Top 7 Cardio Fat Burning Techniques

By Kelli Calabrese MS, CSCS
2004 Personal Trainer of the Year
For eDiets

If you have tried and failed at exercising more times than you care to count, you are not alone. In fact you are in the grand majority. I don't want you to feel bad or blame yourself. It's not your fault. You are not an exercise expert and the information can be very misleading. Past failures simply teach you more ways not to go about exercising.

The fitness pros at eDietscan show you how to combine exercise and nutrition to get the best results. This is what you’ve been looking for. You will need to make the commitment, but isn't it time to finally take care of you?

If you are left feeling confused, without hope and more desperate than ever, I'm here to share the secrets that work. These secrets are going to not only steer you clear of failing, but leave you in the best shape and health of your adult life -- when combined with one of the eDiets food plans.

The cardiovascular techniques will contribute to changing your shape and allow you to live longer, stronger, vibrant, energetic years. These are secrets that anyone can afford and can be a natural part of your lifestyle. These seven secrets have had proven themselves time and time again with the longest lasting effects.

As a 20-year fitness-industry leader who had transformed the bodies of thousands of people just like you, I can tell you with 100-percent guarantee that there is a way to improve your body. It’s not quick, it’s not easy and it does not work like magic! It takes work, patience, dedication and consistency, but it works every time.

7 Cardiovascular Techniques That Optimize Fat Burning
Variety is not only the spice of life, but the key to Fat Burning when it comes to cardiovascular conditioning. The following methods will help to motivate you to exercise, push you past a plateau and give you the most return for investment of time.

Here are the seven key cardiovascular fat-burning secrets:

1. Interval Training -- Interval training combines brief periods of high-intensity exercise interspersed with periods of lower-intensity exercise in the same workout. Intervals not only increase your cardiovascular efficiency, but burn more calories and fat in the process. Lower-intensity exercise such as walking allows for recovery so that you can work harder during the higher-intensity intervals.

For example, simply start by alternating between walking and running. Walk for five minutes to warm up, and then run one minute, followed by two minutes of walking. Repeat the running and walking sequence for the duration of your workout. As you become more conditioned, decrease the length of low-intensity recovery periods (walking) and increase working intervals (jogging or running). (Caution: If you are a new exerciser, vary your walking speeds for intervals before introducing running).

2. Cross Training -- Cross training combines a group of aerobic activities into one workout at steady or varying intensities. For example, take a 15-minute bicycle ride to the local track; walk or run for 15 minutes on the track; then bicycle home for 15 minutes. If you have access to exercise equipment, you might use the rowing machine for 15 minutes, then the stair climber for 15 minutes, followed by 15 minutes on the elliptical trainer. This is a perfect time to incorporate a new activity you have always wanted to try.

3. Periodization -- One example of periodization is to choose a different activity seasonally. For example, you may primarily swim in the summers, cycle in the fall, participate in a boot camp in the winter and hike in the spring. These don't have to be the only activities you do for the entire season, but it's good for your body to adapt to a new exercise every few months to optimize fat burning.

4. Fartlek Training -- Funny name but great results! Fartlek means "speed play" in Swedish. This training method is similar to interval training (see above) but the intervals are not measured by time or distance -- they are irregular. For example, race-walk until you feel winded, and then walk until you feel recovered. Then when you are feeling refreshed again, sprint to the corner. Walk slowly to catch your breath and break into a jog again. You increase and decrease your speed (intensity) based on how your body is feeling. Accelerate when you are feeling energetic and then cut back the intensity when you are feeling too exhausted.

5. Cycle Training -- Plan your cardio workouts in phases. For example, for the first week exercise at a lower intensity for 45 to 60 minutes. This will allow you to build your base level of fitness. For the next week, exercise at your highest intensity for 20 to 30 minutes. The following weeks exercise at a moderate intensity for 30 to 45 minutes. You can also have a transition week where you perform light amounts of exercise two to three times weekly for 15 to 25 minutes. This system allows you to maintain a high level of fitness, prevent injury and avoid overtraining. Repeat the sequence beginning the next month.

6. Circuit train -- Perform several cardiovascular exercises in a row for several minutes each. For example, perform each of the following exercises one after the other for two to three minutes each. Step up and down on a step, jog in place, jumping jacks, jog around the perimeter of the room, jump rope, high knee kicks, and jump squats. Rest for several minutes and complete a second or third time. Circuit training is lively and less tedious than some other routines, so people tend to stick with it longer. It's also an efficient calorie burner, increases muscular strength and decreases body fat.

7. Double up on your sessions -- Exercising twice in one day gives you two metabolic boosts. You may be thinking you are having a challenging time fitting in one session, however it is possible and can even be enjoyable. For example, in the morning, engage in a 30-minute boot-camp video. Then go for a 20-minute walk after dinner. Or do a sprint workout on your bike in the morning and then take a 20-minute abs class at lunch. You don't always have to be dripping with sweat to get benefits for a workout. If possible, keep your sneakers handy and take up any opportunity to get in an extra session most days of the week.

Give your cardiovascular conditioning your best effort. With each session strive to work a little harder than the last one. Walking is a great exercise, but eventually you must graduate from your starting level. If you keep walking at the same pace, the same course, the same amount of time and in the same heart rate range, the results will be diminishing. In order to change your body, push your physical limits beyond what you are accustomed to now.

Remember these seven techniques only work if you practice at least one of them consistently. When you have done one for a while, incorporate another fat-burning technique. Do not try to incorporate all of them at once. The complete formula includes first making up your mind to exercise and eat healthy, then working on your meals through eDiets proven plans, followed by exercising your muscles, then performing aerobic motions and finally allowing your body to recover. Cardiovascular conditioning is one important piece of the puzzle. Now take your first step.

eDiets offers 23 different health and fitness programs, including Mayo Clinic Plan. Get started today by clicking here and completing a free personal profile.

