Cardio Training for Fat Loss: How Often? How Long? (Part 2)

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that all healthy adults ages 18-65 should perform at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise 5 days a week. In my opinion, the amount of time you spend on cardio training can and should vary, but 5 days per week is an excellent guideline.

I recommend performing cardio sessions for a minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of 45 minutes. In terms of burning body fat, more isn't necessarily better when it comes to cardiovascular exercise. Above 45 minutes, the body's production of the catabolic hormone cortisol will increase, and you can risk losing muscle tissue and protecting the fat stores you are trying to burn.

Varying your cardio sessions from 20 to 45 minutes will also provide you with some variety. As some well-intentioned people have learned the hard way, performing 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise day after day can lead to boredom.

Wait a Minute

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not implying that you can do 5 cardio sessions per week at 20 minutes per session. That's not enough. So what is? Let's look at an example.

Let's say that over the course of a week, you perform 2 days of cardio at 20 minutes, 2 days at 30 minutes and 1 day at 45 minutes. This equals a total of 145 minutes spread across 5 days, putting you close to the total time the AHA recommends (150 minutes across 5 days).

Your shorter sessions should be more intense and demanding than your longer sessions, which should be performed at a moderate level. Performing cardio at different time intervals can also provide flexibility in a busy schedule. Do longer sessions on the days you don't work, while saving shorter sessions for the days that you do (or when you just have less free time).

If you recall, we talked about variety and avoiding boredom in Cardio Training for Fat Loss: Getting Started (Part 1). The variety of exercises you chose in Part 1, combined with variations in duration discussed here in Part 2, will help you to keep things fresh and interesting. The result is that you will be more apt to stick with this type of routine.

The same exercise routine day in and day out is one of the main reasons why people give up on cardiovascular fitness training. Don't let that happen to you.