The Best Cardio for a Fat Free Life
2 min read
Studies have shown that exercising for at least 30 minutes 5 days a week produces the most beneficial results. The thing is, that exercise can cover a huge range of activities provided that your heart rate is raised to a suitable level for your age and remains at that level for the majority of the exercise period.
So What Sort Of Cardio Exercise Should I Do?
This is the fun part – almost anything provided it is safe and follows the criteria for raising your heart rate. I like to mix it up, one day alternating fast walking with jogging in the park, another attending a folk dance class and so on. The simplest routine is one that is also highly effective – just going for a power walk, arms pumping at sufficient pace will provide a low impact route to stripping excess fat from your body. It’s crucial to keep boredom at bay and to constantly push yourself just that little bit more. For these reasons, I advocate a class or new hobby that is both physical and fun. Some ideas include:
Tennis
Cycling
Soccer
Volleyball
Hiking
Dancing of all types
Boxing
Canoeing
Rowing
Skiing
Water-skiing
Wind-surfing
Surfing
The possibilities are literally endless and half the joy comes from mastering a new skill which, in turn, boosts your new found confidence. Ideally, you would split your exercise routine into four or five sessions with one or two devoted to your new hobby or sport per week. Create a fitness plan for 4 weeks of exercise in a journal. That’s roughly how long it takes for our bodies to truly absorb and begin to feel the benefit of healthy new habits.
Create a comments section to record your observations on how your exercise session went. It’s here that you can really work on upping your motivation by praising yourself where necessary and by paying close attention to how YOU felt about your session.
Was it fun? Easier than last time? A little more than you expected? Note it all down and you’ll start to see how you progress over the coming weeks. You can also create a space to suggest modifications for yourself or even just to write down which particular exercises really worked for you.
Remember, this is all about taking responsibility for your own body and the more you do this the stronger your motivation will be to do the right thing for yourself.
