In this instructional video, Eric Roberts explains how to maximize fat loss through cardio by focusing on the optimal heart‑rate zones, the physiological reasons low‑intensity cardio outperforms high‑intensity work for burning stored body fat, and how to structure a weekly cardio routine that complements strength training. He begins by defining the five heart‑rate zones and shows how to calculate an individual’s maximum heart rate (220 − age) and the target zone for fat burning (approximately 50‑70% of max, i.e., Zone 2‑3). He clarifies that exercising in this zone uses fat as fuel during the session, but stresses that true body‑fat loss only occurs when overall caloric intake is below expenditure. He contrasts low‑intensity cardio with high‑intensity interval training, noting that high‑intensity work depletes glycogen, triggers hunger, cravings, and cortisol spikes, which can undermine a calorie deficit. Consequently, low‑intensity cardio is presented as the most efficient method for sustained fat loss. Eric then outlines a practical cardio prescription: 1‑4 sessions per week, 15‑45 minutes per session (30‑45 minutes typical), performed after weight‑lifting sessions or on rest days to avoid impairing lifting performance. He concludes by offering a free calorie‑calculator link and a paid one‑on‑one coaching program for personalized nutrition and workout guidance.
Chapters
If your goal is to burn fat in the most effective way possible and you're not currently doing this with your cardio, you're making a big mistake. In this video, I'm gonna cover the best form of cardio you should be doing, how long you should be doing it for, how many days per week you should be doing it, so you can stop wasting countless hours dry humping the ground— that's what I call burpees— running miles and miles on the treadmill, doing HIIT classes, all just to feel exhausted and not actually make any progress. Instead, just do exactly what I tell you in this video to burn more fat than ever before. First, when it comes to the best form of cardio you should be doing, there is something called the fat burning zone, and it doesn't take Einstein to figure out this is probably a good thing if you're trying to burn fat. The fat burning zone is a specific heart rate zone that you should be aiming for when you're doing your cardio to optimize your fat burning, and let me teach you a bit more. There are 5 zones of your heart rate when you are exercising. And this basically explains how hard you are working out. Zone 1 is 40 to 50% of your max heart rate. Zones 2 and 3 is 50 to 60% and 60 to 70% of your max heart rate. And then zones 4 and 5 is 70 to 80 and then 80 to 90+ percent of your max heart rate. And so again, the higher up the zone is, the harder you have to work in the workout. And now you're going to ask me, Eric, how do I find this? What does all this mean? Stick with me. So in order to find your max heart rate, which you're going to need for these zones, you're going to take 220 minus how old you are, your age. So for me, I'm 28 years old, so it'd be 220 minus 28, and that would be 192. Then to find what heart rate you are in, you would just take your max heart rate and multiply it by this number right here. If I was going to be in zone 1, I would do 192 times 0.5, and that would give me 96. So if I'm working out doing my cardio and I look at my heart rate and it says 96, that would put me in zone 1. So as you're tracking your heart rate on your Fitbit or Apple Watch or the machine at the gym, you would look at your heart rate and then you would figure out what zone you are in. So now, which one of these is gonna be that fat-burning zone that that we were talking about, it's going to be in between this zone 2 and zone 3 cardio. If your heart rate is somewhere around this 50 to 70% of your max heart rate— for me, that would be 192 times 0.6 and then 192 times 0.7. If I did that, my heart rate would be 115 to 135. If I'm somewhere in this heart rate zone, that would mean I am in the fat burning zone. Whether you're on the stair stepper or the treadmill or the elliptical or the rower, it doesn't really matter what modality of cardio you choose to do. What does matter is where your heart rate is during these exercises. If you can continue to stay in this zone 2 to zone 3 cardio, That's gonna be the most optimal for your fat burning zone. But there's something I intentionally left out of the video until right now that's about to blow your mind. While yes, zone 2 to 3 is that fat burning zone, what does this actually mean? Well, it means that during that specific bout of cardio, your body is going to use fat as a source of energy During that specific exercise, whether you're doing it for 30 minutes, 60 minutes, whatever. And it's going to use fat instead of using carbs for energy. That's why they call it the fat burning zone. But what some people don't tell you, which I will, there is a difference between using fat for energy for a specific workout versus actually burning stored body fat from your body. Let me put it to you like this. Let's say every day you do 1 hour of this