The main goal of most people’s fitness is to simply lose weight. Many people today are overweight, and it’s almost always due to the amount of fat they keep on them. There are plenty of options out there that you can use in order to fight fat and get yourself back to looking thin, but the most common one is certainly cardio.
In just about any gym you go into, you’ll find that they have rows and rows of cardio equipment. Whether it be treadmills, ellipticals, stair climbers, or anything else, they’ll have cardio machines there because they’re in high demand.
Running and other forms of cardio are fantastic both for burning off fat and making your heart healthier and more efficient. The reason it’s called cardio is that it’s a shortened version of the term “cardiovascular,” meaning something related to the heart.
Your cardiovascular health is your heart health, for example. When you run and do cardio, your heart rate goes up, and practicing that with consistency over a period of time means that your heart will continue to get stronger and stronger, with increased blood flow and an overall healthier body.
Cardio helps you fight fat by using up stored sources of energy to keep you going as you get tired. Your body uses two different things for energy. First, it uses carbohydrates, or carbs for short.
This is the most baseline energy source for your body because it’s the most efficient. However, your body will also use fat, because fat is there to act as storage for energy in the event that it’s needed later down the line.
In order to get the best results out of using cardio for fat burn, you should combine it with a lower-carb diet. This means that your body will have to go through less carbs and will start using fat as fuel sooner, making the time between starting cardio and fat burn shorter than it would be on a normal diet.
There are tons of ways to get cardio in, whether it be in a very formal fashion or one that’s more enjoyable. Many people stick with treadmills or exercise bikes, but there are so many other good options.
You can go hiking, go on long walks if the weather is nice, swim at an indoor pool, and so much more. No matter what you like to do, there’s going to be a form of cardio out there for you.
