Everyone has wondered at some point in time which
cardio exercise is better. To put it in simple
terms, both low and high intensity exercises will
help you to burn off body fat. The question here
is which is the most effective to burn off more
body fat.

The Science Behind Cardio

When scientists first discovered that during
intensive exercises, your body burns glycogen, which
is a form of stored carbohydrates that are stored
in your liver and muscles for energy. During low
intensity exercises, your body will burn a lot of
fat.

If your wondering whether or not it works, the
answer is no because there are so many obese people
still around. Even though they are working out
with low intensity routines, it still makes you
wonder how it can be.

Low vs High Intensity: Which Burns More Fat?

The scientists were right when they said the human
body burns more body fat during low intensity
exercises like walking or swimming. During a
high intensity exercise such as running, the body
will burn a lot more calories. Even if some of
the calories burnt are from glycogen, there are
still many fat calories burned as well.

To put the icing on the cake, when your store of
glycogen gets low, the carbohydrates from your
food you eat will later get converted into
glycogen to fill up the store and won’t be
converted to body fat when they are left unused
for energy.

The Afterburn Effect

High intensity cardio exercise will juice up your
metabolism even after you have completed your
workout. What this means, is that your body will
continue to burn body fat hours after you have
left the gym. This effect is nearly non existent
in low intensity cardio or aerobic workout.

Accumulatively, your body will burn up more and
more calories during and after you have finished a
high intensity cardio exercise that it will with
low intensity.

Incorporating High Intensity into Your Workout

You can inject high intensity exercises into your
cardio workout by introducing some interval
training. You can walk for 5 minutes or so, then
break into some jogging for another 5 minutes or
so. Then, walk briskly again until you have
caught your breath and then sprint for a minute
before you walk again. From this point, simply
alternate your running and walking for the
next 15 minutes until you are finished.

Benefits of Cardio

One of the best things about cardio is the more
you do it, the more energy you’ll have. Cardio
will help you to burn calories, although its more
useful for keeping your energy levels high.

Conclusion

If you’ve never tried cardio before, you should
give it a shot. If you like to exercise, you’ll
find cardio the best way to boost your energy and
keep in top shape. If you are just starting out,
you’ll want to go slow and keep your cardio
exercise in track – as it is very easy to over
exert yourself.