Cardio is a very effective exercise for the heart and a very efficient way of loosing weight. However, hoe beneficial it will be to you depends on how well you will carry them out. Here are some tips from the pros themselves that will make those 20 minutes of cardio effective and worth the while.

If you are doing cardio in order for you to trim down, the first thing I would advice you to do is to do cardio in the morning. Glycogen levels are generally lower in the morning. This means that if you do cardio in the morning, your body will start mobilizing its fat for energy production. This energy that’s released will sustain you way after you have already done the cardio. As ironic as it may sound, getting tired after doing cardio in the morning will keep you more energized for the better part of your day. Exercising is also known to release the ‘feel good hormones’ and so cardio is a known natural stress reliever. Well, I guess now you know why people are told to take a walk when they are mad before they end up saying something really stupid.

Cardio in the morning is especially important to those who do cardio to lose weight. You see, when you exercise, your body first of all burn the food already present before it even thinks of touching your fat reservoirs. When you wake up, nearly all the food you ate the previous night has been digested already. Doing cardio at this time will purely burn fat and nothing else. If however you feel too weak to do cardio on empty stomach, you can take something very small to energize you a bit. By something very small I don’t mean a 5 course meal, take some natural juice o spike up your glucose level.

Before you start on your cardio, ensure that you have done stretches for at least 5 minutes. Stretch your quads, calves, hamstrings and the other muscle groups. You can opt not to stretch and nurse a lot of muscle soreness, it’s your call.

Vary your pace both in terms of cardio level and the workout in itself. If you are a beginner, start off easy and don’t try running for miles just because there’s a guy at the gym who can do it with his eyes closed! Start off gradually by let’s say taking a walk then increase your pace with every progressive session. During the actual cardio, start off slowly and then pick up the pace. Go first and when you get tired slow down a bit, do not stop. If you are running, you can do a very fast sprint for about 2 minutes then slow down to a jog and then repeat the sprint. If you find cardio to be boring then you need to first of all try and spice it up but if it’s still boring, get your head checked!