Fort Lauderdale Personal Trainer | Blog

What’s the best way to do cardio? The answer is different for each of my clients as different people have different training goals. One client may wish to lose maximum body fat while another is training for sports performance. A simple answer to the question is that the best way to do cardio get the most desired results with minimum potential for injury or conflict with training goals.

The treadmill is probably the most popular form of cardio being done at gyms and fitness centers today. If one walks on the treadmill on a flat grade the risk to injury is minimal but in most cases the rewards are minimal. Not many calories are burnt under such conditions and this form of exercise can be of too much impact if the client happens to be grossly overweight. Walking slow on the flat treadmill with no grade has minimal risks for everyone but also few rewards as it does not burn enough calories to significantly reduce body fat. There are two ways to increase the efficacy of working on a treadmill, one is by increasing the rate of speed of which the exercise is done at; this can be increased all the way to a jog and then run.

Jogging and running are very potent exercises when it comes to calorie burning but both of them put a great deal stress on the knees and lower back . Older people or people with injuries need to avoid but jogging and running because of the damage that is done to the knees and back. Secondly, treadmill work can be increased in intensity by increasing the degree of grade that is walked at, this becomes the equivalent of walking hills or mountains outside. Walking at a grade burns a lot of calories but can be very painful to those with back and knee issues. As you can see the treadmill has its positives and negatives. Using this an your main type of cardio will depend on any limiting factors due to injuries and how much endurance you have.

Stationary cycling is another very common form of cardio being done at gyms today. Stationary cycling has the same pros and cons as riding the bike outside. I believe cycling is most definitely superior to jogging and running because you can burn a lot of calories without the extreme pounding to the knees and back that the body receives from jogging and running. To a lesser degree however a lot of stress to the knees and back can be generated by intense cycling also.

I favor the elliptical machine due it’s non-impact nature and large range of motion. you can vary the ramp, resistance and speed to target the largest lower body muscles without straining the spine or joints. It is possible to really turn up the intensity level of your training with minimal risk of injury. In short there is a superior form of cardio and that form is elliptical training.