Natalie Jill breaks down cardio for fat loss, comparing high-intensity interval training and slow cardio. She explains how each type works and how to pick based on what you actually enjoy doing.
Hi, guys. Natalie, Jill here with Happy, healthy and fit. Welcome back. Today we're talking about the question, is cardio good for me? Now that's something people are asking me a lot about lately. They say I used to do an hour of long cardio or should I do slow cardio every day or do I need to do it on top of my other workout? That's a question I get frequently and there's a lot of confusion out there. So I want to explain my thoughts on it. So first and foremost, I want to explain the differences between cardio types. There is something called hiit cardio, which is high impact interval training, and that's something I am hugely a fan of. But I want to explain what that means. That means in a short period of time, you're doing exercises with a high amount of intensity, alternating with a short rest period. And typically, hiit style training is not longer than about 20 minutes total, because to work out at the intensity you need to do for that high impact interval training, they have to be short bursts, and you're giving so much energy to it that more than 20 minutes would just be too much. So typically somebody will do anywhere between 30 seconds to a minute of a high intensity activity like jumping jacks. Let's say there'd be a short rest and then you would pick it up again on another exercise. Now, what level of intensity should you do with that? It really can be up to you because everybody is different on their intensity level. So what might be challenging for one person may not be as challenging for another. So it's all about doing what's challenging for you. Now let's talk about that. Slow cardio, what you should do, what you shouldn't do. And first I want to say if you enjoy cardio, if it's something enjoyable like you like walking or you like hiking, you like running or jogging, by all means, do it. Don't stop doing it if that's something you like. Now, if your only goal for doing slow cardio right now is because you feel that you have to do it, I want to share with you that that is not the case. There are some reasons to do slow cardio, but it's not because you have to. So I want to share that first. But if you like it, by all means, keep doing it. If you're trying to do cardio for fat loss, here's what I want you to consider. Any amount of movement is going to help, but when you do long periods of slow cardio and you're not doing it intense let's say you're leaning and reading and you're barely sweating and you're not really concentrating on your workout and you're more able to just talk and carry on a conversation. You're really just moving. And that is not what's going to help with a lot of fat loss the way high intensity interval training would and by really getting competitive with your cardio. Now, if you're an athlete and you're doing marathons, let's say, or you're doing races and you're doing, you're really an athlete type of runner, that type of cardio, spinning instructor, a lot of spinning instructors in great shape, they're doing a lot of cardio that way. By all means, of course, that's going to work with fat loss if you're doing it at that intensity. But it's the leaning and just putting in your time and reading while you're doing it that's not going to help you with the fat loss. So I want you to realize that you could do shorter bursts of higher intensity training activities and get a greater amount of fat loss from those. Now, I want to talk about the benefits of the slow cardio though, because I know I've got a lot of you thinking, well, I like doing slow cardio and I've heard I should do it there. There are some benefits. If you like doing it, that's a huge benefit. Keep doing it. It can be enjoyable and fun. For instance, I love to hike, I love to walk, I love to run, sometimes short distance. More for fun, not for the benefit of that fat loss. Another reason is it is heart friendly. Anytime you're moving, anytime you're staying active, you are helping with that heart. You're helping to stay fit and healthy. It also can be competitive if you like doing it for a competitive nature. If you like running races, marathons, 5Ks, 10Ks, do them. If you like doing them. No reason to stop if that's something you enjoy doing. The other reason, the other benefit of slow cardio is if you are new to working out, it is a great place to start. It's just a friendly, great place to start. Everyone can start with it and you can just move. Now, I do want to share that I am not a fan of many of the machines. There are some machines that work well. There are some that definitely do not work well. So you want to think what is functional and what mimics real life movement. For instance, running is real life movement. You can run on a treadmill. That is good. There's some equipment that your legs are locked in. It's not functional if you're on a piece of equipment and your feet are falling asleep. Probably not the best piece of equipment. So stick to things that are functional. Take it outside if you can do real world movements. So there you have it. That's my take on slow cardio. Hopefully I cleared up some of the confusion about it. And you know now what to do for your own workout. So don't stop it if you like it. If you want additional help from me, I highly recommend check out my programs down below. Got lots of great things to help you with your goals, especially the seven day jump start, which is a great place to start. See you next time. Bye.
