Transcription
And so, if you're dancing, moving your arms around, yeah, burning some calories, but not a lot in comparison. You're sweating in the water. Water is heavy. You got to move it around. Oh, push water, water, get out of my way! I have a faster swimmer than last time. Move over, Michael Phelps, I'm doing my breaststroke better than last time.
[Music]
Coach Regan, in today's video, we're going to discover what is the best form of cardio that you can do in order to burn off body fat. And so, I think it goes without saying that if you don't do the cardio, if you don't enjoy it, you're not going to keep doing it. So obviously, you have to like it. But all things considered, what type or style of cardio should you be doing if you want to get shredded and maintain it? And so, I'm going to be ranking them from the worst to the best and explaining exactly why that is the case. And so, by the end of the video, you'll know exactly what kind of cardio to do, what style, what type, in order to burn the most amount of calories and, of course, body fat.
And so, the worst form of cardio that you can do, and this is going to be a shocker to you, is the stationary bike. You're thinking, "Are you kidding me? That's exactly what you do all the time. How could it possibly be the bike?" And so, the answer to that is this: when you're doing the bike, you're using very specific muscles. You're only using the legs. You're not using your upper body. And if you're not conditioned to bike riding, you're not going to be able to sustain a high level of output. Your legs are going to be burning. You're going to feel that lactic acid, and it's going to occur much sooner than if you did other forms of exercise.
And so, unlike what most people say, you adapt to cardio and you burn fewer calories. It's in fact the exact opposite. When you bike ride consistently for years, as I did, your body gets used to it, and those specific muscles, they learn to produce a lot of power, and they can now keep up with your cardiovascular system. And so, for me, riding on the bike, I can burn a lot of calories. But for you, or any untrained cyclist, if you suddenly start bike riding, you're not going to burn a lot of calories.
And not all bikes are the same. For example, the worst one, it's the handheld. You're on a paddle bike, you're using your hands, so your upper body, your arms, they cannot produce a lot of power in comparison to your legs. And so, if you're riding, paddling like this, you might be going hard, you might be feeling the burn, you might be thinking, "Wow, I'm really pushing myself," but you're hardly burning any calories.
And the next worst, the recumbent bike. You're laying down. "Oh, look at me, I'm riding a bike." You're laying on your back and doing this. You're not even pushing yourself. "Oh, my coach said I needed to do an hour cardio." You lay down, half asleep, read the book, prop, watching TV, and your legs are doing that. You have it on zero resistance. You really think you burn a bunch of calories? Of course, you're not. Lean, you're treated like a freaking...
So rather than laying back, looking like you're half asleep on your bike, you think you burn a bunch of calories? At least sit up. Sit up on an upright bicycle and put up the resistance. You can't just sit on a bike and pedal around. "Look at me, my legs are going so fast. Look how fast my legs are spinning." But you're spinning into thin air. You're not burning up a lot of calories. You're much better putting the resistance up and actually pushing yourself.
So, it happens all the time. I go to the gym and I watch people on the bikes. Their legs are spinning so fast, but they're not burning hardly any calories. 20 minutes in, they've burnt 60 calories. I'm thinking, "What was the point?" Yeah, it's better than nothing, but not by much. Probably better off going for a walk.
And of course, riding a bike outside, you're getting off the saddle, you're going up and down hills. That is, of course, the best. You're using your upper body and your legs. And so, if you do choose the bike and you're riding outside, of course, you're going to burn more calories. But if you're not good at it, it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. You just need to continue to practice to adapt to it, to get better, so that eventually you can burn up a lot of calories.
So, when going on these bikes, treadmills, ellipticals, all these different exercises, please look at the machine. Please increase the resistance and take note of the following: how many METs, or metabolic equivalents, are you exercising at? You'll see this button on many machines. It says METs, capital M-E-T-S. And you've seen it, you've noticed it, and you have no idea what it is.
And so, this is what it actually is: metabolic equivalence. Whatever that number is, it represents how many times more calories you're burning than you would be sitting down at rest, like this. And so, perhaps right now, I'm burning off 75 calories per hour just sitting here. It's called your BMR, your basic metabolic rate. And so, if you're exercising at 10 METs, you're burning off 10 times more calories. If you're burning 75 at rest, suddenly it's 750. And so, exercising for one hour at 10 METs would burn the same amount of calories as 10 hours at rest.
The average person, at healthy, can exercise at approximately eight METs. And so, if you go to the gym and you exercise and you notice that number below eight, you're below average. Sorry, telling you what you need here, not what you want to hear. You want to hear that as long as you're doing cardio with all those minutes, stick by, then you're doing good. Sorry, you're not.
