Cardio, Cardio, Cardio!!

I get asked all the time what is the best way to do cardio (cardiovascular exercise).  Well it really depends on what your doing cardio for; to burn fat and lose weight, or to improve your cardiovascular system.  The level of intensity you do your cardio at will determine what type of cardio you are doing.

Heart Healthy Zone; Your at 50-60 percent of your maximum heart rate.  You burn calories, lower cholesterol, and blood pressure.  This is the easiest zone, pretty much just walking.

Fat Burning; This is when your at 60-70 percent of your maximum heart rate.  You burn tons of calories at this zone and 85% of those calories are fat so this is your fat burning zone.

Aerobic; This is when your at 70-80 percent of your maximum heart rate. This zone improves your cardiovascular and respitory system and makes your heart bigger and stronger.  Fifty percent of the calories burned at this zone are fat.

Anaerobic; Your at 80-90 percent of your maximum heart rate in this zone. You'll improve your VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen you can consume during exercise) and improve you lactate tolerance which means you'll fight fatigue better.

So now you just need to know your maximum heart rate to be able to determine your cardio zones.  You can go to a gym and do a treadmill stress test with a professional for the most accurate test. You can also subtract your age from 220 (for men) or 226 (for women) to determine you max heart rate. Then you multiply your MHR by the percentage of the training zone you chose.  You can buy a heart rate monitor to see where your heart rate is at.  You can also feel for your pulse but thats kind of difficult when your on a treadmill.

For people wanting to lose weight the easiest thing is to make sure you can hold a conversation while doing cardio.  You should be breathing hard but able to talk to someone.  This is the best way to make sure your in the Fat Burning Zone and not straying into the Aerobic Zone.

The best times to do cardio are first thing in the morning on an empty stomach so your body will burn your fat, not the food you just digested.  When I do morning cardio I lose crazy amounts of weight pretty quickly. The next best time is right after lifting weights.  When you lift weights you muscles burn your glycogen stores (sugar) so doing cardio afterwards makes your body have to burn through fat.
In my opinion you should do cardio for 45 minutes if you want to lose weight the reason for this is that your body takes 20 minutes of cardio before it starts burning fat. To lose weight I suggest doing cardio no less than 3 days a week but no more than 6.  Now my disclaimer, I am not a doctor so remember to consult your doctor before starting any exercise program.