Q&A Sesh: Do I have to do 45 mins of cardio to burn fat?

Do I have to do cardio for 45 mins to burn fat?

This question was asked of me the other night - a well known (but questionable) Body Transformation program has said this is the case.

As someone who has studied Cert III and Cert IV in fitness, and read a million articles on the topic - the answer is very very clear, and very resounding NO.

The science behind burning fat is that the body uses a mixture of fuel sources for exercise - usually  a combination of glucose (in your bloodstream) and  fat.  Fat is more difficult to burn, glucose is very easy.  So initially when you start to exercise, you will predominantly burn glucose, and a small amount of fat. As time goes on and the amount of glucose readily available in your blood stream decreases, the body burns greater and greater percentages of fat, and less and less glucose.  At some point it switches over and the majority of the burn is from fat.  So you are burning fat right from the beginning, just smaller amounts.  Don't disregard any amount of cardio as a fat burner.

However there are far more effective ways of burning fat that don't require you to exercise for so long.

See what Coach Calorie has to say about it below:
from www.coachcaloric.com

Goal: Drop Weight

Mistake: Walking or running at one pace.
Leisurely strolling on the treadmill or the elliptical for a solid 45 minutes may get you sweating, which will help with temporary weight loss, but there are more effective strategies for your longer term goals. I'm assuming if your goal is to see the scale go down you probably want the weight you lose to be from fat. The most effective cardio workout for fat loss is interval training.
The Fix: Interval training.
Instead of shuffling along reading your magazine or watching TV, get ready to work.
The bad news is you'll need to work harder than you have been working. The good news is you can go for a shorter period of time.
Plan on a 20- to 30-minute workout. Warm up for 5 to 10 minutes, then perform a 30s-90s interval at a pace you couldn't hold for longer than that. Your heart rate should be above 85 percent of your max heart rate or at a point where you couldn't carry on a conversation. Follow with equal or more recovery period at an easier pace, letting your heart rate come down to under 70 perecent of max. Repeat for 5 to 10 rounds.


How does this interval training sound?  If you were at my class last night -you would know that its an exact match for our HiiT Class.
So do yourself a fatburn favour - and join me next Wednesday night at 6pm for HiiT - your 37min express checkout to fitness!