Planning Your Cardio Section

Now we’re up to what what exercises you are actually going to do. Again we need to think about what you want, what you want to do, when and where.
So, we’ve already discussed the affects of anabolic and catabolic states and so you should have decided whether you are going to put your cardio before, after or on a different day to resistance training.

Let me starting on this by busting a myth that haunts cardio activity- low intensity CV work for long periods of time is NOT the best way to burn fat (stomach fat in particular) working at a higher intensity burns more fat per unit of time. By using higher intensity work you burn the same fat that you would at a lower intensity and then some!
As a rule of thumb you should try and aim to be doing at least 20mins of cardio training 3 times weekly. Government guidelines is 30mins 5 days a week but everyday is the ideal.
Heart rate zones- when thinking about what intensity you are going to work at you should be considering your heart rate. For a healthy asymptomatic individual, there is no reason why you cannot work at at least between 60-70% HHR (heart rate reserve) and the duration you can withstand this at will improve as your fitness improves. If you are already well conditioned you may be able to work at a higher intensity or if you are symptomatic of some kind (high blood pressure, heart condition) you should see a doctor before commencing exercise and then consult a fitness professional to prescribe you lower intensity exercise. Calculating HRR…
HRR= 220 - your age – your resting heart rate
e.g. 65% HHR of 20yr old with 60bpm resting heart rate
= 220- 20- 60 = 140bpm
= 151bpm
From this you can then monitor your heart rate to ensure your working close to your target heart rate by either wearing a heart rate monitor or using the HR sensors on many CV machines in the gym                  

Interval training is a great way to get fit and burn fat. Recent studies have also shown that interval training is particularly effective at burning belly fat. Its also a popular choice as the variance throughout the work out can make it more interesting and make your workout seem to to go faster, so many people find it more sustainable. The key is picking something you are going to do regularly, correctly and work hard on, so pick something you  enjoy.
It may be that you hate the gym, so don't go! You don't need a gym to work out! Do what you enjoy, if that's bike riding: go for a bike ride. If that's walking in the woods: walk in the woods. if its road running: go running.
Cardio training is most effective when you use the larger muscle groups- legs, bum back. So take this into account when you choose your mode of CV. (If in a gym) this may be choosing the rowing machine over a predominantly arm based exercise. But any CV training is better than none and all will be beneficial to you! Below is a list of CV gym equipment you could choose from:
+ treadmills
+ steppers
+ cross trainers/elliptical trainers
+ rowing machines
+ exercise bikes
+ climbers

The Right Training For What You Want!

Catabolic Vs Anabolic!

After thinking about your fitness goals, then next step is to plan your training plan! Here you need to think about what you want to achieve, how you’re going to achieve it and when. You need to consider the functionality of your training and think about the biology behind it to get the results you want.
Although of course everyone and their personal goals are different and these two goals do overlap, generally you can spilt people into one of two groups when it comes to starting training; the ones that want to build muscle mass and the ones who want to loose fat mass. From this you are instantly talking in terms of catabolism and anabolism.
Anabolism is the construction of molecules from smaller units- i.e. in this case, the building up of tissue, using energy. Catabolism is the opposite- i.e the breakdown of tissue to release energy. Different types of training force our bodies into either anabolic or catabolic states.
To build muscle we want our bodies to be in an anabolic state, promoting the build up of muscle tissue and increase muscle fibre size. For this we need to be doing resistance training (to build muscle size weight should be heavier for 6-8reps and to build muscle endurance 12-15reps) Resistance training releases testosterone in the body which promotes the anabolic state.
To burn fat we want our bodies to be in a catabolic state, breaking down triglycerides and fatty acids the burn off as energy. To do this we need to do cardiovascular training (this can be low or higher intensity but need to be long lasting- over 20mins) When we do CV training our bodies release cortosol which release fatty acids to break down for energy, hence fat burning.
These two metabolic states don’t work together, you are either in a catabolic or anabolic state. The cortosol released in CV work inhibits the anabolic process of testosterone.
So, if you want to improve fitness but also increase muscle mass CV work should be done on a different day to resistance training or at least 6hours after for optimum results. This way you get the health benefits of CV training, including fat burning to increase the definition of you muscles, without it inhibiting the hard work your are doing resistance training to build muscle size.
If you want to burn fat and improve muscle tone without massively increasing muscle bulk, do your cv training before the resistance training within your training session. This way you will get the toning benefit of strength training, but the cortosol inhibiting the action of the testosterone in your body will prevent your muscles gaining bulk- often relative to women (not to generalise!) that want tone but not a masculine shape.

So, before you think about your training sessions, think: what do i want? and so: do I want to be catabolic or anabolic?
Hope this helps!