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Best Aerobic Exercises for Weight Loss

Aastha Dogra
Aerobic exercises, also known as cardiovascular exercises, are one of the best ways to lose weight. Here is discussed which aerobic activity may be suitable for you with ideal duration of a session, and the best time to undertake it in order to loose weight.
Aerobic exercises include heart-pumping activities which help people achieve their target weight. They are not only beneficial to lose weight, but also to maintain the health of the heart as well as the lungs.
Some of the day-to-day activities such as gardening (digging, shoveling, etc.), climbing the stairs, walking the dog, mowing the lawn, etc., may also help burn calories.
However, to reap the maximum benefits of cardiovascular exercises, it is essential to perform high-intensity workouts such as brisk walking, running, jogging, dancing, cycling, swimming, step aerobics as well as working out on a rowing machine or an elliptical machine.

Workout for Multiple Body Parts

The best aerobic exercise to lose fat is the one which provides a workout to a number of body parts. Examples of such workouts are playing sports such as football and boxing. While you indulge in these activities, your feet, legs, arms, abdomen, neck, hips, etc., get worked out. This helps burn overall body fat, and thereby lose weight.

Fitness Levels

As a beginner, low impact activity such as walking may be ideal for you. If your fitness is average, you may begin with swimming, step aerobics, or rope jumping. At your physical prime, you may start with high-intensity workouts such as running and boxing.

Cross-training

Many fitness experts recommend cross-training i.e., alternating between low-impact aerobics and high-impact aerobics to increase the effectiveness of cardiovascular workouts.
For example, alternate activities such as walking, swimming, dancing, and stair climbing. The reason being that high-intensity workouts may help burn more calories, whereas the in-between low-intensity workouts may ensure that there are no injuries due to overexertion of muscles.

Best Time to Exercise

Researches have shown that cardiovascular exercises performed on an empty stomach in the morning, just after 1-2 glasses of water, help burn approximately 300% more body fat than they would if performed at any other time during the day.
This is because the body takes around 20-30 minutes of exercise to deplete the glycogen stores and reach the fat-burning stage. The glycogen reserves of a person are nil in the morning when he wakes up. Therefore, the body is already in a fat-burning stage, ready to be exercised to burn fat.
Based on the same logic, another good time to exercise is immediately after a weight-training session since the body's glycogen reserves are already depleted due to the training.

Duration

An aerobic session should last for about 45 minutes. These sessions should be undertaken 3 or 4 times a week. Initially, begin with a 20 minute exercise session, and slowly, as the stamina and strength builds up, the duration may be extended to 45 minutes.
Always perform warm up exercises before a workout session. Increase your speed of exercising gradually and decrease the speed at the end of the session to avoid injuries. Complement your exercise routine with a balanced diet and avoid overeating, binge eating, fatty, oily, and processed foods.
Drink plenty of water throughout the day and between the workout session to keep the body well hydrated, and to keep the liver (organ that burns fat) functioning well. If you are able to follow this routine regularly, you may soon find the extra pounds shedding off your body.
Disclaimer: Always consult a physician before starting any physical fitness program in order to reduce the risk of injury.