Is Cardio the Best Way to Get Toned?

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Is cardio the best way to get toned? I'm a mom just starting to get back into working out after a long layoff off due to work and family commitments. I haven't been to the gym in a little over 2 years even though I kept the membership and I feel like I'm starting from scratch. I need to lose about 30 pounds and want to shape up as soon as possible.

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Michael Collins: Ahh, those work and family commitments always seem to get in the way of exercise, don't they?

In any case, cardio is a piece of the puzzle but it's not the entire picture.

Being that you're a member of a gym, you'll have plenty of tools to work with to get the pounds off and back to where you want to be.

The best overall strategy will take into account the triad of effec cardio best for toning tive weight loss- nutrition, resistance training and cardio.

Nutrition. The greatest impact on losing those 30 pounds will come from getting your nutrition program dialed in. It doesn't make any sense to start cranking away on exercise if you're negating the calorie burn with food and drink.

I highly recommend our Black Book of Secrets for the low down on how to eat most effectively for fat loss and techniques to make the process of shifting to "fat loss eating" easier. Get it here.

Resistance training. This is where the second greatest impact will come from. Resistance training will help you "tighten and tone" by conditioning the muscles and laying the groundwork for a hotter metabolism.

The conditioned muscles will burn more calories while at rest (like sitting or sleeping) and while exercising than unconditioned muscles.

There's heaps of information on MCNewsletters on the principles of resistance training for fat loss. Start here.

Cardio. The final piece of the fat loss puzzle is cardio. This is where you're going to dig in to create a caloric deficit that drives fat loss.

Being in the gym, you'll have plenty of cardio equipment to choose from. Most places nowadays have everything from treadmills, bikes and ellipticals to stair climbers and ARC trainers.

elliptical machine for fat loss

My first rule of cardio- choose the machine you enjoy doing first. If you like the recumbent bike, go with that. If you like the elliptical, go with that. The point is do what you like doing first and get in the groove.

Once you're on a roll, which usually takes about 2 weeks, then you can nail down advanced cardio strategies to really dig into the calorie deficit.

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