Why Track Cardio to Burn Fat?
It takes intensity in EVERYTHING you do to lose weight and burn fat. You need to journal with intensity, strength train with intensity, eat with focused intensity, and do your cardio with MAD INTENSITY. The key word: INTENSITY.
A concept I have recently adopted in my strength sessions is beating my workout logs. I am doing a form of training that requires you to choose certain exercises for each muscle group that repeats itself every two weeks. Each time you repeat this strength session you must beat your past session by either reps or weight. This forces you to continually work harder every session than you did previously. If you fail to go harder it means it's time to change out that routine because you have plateued.
I think the same principle can apply in your cardio routines. Too many times we pick a routine for cardio we like and stick to it even when it is not improving our fitness, burning calories efficiently, and busting through fat. For example, lots of women love their ellipticals because at first it was a tough routine. Now they slug away 60 min. six days a week working the same way and wondering why they have quit losing weight. Plateau time baby, that's why, and these same women will just keep doing this routine hoping that one day their body will respond.
Switching your cardio around is important but it's not always enough. You also need to make sure you are working at peak intensity levels for those HIIT and interval routines. To do this, I would encourage you to do what I have started:
1. Arrange your week to where you aren't doing the same routine more than twice. I don't repeat at all but for those who do videos you might have to do a video twice.
2. Choose routines that make you work hard and out of your comfort zone.
3. Track your cardio workouts. Use my free cardio training log (look under cardio, cardio log.doc) to keep track of your workouts. The next time you repeat a cardio routine, check your previous session and stretch yourself a tad to beat it. Either go a little longer, a little further, a little faster, etc. For example, if you do the stairmaster and the last time you did your interval routine you climbed 87 floors in 20 minutes. This week you might shoot for 88 or 90 floors in 20 minutes. Change anything you like in your routines: JUST MAKE THEM TOUGHER EACH TIME. When you can't make it tougher, time to do a new version of your routine.
4. Get creative. One of the best ways for your cardio sessions to be productive is to do new things. Get on and off those machines. Don't limit yourself to just using the treadmill like everyone else.
I leave you today with the cardio routine as an example of how to mix things up. This is simple and easy but will give you a good treadmill workout that will sculpt your legs and make you work hard. I have also included this in my Work Your Butt Off book for all the PNP girls. When we download the Febraury version it will be in there for your cardio pleasure. :) Remember, the cardio book is free to all members of PNP! Woot woot!
Pop Squat Booty Shaper
Time Direction Incline Speed
|
Time |
Action |
Incline |
MPH |
| 0-5 |
Warm up Walk |
5 |
3.2 |
| 5-5:45 |
Pop Squats |
OFF |
OFF |
| 6 |
Backwards Walk |
5 |
2.5-3.5 |
| 7 |
Forward Walk |
6 |
SAME |
| 8 |
Pop Squats |
OFF |
OFF |
| 9 |
Backwards Walk |
6 |
2.5-3.5 |
| 10 |
Forward Walk |
7 |
SAME |
| 11 |
Pop Squats |
OFF |
OFF |
| 12 |
Backwards Walk |
7 |
2.5-3.5 |
| 13 |
Forward Walk |
8 |
2.5-3.5 |
| 14 |
Pop Squats |
OFF |
OFF |
| 15 |
Backwards Walk |
8 |
2.3-3.5 |
| 16 |
Forward Walk |
9 |
2.5-3.5 |
| 17 |
HOP Squats |
OFF |
OFF |
| 18 |
Backwards Walk |
9 |
2.5-3.5 |
| 19 |
Forward Walk |
10 |
2.5-3.5 |
| 20 |
HOP Squats |
OFF |
OFF |
| 21 |
Backwards Walk |
10 |
2.5-3.5 |
| 22 |
Forward Walk |
10 |
2.5-3.5 |
| 23 |
DUCK WALK |
10 |
2.5-2.8 |
| 24 |
Forward Walk |
5 |
2.5-3.5 |
| 25 |
DUCK WALK |
|
2.5-2.8 |
| 26-30 |
Cooldown |
3 |
3.5-3.0 |
Each time you pop squat, go for 45 seconds to have plenty of time to get back on TM (or machine of choice) and set up for backwards walk. You can walk backwards anywhere in the range but choose a speed that’s challenging and doesn’t require you to change too much throughout the program. Forward walking is your recovery time. Be sure to walk at the same speed as your backwards walk so that you have the energy to make it through all the pop squats. Hop squats mean you stay low during the whole move. You can go back to pop squats if your legs begin to give out. For the duck walks on treadmill you can hold onto the front or side rails and crouch walk. A duck walk just means getting low as you can and walking with long strides. Hold for balance until you don’t need to any longer.
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