Soon after I wake up, usually after a cup of black
coffee sweetened with Stevia, I hit the treadmill. I want to make sure that I do not eat breakfast
before hand, otherwise I may not burn my fat stores. I make sure not to
add any milk or sugar to my pre-workout coffee as well.
The reason I find it best to perform my free
treadmill workouts first thing in the morning, is because my glycogen levels are
very low due to not eating for at least 8 hours.
Now, if I stay within my target fat burning zone
of 120-125 BPM, my body will look to my fat stores to fuel my cardio session.
This is EXACTLY what I want my body to do.
Another way to tell if I'm within my fat burning
heart rate is to take the "talking test". If I can hold a conversation
without getting out of breath while performing my free cardio routine, I know
I'm good to go.
Be careful here. If you go to fast and get
your heart rate up too high, you may tap into your muscle as fuel; obviously
something you don't want to do.
This free tread mill routine can get boring so I
like to crank up my iPod tunes or watch TV to keep me occupied.
This is one of my free treadmills workouts that I
use to bring my body fat down, before increasing the calories and weights in the
gym to start packing on more muscle.
I'll generally do this cardio routine
for 6 weeks or so, depending on how high my body fat was to begin with.
I try to weight myself only once a week, as the
scale can play games with your head.
I have found the mirror to be more
reliable when it comes to determining how much fat I want to lose.
High Intensity Interval Training Treadmill Workouts
I don't usually use high intensity interval
training (HIIT) for my treadmill workouts, very often.