To lose fat, cardio exercises should be done for a minimum of thirty minutes per session. Having just 20 minutes of cardio can't make everybody lose fats. It would have been enought o take 30 minutes if you are a beginner. However, if you are on fat loss plateau, breaking it would require increasing the time you put into it. For most, that would be between 40 to 45 minutes of cardio duration. More than 1 hour of cardio workout is already too much. If your body is not responding to increased cardio durations, you can add frequency. Usual frequency is three days per week. It would be necessary to add 1 day per week in order to break fat loss plateaus. It would be enough to have 7 cardio days per week for 12 weeks in order to break a fat loss plateau.
You may also increase your intensity in order to tweak your cardio. You will need to increase your heart rate to 85% of the maximum. For most people, that is between 150 to 170 beats per minute. Going over this makes you short of breath, forcing you to cut on your duration. If you are already doing high intensity cardio, you have to try another tactic. Changing the type of aerobic exercise that you're doing can be beneficial. If your cardio exercise works, however, don't be too quick in changing it. Variety is recommended however it would be better to get results out of it.
Interval trainings work by alternating high intensity bursts with short resting periods. Having high intensity means you need to go over 85% of your normal heart rate. This burns a lot of calories. A rest period follows, allowing you to catch your breath. Then the cycle begins anew. The interval length usually ranges between 30 seconds to two minutes. An extreme strategy to break a fat loss plateau is to do two cardio sessions per day. This is not for the long term but it is effective in boosting your metabolism and burning extra calories. However, it can also put an enormous amount of stress to the body. Use this strategy only when all other cardio tweaks fail and only for a short period of time.
Breaking a fat loss plateau can be impossible if you insist on staying in your comfort zone. In the first place, a plateau happens because the body has settled down on a routine. A fat loss plateau is like your body has gone sleeping on the job. Tweaking your cardio plan is one way to wake it up.
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