Cardio…which is the best one for me?

In our day-to-day fitness routines, we often get stuck in a dilemma about one thing, CARDIO.

The mother of all worries in the gym, it often has lead to many disputes, I look forward to solving a few of them here.

So, what type of cardio to do? How long to do it? Which shall be most beneficial to your weight loss process?

First of all you need to understand this,

There are three types of skeletal muscle fibers:

1. Slow twitch or type I

2. Fast twitch IIa

3. Fast twitch IIb

Slow twitch fibers are the ones which help you in long repetitive activities like marathons, cycling, etc. They get fatigued after a very long time, and can be trained to enhance endurance type capabilities. They produce large amounts of ATP through the aerobic cycle, utilizing fats as 80 percent of the energy. But also note, that these fibers are not capable of burning a large number of calories in a short period of time.

Fast twitch fibers IIa fibers are the ones which are a hybrid of type I and type II. They manufacture and split ATP at a fast rate by using both the aerobic and anaerobic cycles. Therefore, they use both fat and glycogen as a source of energy in an equivalent ratio. These fibers are found more in bodybuilders.

Fast twitch fibers IIb fibers produce ATP at a slow rate by utilizing the anaerobic cycle and break it down very quickly. This results in short, fast bursts of power and rapid fatigue. They utilize glycogen primarily as a source of energy and burn maximum calories in short periods of time. HIIT, powerlifting, sprinting use these fibers to produce explosive movements.

Let’s compare now, walking at a fairly quick pace results in 160-180 calories lost per hour for an average person, while doing an HIIT workout for 20 minutes for the same person could result in burning 240-320 calories.

Do you see the difference?

Now, if your sole purpose is weight loss, HIIT is the way to go, however, it should only be done 2-3 times a week, as it is an impact prone workout, and results in wear and tear of the bone tissue.

Other days focus on a combo of resistance training, walking and stretching for optimal results in your weight loss regime.

Resistance training shall increase your metabolism by muscle hypertrophy, thereby burning more calories in a passive way and increase your strength helping in your HIIT workout. Stretching shall make your body less injury prone and shall result in elongation of your muscle fibers, which shall again aid in muscle hypertrophy and strength building. Walking or a similar activity shall help you burn some bonus calories.

That is why you should not focus on any one type of cardio, utilize all energy systems for optimal results, add in a caloric deficit diet and a few superfoods and become a fat burning machine.

Kshitij Vashisth 

Owner, Fitविज्ञान