How do I get started doing cardio workouts?
Cardio is one of the big three in the game of changing your
body, the way I look at it there is diet, cardio and weights.
The diet is self explanatory, the cardio is to burn calories
before and after the cardio workout and weights are to create
more muscle which automatically needs more calories just to
maintain.
I will try in the future to add info on individual types of
cardio training but for now just want to outline how, when and
what kind of exercise counts. Firstly any time that you do 20
minutes or more exercise that does not hurt your muscles I
consider it a cardio workout so examples would be biking,
walking, running or even sports such as Tennis or Golf or
Ballroom dancing. I try to make sure that I do some kind of
cardio every day just to get my blood flowing and to get away
from other distractions such as TV or computers. Another
important thing to try to do is to change up your cardio from
day to day just for variety more than anything.
The best time to get a cardio workout is in the morning. I
myself ride a bike to work 25 minutes each way in the morning
and afternoon and one of the main reasons that I like this is
that when you have a workout of any kind in the morning it will
raise your metabolism for 12 hours afterward, now most of the
calories that you burn would likely be during the workout by I
know that I feel better for hours after my ride compared to a
non riding day. Here is a breakdown of the calories consumed
during some activity; it is OK to just compare them more than
trying at this point to deduct them from your caloric intake per
day.
One thing to remember when you are doing your daily cardio
workouts is to still eat a good diet and not to skimp on meals.
The best way to look at your cardio workouts is that they are an
opportunity to improve your fitness and as you get into a good
workout schedule you will likely find that you are losing weight
anyway. Your goal should be to lose one to three pounds a week
and by doing cardio once or twice a day this should be an easy
goal to reach