Aerobics is something which can be easily done over a longer period of time but most people tend to avoid aerobics thinking it’s just too much work but the fact they normally tend to overlook is that aerobics is probably one of the best ways out there to lose a lot of weight very fast. Some of the aerobics exercises are so effective that you would start seeing results within days.

You get hold of any health magazine and there you will find fitness experts vouching for the effectiveness of aerobic exercises in losing weight. Aerobic exercises, besides being beneficial for weight loss, are known to maintain the health of the heart as well as the lungs. There is a plethora of aerobic exercises to choose from such as walking, running, jogging, dancing, cycling, swimming, step aerobics as well as working out on a rowing machine or an elliptical machine. With so many options available, people are always confused as to which is the best aerobic exercise for weight loss. Let’s try to find the answer to this question.

Tips to Determine the Best Aerobic Exercise for Weight Loss

Workout for Multiple Body Parts

Yes! the best aerobic exercise to lose fat is the one which provides a workout to a number of body parts. Examples of such exercises are playing sports such as football and boxing. You can try out some boxing workouts at home. While you are indulging in these aerobic exercises, your feet, legs, arms, abdomen, neck, hips, etc. get exercised, thus resulting in overall fat and weight loss from the body.

Fitness Levels

Your choice of best aerobic exercises to lose weight, depends a lot on your fitness levels as well. For example, if you are a beginner, low impact aerobic activity such as walking exercise will be ideal for you. If your fitness levels are average, you can graduate to swimming, step aerobics or rope jumping. You may read more on step aerobics and benefits. When your fitness levels peak, you can start with high intensity exercises such as running and boxing.

Cross – Training

Many fitness experts recommend that to increase the effectiveness of aerobic exercise for weight loss, cross-training i.e. alternating between low impact aerobics and high impact aerobics such as running and jogging, is the ideal choice. The reason being that high impact aerobic exercises will burn more calories while the in-between low impact aerobic exercises will make sure that there are no injuries due to overexertion of muscles.

On an Empty Stomach or After Weight Training

Researches have shown that if aerobic or cardiovascular exercises are performed on an empty stomach in the morning, just after a glass or two of water, it helps to burn approximately 300% more body fat, than it would if performed at any other time, during the day. The reason for this is that the body takes around 20 to 30 minutes of exercise to deplete the glycogen stores and reach the fat burning stage. When a person wakes up, his glycogen reserves are nil so 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 lose weight through aerobics is, immediately after a weight training session, cause the body’s glycogen reserves are already depleted due to weight training.

Duration

An aerobic session should last for about 45 minutes, if weight loss has to be achieved. These sessions should be undertaken three or four times during the week. Initially however, start with a 20 minute exercise session and slowly, as the stamina and strength builds up, the duration can be extended to 45 minutes.

As you can see, the best aerobic exercise for weight loss, depends upon a lot of factors. Always start the aerobics session with warm up exercises and then build up the speed gradually. Reach the end of the session with a slow cool – down, to avoid injuries. Compliment your exercise routine with a balanced diet and avoid overeating, binge eating, fatty, oily and processed foods. Drink lots of water, throughout the day as well as in between the workout session, to keep the body hydrated as well as to keep the liver (organ that burns fat) functioning well. If you are able to follow this routine religiously, you will soon find the pounds shedding off your body!