bodybuilding competitor, one day cardio
will become your best friend. How can each of us manage to
squeeze this necessity into an already busy day? How can we get away
with performing only the bare minimum amount of cardiovascular activity
while still reaping all of its benefits? The key lies in
using our time wisely, constructing a well-organized cardio routine,
and maximizing its effectiveness. We need to devise a plan that lets us
get the most benefits in the least amount of time; create a routine
focusing on simplicity, and remember to use variety to maintain our
interest, keep our minds and bodies guessing, and most of all see
results! The program outlined in this article follows each of
the above guidelines. It consists of just three cardio sessions a week,
emphasizing the quality of each session over the quantity of your
aerobic activity. The routine outlined below is comprised of
Interval training (IT), Fast Paced (FP), and Continuous Low Intensity
(CLI). It's a good idea to add 4-5 minutes to the beginning and end of
each cardio workout to warm up and cool down, particularly important
for the IT and FP cardio days.

Sample Cardio Program 1
Monday — Interval Training — perform 8 to 10 fast 45-second intervals with 1-minute recovery periods in between.
Wednesday — Fast Paced — perform 20 minutes of continuous activity at 75-80% of your heart rate max.
Friday — Continuous Low Intensity — perform 50 minutes of continuous cardio at 60-70% of your heart rate max. Each
type of cardio included in the above plan plays its part in making this
program effective for blasting away stubborn fat while keeping your
cardiovascular system in shape. Let's dissect the routine into parts to
better understand each of the cardio types mentioned along with my
reasons for incorporating them into the program.

Fat Melting Cardio Type 1: Interval Training (IT) Interval
training was born in the 1960's, when a renowned exercise physiologist
by the name of Per-Olaf Astrand revealed this method of aerobic
training by publishing the results of his cardiovascular training
experiments in a book entitled "Textbook of Work Physiology."
Since that time, interval training has been developed and used
religiously, gradually becoming the basic principle incorporated in
some fashion into every endurance athlete's training routine. Astrand
discovered that introducing several short spurts of all out effort
throughout an otherwise more modest aerobic workout can tremendously
aid in improving cardiovascular capacity. While this is not the same as
the customary anaerobic workout in a gym — a series of maximum efforts
with rest taken in between to recover from muscular exhaustion,
interval workouts do increase anaerobic capacity. This
benefit results from the fact that short maximum effort interval
workouts not only increase the volume at which the heart pumps blood
and the rate at which oxygen is consumed, but also calls upon anaerobic
metabolic pathways that have the capacity to provide ATP energy
immediately. Additionally, these brief bursts of short
intense max effort activity recruit Type II muscle fibers (otherwise
known as fast twitch or fast oxidative fibers). By doing so, intervals
compliment any muscle building and strength training workouts you may
be performing. My personal favorite benefit of interval
training is its effect on metabolism. IT workouts will keep your
metabolism elevated for hours after the cardio workout has ended, thus
fueling that "furnace" of yours and causing it to burn up calories
while you're sitting around on the La-Z-Boy recliner with your cell
phone glued to your ear. I recommend performing IT cardio
workouts on an exercise bike, stepper, elliptical machine, or
treadmill. You can even go walking or jogging outside and interlace
bursts of full out sprints every so often during the session. There
is a number of ways to perform interval cycles; I personally like to do
10 repetitions of fast sprinting, cycling or stepping for 45 seconds
with a 1 minute rest period in between each all-out sprint. You may
vary the time of each work period, the intensity level, the time of
each rest period and the number of repetitions; however, I strongly
recommend the total time spent on IT be no longer than 15-18 minutes.

