A fat loss cardio workout for both men and women

Very often i see people in the gym getting on a treadmill and doing long boring cardio although you will see results as you train with this there are some problems. hours of long cardio leads to loss in muscle this causes your metabolism to lower as muscle burns fat. This means that even though you are seeing results at the moment if you stop exercising for a period of time, (even as short as 2-3 weeks) maybe due to and injury, illness or a lot of work piling up. You run the risk of coming back heavier than when you started the program.

An successful alternative to this is high intensity interval training (HIIT) this is less dull than long cardio as often lasts between 15 and 20 minutes and maintains and increase your muscle mass as you train allowing for a higher metabolism long after you have finished training. Yes that does mean you will still be burning calories when your back home sitting in front of the TV following your workout (although not if your TV meal is a double cheeseburger). It entails short sharp bursts of maximal energy along with slower paced activity with no full rest in between. Remember its the heart rate levels is what is important here not the speed you are going so you don't need to be as fast as your friend to have the same results as long as your heart rate levels are raised enough (the slower paced activity intend for the heart rate to be around 120 beats per minute and with the maximal work looking at levels above 150 BPM)

I have outlined 4 interval training programs below on different pieces of equipment. To get the best out of these activities it is best to do them in the morning and vary the activity per session in order to keep your body guessing each workout.

Treadmill

4 minute warm up- slow jog
3/4 pace for 90 seconds (i use 15kph) (kilometres per hour)
jog for 90 seconds (i use 7 kph)
repeat three times
then full pace for 60 seconds (i use 17kph)
jog for 60 seconds (i use 7 kph)
repeat 3 times
cool down- walk 1-2 mins at slow pace
Cross trainer

3 min warm up-slow speed
resistance comfortably low level
increase level by 1 every minute for 7 minutes
then decrease by 1 level every minute for 7 minutes
once back to low setting stay there for a 3 min cool down
Bike

4 min warm up- low resistance
cycle as fast as you can for 40 seconds
slowly for 20 seconds
repeat this 10 times
fast as you can for 20 seconds
slowly for 10
repeat 10 times
low resistance ride for 3 mins at slow pace to cool down
Rower

3 min warm up on medium resistance (i use 5)
set to high resistance (i use 10) row as fast as you can with an overhand grip for 30 seconds
underhanded grip row at slow pace for 30 seconds
repeat 7 times
15 seconds as fast as possible
15 seconds at slow pace
cool down- 3 min row at slow pace
Hope this can help your weight loss gains :-)