If you're on zero resistance and pedaling fast and burning 60 calories in 20 minutes, it sucks. I'd rather know that I suck and work on it, you know, progressive overload, go harder than last time, eventually get good at it, become a better calorie burner, then spin my wheels, almost literally, burning off nothing.
The next thing I want you to notice is Watts. Whatever that number is on the bike, treadmill, whatever you're using, multiply by 3.6, and that's how many calories you're burning per hour. And so, if you're going at 100 Watts, times 3.6, 360 calories per hour. And so, if you're on the recumbent bike, 50 Watts, you're wasting your time unless you're 98 years old and Grandma Josephine, going to 50 Watts, practically nothing. You burn more calories than that walking to the freaking bathroom.
So, what is a good amount of Watts to exercise at? Well, I'll tell you this: whatever you weigh in pounds, go at that pace. If you weigh 200 pounds and you can exercise at 200 Watts, you're doing good. Good job. You worked for it. You're burning more calories than last time. If it's less than that, train harder. Eventually, you'll be able to do it.
Now, if you're overweight, perhaps you're 300 pounds, obviously it's going to be hard. And so, is that not more motivation to lose weight? If you're 300 pounds, very difficult to exercise at 300 Watts. And so, if you lose some weight, become healthier, go down to a healthy body fat percentage, perhaps it's 15, 20, whatever, you'll be much better conditioned, be able to burn off body fat, a bunch of calories, and maintain your weight.
And so, the next worst form of cardio, sorry everyone, the number one cardio that most people are doing, it's the treadmill, and it's the second worst. And listen, I'm being nice. It could have literally been the worst. And why? Because on the treadmill, you're walking around, going like this, your legs are swinging back and forth. How hard is that? Literally, "Hafias" are hanging on for dear life. "Oh, pull me up the hill." How many calories do you really think you're burning? "Oh, it says I burn a thousand calories in an hour." Did you really? You're hanging on for dear life, you're draped over the machine, walking. "Oh, I got a whole hour to do. My coach said I need to do 60 minutes for my next competition." So you crank it up to four miles an hour, yet you're hardly burning off any calories because you're not carrying your weight. And if you're walking on a flat, you're hardly burning off any calories. Not many muscles are being used.
And so, what is the secret? How do you turn the treadmill into a fat-burning machine? It's simple. You move up the incline. And not to two or three percent. What's wrong with you? 15 percent, like a real man, woman, or circle. So, when you increase the incline, you are forced to carry your body weight, literally, up a hill. And so, what do you think is going to burn more calories? Walking on a flat, just moving horizontally, or carrying your fat ass up a freaking mountain?
And so, if you walk up on a 15 incline, you literally burn double the calories of walking on the flat. So, if you're walking along, burning off 320 calories per hour, it's not a lot. 320 calories in an entire hour. Yet, you stopped at 30 minutes, you burn off 160. It's what, a couple bites of a cheeseburger? And so, double up the incline, walk at 15 percent, that 320 becomes 640. A lot better. And so, in the half an hour, you burn just as many calories at 15 as you would walking for an hour on the flat.
And of course, how fast you walk makes a significant impact on how many calories you're burning. But the average person's walking approximately three miles per hour. And if you weigh 155 pounds, that's about 100 calories per mile times three miles an hour, 300 calories in an hour. And if you're a really fast walker, that guy, "Wow, look, I'm fast." He's walking four miles an hour, it's only 400 calories. And so, you've got your step tracker on, you're counting your steps, but you're literally going to be walking one or two hours a day, if it's on the flat, to burn enough calories to make a significant difference in your weight loss journey.
And so, rather than that, if you don't have the time, put the incline up to 15 and walk half the distance. It's that easy. Now, remember, not everyone is at the same starting place. And so, if you're morbidly obese or very unfit, you've never trained, walking on a flat, probably plenty of activity for you. You don't have to make it harder. But over the course of months and or years, over time, please move up that incline, walk faster, and don't forget to progressive overload. If you continue to walk at the same pace all the time, of which most people do, they go outside to go for a walk, they don't go faster, they're never going to get faster. The goal is to become a better calorie burner. You've become more healthy. You adapt to what you're doing. It allows you to go faster. The faster you go, the more calories you burn. More calories burned, the greater the fat loss, and the more food you can eat. The easier it is to maintain a lean and healthy physique.
And next up, it's getting better, better form of cardio. This one is the stepper. And based on what I just said, you know why. Yeah, you're right. It's because you're going up, you're carrying your body weight, you're going to burn off more calories in comparison to walking horizontally on the treadmill. You're literally carrying yourself up a hill, straight up, like climbing a ladder. And so, because of that, you're going to burn far more calories. It's almost guaranteed you're going to have to work hard in comparison to that recumbent bike. You're laying on your back, "Gun like this." Is that really hard versus climbing up on a stepper?
