My Take on Cardio Exercise

I think that everyone has wondered at some point in their life which cardio exercise is better.  We know that both high and low intensity exercises will help us burn off body fat.  The question we have is which is the  healthiest, and most effective way to burn the most body fat in the shortest amount of time. I know that with most questions in exercise the answer depends primarily on the individual, but there is some information I’ve discovered from my research which helps make it easier to decide.

The human body burns glycogen, which is a form of stored carbohydrates that are stored in your body for energy.  During low intensity exercises, the body will burn a lot of fat instead of carbs. Because of this the body burns more body fat during low intensity exercises like walking or hiking than it does during a high intensity exercise such as rollerblading or running. However, high intensity cardiovascular exercise will pump up your metabolism long after you’ve completed the excercise.  This means, is that your body will continue to burn body fat hours after you’ve completed your exhausting run.  This post-excercise fat burn is nearly non existent in low intensity or aerobic workout.

From this research I know that my body will burn more calories after I’ve finished my high intensity cardio exercise that it will with low intensity. So I’ve decided that I can try to add some high intensity exercises into my low intensity cardio workout by introducing interval training. I’m going to walk for 5 minutes or so, then jog for another 5 minutes or so.  Then, I’ll walk briskly again until I’ve have caught my breath and then sprint for a minute before walking again.  From watching many of the daily joggers at the park outside of my apartment complex I think others are already aware of this secret. At first I thought they were not able to maintain a jog, but now I know that their interval of jogging and walking was intentional.

From my experience, one of the best things about cardio is the more I do it, the more energy I have. If you’ve never tried cardio before, you should give it a try. There are so many fun ways to get out and get some excerciese. Some of my favorites are walking, jogging, hiking, swimming, and rollerblading. If you like to exercise, you’ll find a good cardio workout is the best way to boost your energy and keep in shape.  If you’re just starting out, you will want to go slow as it can be easy to over exert yourself.