The cardio-respiratory system is called into action to either sustain or recover from any type of physical activity. Any type of activity can be used as a method for cardio-respiratory training (cardio). It can be used as a warm up, a cool down or an exercise session. There are several keys to making an effective yet fun cardio program. For increasing metabolism and fat burn, you must first, build a base cardio level, second, add intervals, and third increase the intensity and/or duration of those intervals.

Whether you are a beginner and/or just returning to physical activity, any increase in your activity will be beneficial for improving health and increasing metabolism. You can get equal general health benefits and calorie burn from performing all of your activity in one session or breaking it up into several. In the introduction phase you can just perform moderate activity for 5-30 minutes or more per day. This can be:

Walking

Bicycling

Bicycling

Anything that increases your heart rate and breathing without exhausting you will do the job. After 2-3 weeks of at least 30 minutes of daily activity you can start working to improve your overall fitness level.

When aiming to increase your fitness levels you want to maintain a heart rate that is is 65-75% of maximum predicted heart rate. This can be done with:

Running

Running

Circuit weight training

Aerobics class

Any method will work as long as you can maintain the desired heart rate. You can start with as low as 5 minutes in this zone (finish out the other 25 minutes at a moderate level) and work up to 30 minutes in this zone. This is “steady-state” cardio, where you keep the intensity about the same throughout the session. Once you can perform 3 of these sessions a week for 2-3 weeks you can then step it up to my favorite style of training — ready?

Interval training is where it really becomes fun and you can dramatically increase your calorie burn DURING and AFTER the session is over. Performing your cardio in a fashion where you alternate between high and low intensities makes your workouts much more fun, and effective at generating Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). EPOC is basically a state in which your body is consuming extra oxygen to return the body back to its original state and refilling energy supplies. EPOC can be a golden nugget for the goals of increasing calorie and fat burn.

For interval training, any approach will do. You can choose a treadmill, bike, stair stepper, rower, or anything that allows you to alternate high and low intensities and/or speeds.