And so, unless you're draped over the machine, hanging on for dear life, as many people do, the stepper is automatically going to make it very difficult for you. And so, therefore, you're going to burn off more calories. And remember, you don't need to do HIIT cardio. Some people, they're going to go really fast and then really slow and go back and forth. That can very easily lead to overtraining, and you don't need to do it. And don't fall for those gimmicks saying you only need to do HIIT cardio, 10, 10, 15, 20 minutes a day, it's all you need. The afterburn, the afterburn is in fact greater when doing longer bouts of steady-state cardio than doing short bouts of HIIT cardio.
And so, if you actually want to burn the greatest number of calories and decrease your body fat the most, steady-state cardio for longer periods of time by far supersedes doing HIIT cardio. So, what heart rate should you go at? Well, Zone 2 cardio, that seems to be the best. Change your body to burn more fat fuel for energy. It allows you to recover, not feel overtrained. And so, therefore, you're going to hold on to more muscle tissue in comparison to doing HIIT cardio. Hard to recover from, breaks down more muscle tissue, makes it harder to recover. And so, you're going to, in fact, lose more muscle doing HIIT cardio than doing steady-state.
And so, what is Zone 2 cardio? Well, it's not easy. It's not going for a walk with Grandma Josephine. It's also not hard. You're not out of breath. You're not really pushing yourself. It's somewhere in the middle. It's a moderate pace, something you consistently do for well over an hour. And sorry, unfortunately, I can't give you an exact heart rate. I can't say 220 minus age times this. Those are all BS formulas that guess what your heart rate should be. A better test is the talking test. When you're doing your cardio, can you carry on a conversation? If it's so easy that you can run on for paragraphs, sing a song, it's too easy. And in comparison, if you can't form a freaking sentence, it's going too hard. Somewhere in the middle, you can say a sentence, take a few breaths, take a sentence, and continue.
And this will let you know if you went too hard in your cardio session. If the day after you did cardio, you're sore from it, your hips are sore, quads, hamstrings, whatever, you went too hard. Go easier the next time. If you don't feel anything, you can attempt to go harder. Remember, with cardio, just like lifting weights, you have to progressive overload over time to get better at it, to become a better calorie burner. Whatever amount of cardio you can do right now, if you're not used to it, most likely you will double your ability to burn calories in only one or two years. It makes a significant difference. Your body's going to adapt, your heart gets better, you live longer, burn off more calories, get leaner, healthier, decrease blood pressure, cholesterol. And so, why are you not doing cardio?
And so, which is the ultimate or best form of cardio to burn the most amount of calories and or fat? Well, the answer to that is the elliptical or the assault bike. Any cardiovascular exercise where you're using the upper body and the lower body at the same time ultimately allows you to burn the most amount of calories. And of course, it makes sense. If you're only using your upper body, you can only burn off so many calories. It's not a lot. And if you're using your lower body, you're going to burn off more calories than your upper body because those muscles are bigger, but not as much as if you're using both. And so, think of it, you're using your whole body, upper body back and forth, and your legs. And so, if you're new to the gym, a beginner, you don't know where to start, you want to burn the most amount of calories, please try beginning with an elliptical or perhaps an assault bike.
And you're thinking, "Yeah, but what about the rowing machine? That does your lower and upper body, right?" Well, yes, it does, but places a lot of strain on your lower back and it's very difficult to do for a long time. Remember, to burn a lot of calories, you need to do a lot of cardio. You're not going to burn thousands of calories doing a 10 or 15-minute workout. And so, very difficult for most people to go and sit on a rowing machine and row for an hour. You're leaning forward, pulling back, and it's hard on the lower back. And so, you want to be able to recover, allow you to continue to lift weights. And so, for me, at least, perhaps not you, I find it very difficult to do the rowing machine for an extended period of time. But of course, it does burn a lot of calories. It is using your entire body. And so, there's nothing wrong with doing it so long as it doesn't hurt your lower back.
And of course, if if you're outside looking for an activity and you're skilled and it's the winter time, cross-country skiing. That is amazing. You're using your upper body and your legs. And so, it's very easy to see which forms of cardio burn more calories than others. So, I'm sure if I gave you a pop quiz at this point and said, "Which of these cardiovascular activities burn more than the others?" You would quite easily be able to do so.
