Aerobic Cardio Fitness & Fat Loss

If done correctly, aerobic training can serve as a great way to accelerate the fat burning process. It’s important to note that this only serves as fact as long as the aerobic exercise isn’t overdone and is paired with an effective weight-training program. Aerobic exercise can never replace weight training, as it doesn’t re-shape your body or work to permanently increase your metabolism.

To make the most of aerobic exercise, it must be done within the “fat burning zone.” This is the zone at which your specific body is performing hard enough to make it burn fat. You can calculate this yourself by taking your age times .75 and then subtracting this number from 220. This number represents what your pulse must be in order to get into this zone.

There are times when performing aerobic activity is more effective. There are really only two times when performing aerobic exercise is effective in burning fat. The first of these is when aerobic activity is done in the morning before eating breakfast. Be sure to drink water before doing so, in order to prevent dehydration. Science has shown that performing aerobic exercise at this time, you burn 300% more body fat than at any other time of the day. This is the case because your body does not yet have any stored carbs to burn. Therefore, your body must immediately rely on fat, as its fueling source.

The other ideal time to do aerobic exercise for max fat burning benefits is right after you perform a weight training session. The body takes between 20-30 minutes before it begins burning fat, therefore doing your weight training session first will burn off the glycogen (carbs) in your body and by the time you’re set for your aerobic training session, your body will be better prepared to burn fat.