Body Work with Glenn Cardwell

‘When should I exercise? I have read that you will burn more fat if you exercise before breakfast.’

Glenn Cardwell

‘The biggest factor for burning body fat is whether you do the activity in the first place. It may be interesting to speculate whether you burn more fat in certain circumstances, but the best I can give you is a general guide.

1. To burn fat you have to be active in the first place.
2. The fitter you are the better your body is at burning fat. To get to a reasonable level of fitness, you need to move your body 3–5 times a week.
3. It doesn’t matter if you walk or jog. You will burn more fat jogging for 30 minutes than walking for 30 minutes. On the other hand, you will burn more fat by walking for 60 minutes than jogging for 30 minutes.
4. The amount of incidental activity during the day will potentially burn more fat than a jog. Getting up from your chair, having a stretch, taking a quick walk around the office, using the stairs etc will probably burn more body fat during the day. So don’t do 30 minutes of exercise then tick the exercise box and plonk your bum on a chair for the rest of the day.
5. Notice how fidgeters tend to be leaner? One study showed that fidgeters burned an extra 40–60 Cals (165–250 kJs) an hour. Regularly have a wriggle in your chair or a fidget while you stand.
6. Weight bearing exercise like walking, aerobics and jogging are better at burning up fat stores than weight supported exercise like swimming or cycling. However it’s better to do something you enjoy than analyse its fat burning potential. Refer back to point 1.’

www.glenncardwell.com