So, let's compare some just to make sure you understand. Take swimming, for example. Swimming out in the ocean, perhaps you're doing laps, you're using your upper body and you're kicking with your legs. It's going to burn off a lot of calories. In comparison, you're belly dancing or you're doing the Iron Jig. You're going to burn off more calories swimming than in your dancing because primarily you're using your legs. You're not burning a lot of calories dancing around, moving your hips back and forth. Your arms are not doing a lot. And even if you swing them around, "I'm a dancer, look at me go! Hip hop! Yay, yay, yay! Back and forth! Look at me go!" There's not much resistance going on here. My arms, they're pushing wind. It's not very hard. It's like lay back on a recumbent bike, fitting into nothing.
And so, if you're dancing, moving your arms around, you had burned some calories, but not a lot in comparison. You're sweating in the water. Water is heavy. You got to move it around. Oh, push water, water, get out of my way! I have a faster swimmer than last time. Move over, Michael Phelps, I'm doing my breaststroke better than last time.
So, you can see the swimming because you're using your upper body pushing things, it's going to be harder. When you're dancing against air resistance, it's kind of easy, so you're not going to burn as many calories dancing as you are swimming. But you're dancing around, you're jumping, you're using your legs, so it's a very good lower body exercise. You're carrying your upper body weight, but it's not burning as many calories with your upper body.
And one last point is that lifting weights burns far fewer calories than doing steady-state cardio. And I'd explain why, hopefully understand it. Think of it, you're doing the preacher curls, you're sitting down and doing that. How much of your body is actually being used to move that weight? Not a lot. Your arms. How many calories could your arms burn? And your legs, they're sick, they're stationary. Then you take a rest. You're not doing very much. And then you head over to the leg extension machine and you do leg extensions. And so, your legs are working, but your upper body is just sitting there. You take a break. Then you go and do the bench press. And yeah, your upper body is working, but what are the legs doing? And so, in comparison, when lifting weights, selected body parts are being activated, but your entire body is not. And even if your entire body is, for example, the deadlifts, very difficult. The squats, very difficult. Notice you don't squat straight for an hour. If you did, would burn a ton of calories. Go and deadlift for an hour, you're burning a ton of calories. But most people, they do a set of ten, then they rest, then they do another set of ten. And so, you're not doing a whole bunch of reps. If you did sets of 500, you'd burn a ton of calories. You'd be moving your entire body over and over again for several minutes. But if you're doing a typical bodybuilding or powerlifting workout, your sets are going to take several seconds, up to maybe a minute.
So, if you want to burn the most amount of calories, please do cardio. 150 minutes of moderately intense cardio. Not Grandma Josephine cardio, just moving your legs back and forth. Something that's actually hard, something challenging. You don't have to go out of breath. You don't have to do HIIT cardio. You have to destroy yourself on the machine. Just go harder than last time.
And if you're looking to improve your cardio, burn more calories, more fat, the number one supplement by far, GO2 Max. The main ingredient, NMN. It's so good, it's recently even banned by the FDA in the United States. They're saying, "This is too good. We need to classify it as a drug." But it's not banned by water. You can use it in Olympic sporting competition. And so, you're not cheating. And the research is very clear. Double-blind, placebo-controlled studies. That's right, it's not the placebo effect. And what were the results? 50% improvement in the walking test score. Not from athletes on special training programs, people ages 40 to 65. They just took the supplements, and wow, what a difference. And not only does it improve your ability to perform cardio, you recover faster between sets, increase in blood pressure, cholesterol, also allows you to sleep better, put you in a better mood. So many positives and no negatives. And so, how could this not be the number one supplement you can take above all? And I don't mean the number one supplement, and I'm including creatine, everything. This is the number one supplement you could take. Head over to my website, Code Gregg, 10 off. Just click the link in the description. Buy in bulk, save more money than last time.
Let me know in the comment section, does everything make sense now? Do you understand why steady-state cardio is better than HIIT cardio for burning fat? Do you understand what form of cardio is the best to help you with your weight loss goals? Can you see that it doesn't have to be hard? That enjoyment is in fact important? That if you learn to push yourself harder than last time? That if you're a beginner, you could quite literally be doubling the amount of calories you can burn in only one or two years from now? And don't forget, cardio is in fact the most underrated form of exercise you can do to burn calories. Many people think it's overrated. It's under...
Ending it here. Subscribe. Click the bell button. Comment. Free algorithm. Like the video if you liked it. And please leave a comment. Like the video right now. And follow the channel. Push the bell button. Also, watch one of the loops. And don't forget the cookbooks, the training books, the coaching plans by me and my team. The Circle Diet book. The clothing line. You can get so much clothes from my website, including the tank tops, hoodies, shorts, jogging pants, everything. Head over to the website. And don't forget harder than last time supplements. You can see many in the backgrounds, as well as a free diet and training program over 50 pages. Click the link in the description. And until next time, I'm out.