Fat Melting Cardio Type 2: Fast Paced (FP) Fast
paced cardio workouts consist of those done on any piece of cardio
equipment you choose, performed at the highest level of intensity you
can maintain for 15-20 minutes. FP workout intensity is determined by a
percentage of your maximum heart rate. An easy way to
determine your maximum heart rate is to subtract your age from the
number 220. The resulting number is your max heart rate. If
you consider yourself to be an extremely physically fit endurance
athlete, you would perform your fast paced cardio workouts at a
continuous 75-80% of your heart rate max. If you're admittedly one of
the "aerobically challenged" types, I recommend utilizing a target
range of 65-75% of your heart rate max for the duration of your
workout. Just starting out? Stick to 60-65% as a target range
before adjusting upward as you become able to sustain the exercise
intensity. These heart rate percentage targets correspond to
your body's individual anaerobic or lactate threshold. Commonly, this
is when the rate of lactate production exceeds the rate of uptake.
Lactic acid gathers, building up the blood volume and consequently
leading to the onset of blood lactate accumulation. One
important factor to note is that even though your body uses both
carbohydrates and fats for energy during exercise, it does so in an
inverse relationship. As your heart rate approaches that of your
lactate threshold, the use of fats for energy decreases while the use
of carbohydrates for energy increases. By performing this
type of cardio, we're attempting to not only burn body fat, but to also
increase aerobic efficiency. While performing cardio at max aerobic
levels, you'll burn more total calories than you would if you were to
exercise at a lower intensity for that same period of time. Your basic
goal here is to turn your body into not just a "furnace," but a calorie
burning inferno for the duration of the exercise session. Fast
paced cardio may be done in a single, continuous session, or broken up
into a few sessions through the day. Perform 5-7 repetitions of 5
minutes at your target heart rate with 1 minute of rest between sets. Are you a running enthusiast? This type of cardio is bound to be a favorite! Hate running? Just use a stationary bike, stepper, or an elliptical trainer.

Fat Melting Cardio Type 3: Continuous Low Intensity (CLI) This
is my personal favorite of the three cardio types, yet most of my
clients find it the least pleasant. Whether you enjoy it or not,
continuous low intensity cardio will strip any seemingly unyielding
adipose tissue faster than green grass through a goose. As
the name implies, CLI cardio is performed at a low intensity for a
long, continuous amount of time. This is a simple, straight forward,
but probably the most difficult workout to get through due to the sheer
monotony of it. You can walk, jog, bike, swim, or use any
type of cardio equipment to perform CLI cardio. Be sure to find a
cardio activity you truly enjoy doing, as you will spend anywhere from
45 to 75 minutes performing your chosen form of cardio in a continuous,
low intensity manner. Please remember to maintain a target
heart rate of 55-65% for maximum efficacy of this cardio type. We're
after total fat annihilation with this type of cardio, not so much its
cardiovascular benefits. This makes it necessary to maintain a low
target heart rate range ensuring that we stay in the fat burning zone. Continuous
low intensity long duration cardio will improve your muscles' ability
to store and preserve carbohydrates, relying exclusively on adipose
tissue as fuel for your cardio workout. CLI is the longest of all cardio types you will perform. Below
is an additional sample cardio workout utilizing the principles
discussed. Alternating these workouts each week would be a great way to
prevent boredom while maintaining the benefits of the program.

Sample Cardio Program 2:
Monday — Interval Training — perform 5 to 7 fast 1-minute intervals with 45-second recovery periods in between.
Wednesday
— Fast Paced — perform 3 repetitions of 10 minutes of cardio at 75-80%
of your heart rate max, resting 1 minute in between.
Friday — Continuous Low Intensity — perform 70 minutes of continuous cardio at 60-70% of your heart rate max. Please
remember that while performing medium to higher intensity cardio will
result in fantastic fat loss, you may experience simultaneous muscle
loss. To minimize any possibility of burning your lean body mass, be
sure to keep your protein consumption high and your diet dialed in
correctly. Utilizing BCAA's and high quality protein powder will be of
immense help when it comes to preserving that hard-earned muscle of
yours. While this cardio program maximizes your time and effort
in the gym, it is by no means the only way (nor the best) way to
annihilate fat and improve your cardiovascular fitness. Please remember
to vary your training routines once they begin to feel stale and
unexciting — cardio workouts included! If you are high on
enthusiasm, ready and dedicated to reach your goals, but can't seem to
find the time for daily cardio, this routine is perfect for you! All
this plan requires from you is 3 days a week, your blood, sweat and
tears... well maybe not your blood, but definitely some sweat, and
those tears will be tears of joy after seeing some amazing results.
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