fat-burning zone cardio that we've already discussed, but that same day you go and eat 5,000 calories. Do you think you would lose fat, or do you think you would gain fat? You're right, you just might be Einstein after all. You would end up gaining fat. Why? Because the only way to lose stored body fat is by eating in an overall calorie deficit. You've probably heard the phrase, you can't outrun or out-cardio a bad diet. That's where this comes into play. You could use all the fat in the world for energy during your cardio, but if you end up eating too many calories, you will gain fat. And so now you might be thinking, wait a minute, Eric, Which cardio is better then? Because we talked earlier about the fat burning zone, zone 2 to 3. That's where you're going to burn fat for energy. But then also high intensity cardio where you're in the zone 4 to zone 5 where your heart rate is very, very high and you can't breathe and you're pushing yourself very hard. That's also something people utilize for fat loss. So, which one is better? Don't worry, I'm gonna explain it to you right now. There's one major difference between low-intensity fat-burning zone cardio versus higher-intensity high-heart-rate cardio. And you might be thinking, well, wait a minute, because high intensity is obviously going to burn more calories if you have to work harder, you have a higher heart rate, and you said, Eric, you have to be in a calorie deficit in order to lose weight. That's right. To burn fat. But then wait a minute, because what if you did low-intensity cardio in a calorie deficit? Because the low intensity burns fat for energy, would that make you burn more fat? Well, studies have actually shown as long as you eat the same amount of calories either way, there's not a big difference between whether you do low-intensity or high-intensity cardio for fat loss. But like I said, there's one major difference that does impact your calorie deficit between low and high-intensity cardio. With high-intensity cardio, if you remember, this kind of cardio burns carbs for energy. When you are burning a lot of carbs for energy, there is something called glycogen that gets depleted. Just think of glycogen as energy for your muscles and energy for your body. When you are depleting this a lot with high-intensity cardio, what has to happen is your body says, wait a minute, I gotta get that glycogen back and replenish it. The number one way it does this is by telling your brain and your stomach, I'm hungry and I need to replenish this glycogen now. So your hunger and your cravings go up, especially for junk food or sugary food, because that's the quickest way to get your glycogen stores back up. And so these 2 things combined make it much harder to stick to your calorie deficit because you will end up eating more calories the more high-intensity cardio that you do. High-intensity cardio can also increase your cortisol or stress levels, which is not inherently a bad thing, but too much of an increase is also going to lead to more hunger and more cravings. So although high-intensity exercise might burn more calories in the short term, it makes you eat more in the long term, which means you're gonna see less fat loss progress. Versus, since the low-intensity cardio burns fat instead of the carbohydrates, it will not leave you with a lot of hunger or cravings or a bunch of added stress to your body, which means you will end up making more progress because you'll be able to burn more calories doing the cardio without having the increase in calories of your diet by eating more. So that lower intensity cardio, zone 2 to zone 3, would be the best for burning fat and losing stored body fat from your body. Now, if you were to create a weekly cardio routine, here's what that would look like. You would do somewhere between 1 to 4 times per week. You would do somewhere between 15 to 45 minutes. And quite honestly, 45 minutes might be pushing it. I don't even think you need that much. I might even put 30 minutes here. But if you're a sicko who loves cardio, do it. And then you want to do this cardio either after a weightlifting workout or on a rest day. You do not want to do this before your weightlifting workout because if you do, you will take away some of your energy for the weightlifting workout, which would then mean you're going to decrease your workout performance. You're going to increase your risk of injury in that weightlifting session. So, don't want to do a ton of cardio before the workout. Put it after or on a rest day. And if you do all of this plus eating in a calorie deficit, then you are going to burn fat in the most efficient way And if you need a totally free calorie calculator, click the link in the description of this video. It'll be right there for you. Or if you're somebody who's interested in having us, our team, take care of your entire journey for you, tell you what to eat, how many calories, what workouts to do, how much cardio to do, hold you accountable, there'll be a link for our one-on-one coaching program in the description below. I hope this video helped. Thanks, Eric.
