The cardiovascular training sessions where one of the main reasons my goals where achieved, however this needs to be managed and monitored very closely, it directly correlates to the intelligence information you receive every week from your Biokineticist.

 

You need to remember that what I was trying to achieve was to retain muscle and burn fat, this I obtained by using the correct supplements at the correct times (pre and post resistance training supplementation) thereby protecting and enhancing muscle fibre regeneration. With this being in place the cardio side could be approached knowing that I had structured my nutrition plan correctly.

 

There are allot of theories as to how one could approach this part of your training routine, USN has cardio strategy available on their website as well as in the USN Body & Lifestyle Passport available in the starter pack. I will be giving one of many theories as I followed it throughout my challenge.

 

The first thing I needed to do was identify my target heart rate or commonly known as your optimal fat burn zone, this would enable me to primarily burn a higher percentage of fat calories rather than carbohydrate calories, carbohydrate calories was after all what I was trying to protect.

 

What this means is that if you are sitting on the stationary bicycle and after 20 minutes you have burnt a total of 220 calories that at least 50% of those expended calories come from fat.

 

Like I said, there are different theories and this is just one of them. The trick here is to keep in the optimal fat burn range at the maximum intensity possible over an extended period of time, between 20 & 30 minutes.

 

If you look at my measurements you can clearly see what I mean by this, in my weekly measurements, if you look under Tracking My Progress you will notice that my circumferences did not fluctuate to much but my body fat and weight was dropping constantly, for me this was achieved by executing all the factors correctly, i.e. Diet, intelligence information and correctly structuring a workout strategy, however if you get this wrong the repercussions are significant. I got it wrong in the last week of my USN Body & Lifestyle Challenge, look at my circumferences; can you see what I mean?

 

I panicked and over did my cardio sessions not keeping my expended calories in mind; the result was not what I wanted and lost size.

 

Monitor your results closely and alternate your calorie intake every week if you need to, until you achieve your desired result.

 

• Training Routine
• Weight (Resistance) Training
• Calculation for the Karvonen Formula: Fat Burning Zone

 

Good luck with your Cardiovascular Training.