Kelli Calabrese, MS, CSCS 2004 Personal Trainer of the Year, is the author of "Feminine Firm & Fit" and is a 20-year fitness industry leader. She is the editor of "Personal Fitness Professional Magazine."

Burn the Fat: How To Repair A Damaged Metabolism

How To Repair A Damaged Metabolism
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle

If you've caused metabolic damage as a result of following starvation diets or losing weight too rapidly in the past, it can be extremely difficult to achieve any further fat loss at all. The good news is, metabolic damage can be repaired. All it takes is the right combination of metabolism stimulating exercise and metabolism stimulating nutrition (NOT just a diet), all done consistently over time.

The big irony is that most of the diet programs that claim to help you get rid of excess weight, only end up making it harder for you in the long run because they use harsh metabolism-decreasing diets and not enough exercise (almost never any weight training).

It may take a little longer if you have really messed things up with severe starvation dieting in the past, especially if you've lost a lot of lean body mass, but it is never hopeless. Anyone can increase their metabolism.

Most people get an almost immediate boost in metabolic rate when they start the Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle program. However, the results are not going to be "overnight." Give it a little time...

Within 3 weeks your metabolism will already be more efficient. Within 6-8 weeks, it's burning hot. Give me 12 weeks of consistent diligent effort, sticking with all the metabolism boosting strategies I teach, and your metabolism really will become like a turbo charged engine, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that.

What’s most important for upping your metabolism is CONSISTENCY in applying the Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle nutrition and training principles every single day.

That includes:

• Meal frequency: eat 5-6 small meals per day
• Meal timing: eat approximately every 3 hours, with a substantial breakfast and a substantial post workout meal.
• Sufficient Caloric Intake: maintain a small calorie deficit and avoid starvation-level diets (suggested safe levels for fat loss: 2100-2500 calories per day for men, 1400-1800 calories per day for women; adjust as needed)
• Food choices: Select natural, unprocessed foods with high thermic effect (lean proteins like chicken, turkey, egg whites and fish are highly thermic, as are all green vegetables, salad vegetables and other fibrous carbs)
• Cardio training: Push up the intensity a bit if you really want to get a metabolic boost. Walking and low intensity cardio is fine, but higher intensity is more metabolism-stimulating
• Weight training: The basic exercises that include the largest muscle groups or even call into play the entire body as a unit (squats, front squats, split squats, deadlifts, stiff legged deadlifts, overhead presses, all kinds of rows and core-activation exercises) will have a much greater metabolism stimulating effect than isolation exercises (concentration curls, calf raises, etc)

The weight training is extremely important in cases of "metabolic damage" because this is the stimulus to keep the muscle you have and begin rebuilding new muscle tissue, which is the engine that drives your metabolism.

The men don't usually have a problem with the weight training, but I still hear women say they don't want to lift weights as part of their fat loss programs. Well, people who wont lift weights can expect a very, very long metabolism "repair process" if they achieve it at all.

Consistency is the key.

Nothing will undermine the "re-building" of your metabolism like inconsistency. If you stop and start, or skip meals and workouts often, you will not even get off the ground.

After your metabolism is back up where it should be, it takes continued "stoking" of the metabolic furnace to keep it there. Once you get your metabolic engine running, you've got to keep feeding it fuel or the fire will die down.

Picture an old fashioned wood burning stove...

Imagine you're in a cabin up in the mountains in the winter. It's cold in there and you want to keep the cabin warm. Can you achieve this by feeding the fire once or twice per day? Nope. Not enough fuel to burn, so not much heat is generated.

What if you just toss an entire pile of wood in the stove all at once? Will that work? Nope. Lots of fuel, but can't all be used at once... it just smothers the fire and the excess just sits there.

How about if you throw some tissue paper or crumpled newspaper in the stove, will that work? Nope - too quickly burning.

You have to keep putting small amounts of wood (the right type of fuel) on the fire at regular intervals or the fire burns out.

It's also difficult to get the fire lit again. In the case of metabolism, it's like going through that initial few weeks of overcoming inertia all over again.

Your goal is to get your metabolism burning hot and keep it burning and this cannot be achieved by missing meals, missing workouts or with sporadic, infrequent training.

I have only seen a handful of cases where all these things were done properly and there was still a longer "repair" process.

For example, one case was former ballet dancer. At 5' 5", she was previously 110 lbs and had increased to about 145 or so. She didn’t want to reach her previous 110, but find a happy medium of about 125 lbs.

I figured with 20 lbs to cut, this would be a simple and predictable process, but she had a challenging time (and I didn't know why at first).

I later found out that she had been anorexic and bulimic for many years. This had caused a lot of damage, and although she did reach her goal, it took about twice as long as we had anticipated.

The good news is, even in this extreme case, the same nutrition and training principles worked! It just took a little longer. And by the way her program included some serious training with free weights and she ate a lot more (clean) food than she had ever eaten before. No "starvation!"

That’s the power of burning the fat and feeding the muscles... Trying to starve the fat with crash diets is what causes the metabolic damage in the first place!

If you’re interested in the healthy, sensible way to take off the fat, while keeping all your muscle and actually increasing your metabolism in the process, then my Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle program can teach you how. No gimmicks or false promises. Just the truth - you have to work at it and you have to be patient.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder and author of the #1 best selling e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to burn fat without drugs or supplements using the little-known secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and turbo-charge your metabolism by visiting: