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There's a lot of fuss about the right way to do cardio to lose fat. Some so called experts will have you believing that the forty five minutes you spent jogging on the treadmill is as useful to weight loss as eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Then to try and be helpful they'll start spouting off about EPOC, HIIT, Tabatas, and VO2R compared to VO2max. Too confusing if you're not already working in the field of health and fitness. For the average person looking for some helpful information about the correct way to exercise to permanently lose fat it can be very frustrating to figure out what to do. The human body is very complex, very fascinating, and when properly cared for can be very efficient. So efficient that the exercise you do can stop doing what you want it to. One example is over-training. If you're familiar with the saying "Too much of a good thing" then you should know it applies to exercise too. If you train at too high of a volume for too long of a duration at too high of a frequency you wind up putting too much stress on the body. That's a lot of too's. What the body does then is start to naturally shift into reverse and make your performance, health and fitness decline.
The way in which the body's efficiency slows down your fat loss efforts is what I want to explain right now. Instead of confusing you with a bunch of acronyms and Latin-based exercise physiology terminology I am going to present it in a simple manner using an example most are familiar with- the automobile.
So let's look at it like this, the fuel tank is your stored fat cells. The gasoline you put in the tank is the food you put into your mouth. The engine and it's revolutions per minute(RPM's) will play the role of the human body's metabolism. What I am going to show is how the car's fuel efficiency compares to the human body's fat burning efficiency. Unlike the sensible driver you're trying to do the opposite and deplete the stored energy(fat on your body, or gas in the tank) in as quick a manner and as safely as possible. In other words, place some fuel inefficiency into your training.
What most of you are aware of, possibly by experience, is that just like it takes a lot less time to fill your gas tank than to empty it, it is quicker and easier to add excess pounds of fat than it is to remove them. Any of you that had the misery of purchasing gasoline here in the states in the last five years learned driving tips that helped you conserve fuel: consolidating trips (one long extended cardio workout session), going easy on the gas and brakes (keeping your workout intensity consistent), and staying at or below the speed limit (following that "Fat Burning Zone" nonsense.)
 So let's look at this a little closer. Instead of using the well known fitness examples of comparing the scrawny, sickly looking marathon runner than so many trainers take delight in using, to the world class Olympic sprinter, let's use the example of a Lamborghini Murcielago with a Toyota Prius. The Lamborghini has 631 Horse Power and a top speed of 210 MPH. This is a very powerful machine, just like the human body is capable of being. On the downside it's fuel efficiency is only 8 - 14 MPG. In other words it has a high metabolism, which is a great thing for the human body to have if you are concerned with permanent fat loss. Now the Toyota Prius has 134 HP, a top speed of about 112 MPH, but averages an efficient 48 - 51 MPG. Liking it to the human body it is not the strongest, and is very good at conserving energy(storing fat.)
Now let's take a look at how activity (driving the car or exercising the body) affects fuel consumption, or human fat burning. Using the Lamborghini as our first exercise subject, it is common knowledge that in order to get the listed MPG we would need to drive at or below the posted speed limit, easing into stops and gradually taking off from standing still. But if we enjoy this machine for what it's made for and drive like a bat out of hell with a get-out-of-jail-free-pass, well you better have a spare gas tank riding shotgun! You'll quickly watch the fuel gauge work it's way to empty. This is why the car stickers show both Highway and City estimated MPG's. The same difference affects the human body.
Now if we train the Toyota the same way, the same thing will happen, just not as fast. So we can basically say that the Lamborghini got it's physique by incorporating resistance training, while the Prius focused only on heart conditioning steady state cardio. The Murcielago has a higher metabolism than the Prius. Comparing the two cars would be similar to comparing a muscular person with low body fat that trains with high intensity to someone with decent cardiovascular health from walking or slow paced jogging but not so great muscle tone and excess body fat.
The human body is more efficient than either of these two machines. For one, neither car has the ability to repair itself. The human body does. The car needs much more external influence(parts and modifications) to change either it's performance capability or fuel efficiency. The body will do it on it's own through the correct care and usage (exercise, rest, and nutrition.) But the body is so efficient that it has the ability to adapt. So when it becomes accustomed to doing a long walk or jog it learns to conserve energy. It's in this way that the exercise stops becoming effective. You must progressively increase the intensity to stimulate further adaptation. This can be done by training harder or longer. But if you try both, the efficient human body will protect itself by eventually presenting the symptoms of over-training.
So what can we learn from this- Move slowly or not at all and you won't burn much fuel(stored fat); train with high intensity and you'll burn more stored fat during and after training. If you want to drop the fat pounds and inches in the quickest way that you safely, and naturally can do incorporate resistance training as the primary component of your training and when you have conditioned your heart to handle it, do perform high intensity, heart pounding exercise instead of steady pace long duration cardiovascular exercise. Run sprint intervals with walking, intersperse rope skipping with quick bouts of fast jumping, when on the cycle jack up the level and pedal all out for thirty seconds then recover with a lower pace and intensity. It's all about the intensity.
One thing I certainly want to make clear is that there is definitely a place for the moderate intensity, extended cardio workouts. They are a great way to relieve stress, and improve and/or maintain the health and function of the heart and blood vessels, just to name a few. They do burn excess calories, maybe not at the rate of higher intensity exercise but higher than if you are just sitting or lying around. Also, for those just starting an exercise program it is necessary to build a cardiovascular foundation and steady state cardio workouts are the safest way for a beginner to do that. And of course if long duration cardio workouts are someone's preference then by all means do it. Anything that you enjoy that leads to positive health and fitness should never be omitted.
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