Some cardio forms of exercise are better at fat-burning, even if you’re obese, than are others.
Avoid the mistake of doing cardio the wrong way that won’t burn off much fat.
When an obese person wants to do cardio to burn fat, a few things must be taken into consideration.
The best fat melting cardio exercise for an obese woman or man is that which he or she can stick to on a consistent basis. That is the first thing to consider.
Thus, for very heavy people, they must first figure out what mode of cardio exercise that they are comfortable with. This doesn’t have to be limited to just one mode, either.
You can incorporate several different kinds of cardio workouts into your weight loss goals.
The next thing an obese individual must consider is safety. I wouldn’t recommend that fat folks run up steep hills for exercise.
Nor would I recommend that very heavy people do box jumping or rugged mountain biking.
I also wouldn’t recommend cross country skiing, which is extremely taxing — and the problem is that you are stuck out there in the snow, as opposed to doing very taxing brief intervals of power pedaling on a stationary bike.
The best fat burning cardio for very overweight people is that which they can safely keep doing over and over; that which is practical for their size; and that which offers minimal risk of injury to the joints.
It’s also important that the mode of exercise be that which isn’t completely discouraging, such as attempting to run up hills or jump over boxes.
With all that in mind, obese people can try the following cardio routines to burn off fat:
- Treadmill (walking or jogging without holding hands to the machine)
- Elliptical
- Revolving Staircase
- Stationary Bike
- Step Classes
- Low Impact Aerobic
- Cardio Kickboxing
- Track or Street Walking/Jogging
- Outdoor Cycling
- Inline Skating and Hiking.
Shutterstock/New Africa
These are just examples. Very heavy people can try basketball, tennis and racquet ball. These are all reasonable.
Once the obese individual finds the type of exercise that doesn’t feel threatening or impossible to handle, you should utilize a fat burning technique called high intensity interval training.
HIIT is the most effective cardio way to melt fat — and this is accomplished in significantly less time than if you do “steady state” aerobics.
There is no reason why an obese man or woman should avoid the fat-burning approaches described here.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
.
