There is a big misconception that the faster you go the more calories you will burn. Well that is true if you go a farther distance than you would at a slower speed. The truth of the matter is it doesn’t matter from a calorie stand point if you run a mile or you walk a mile. It is still one mile, so it is the same amount of calories that you will burn.

Your speed should depend on your goals and your fitness level. If you never do cardiovascular exercise would you run a marathon without any previous training? You have to build up to your desired level. If your main goal is to burn calories it doesn’t matter how you finish the race it just matters that you finish the race.

You get the exact same health benefits if you go the same distance. So the point is it doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you do it. You will not burn as many calories if you don’t go as far. Likewise if you go for more miles you will burn more calories.

A great starting place if you have not done any cardiovascular exercise for a while is to take it one mile at a time. You may want to just walk a mile then build up to 2 miles, 3 miles… Then you can consider more advanced cardiovascular exercise such as the popular interval training.

You may want to do sport specific cardio or improve your maximal (functional) capacity, but it should only be considered when you have built up a cardiovascular base. You must first develop the habit of cardiovascular exercise.

You can begin losing your cardiovascular capacity in a matter of weeks so it is very important to make it a habit. I’ve been there, I felt as though I lost everything I worked so hard for so it is important to maintain what you have, then work to gain more. Start out slow a few calories at a time progress to more and more calories. Here’s the important message you should ask yourself if not today then when? What’s stopping you? What’s the solution to this problem?

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Tags: burn calories, cardiovascular goals, exercise to burn calories, speed of exercise, starting cardiovascular exercise

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Beginners Guide. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.