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Your Feel Great Weight Cardio Plan

Want to lose weight for good? “The key is exercising consistently in a way that burns calories, reduces body fat, builds muscle, and stokes your metabolism,” fitness expert Geralyn Coopersmith says.

Want to lose weight for good? “The key is exercising consistently in a way that burns calories, reduces body fat, builds muscle, and stokes your metabolism,” fitness expert Geralyn Coopersmith says. “That’s what this plan is all about.” It combines fat-burning cardio interval workouts with muscle-building strength training, so you’ll burn even more calories—even when you’re not exercising.

Outdoor-walking workout:
1. Walk at a moderate pace for 3 minutes.
2. Use normal strides, arms swinging alongside your body.
3. Power-walk (take shorter, faster steps, drive bent elbows back, and let hips move side to side) for 1 minute. Focus on landing on your heel and rolling through the ball of the foot and the toe.
4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for a total of 30 minutes.

Treadmill workout:
1. Walk at a moderate pace for 3 minutes.
2. Pick up the pace and increase incline by 2–3 percent for 1 minute. You should be exerting enough effort so that it’s hard to keep up a conversation.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for a total of 30 minutes.

Elliptical workout:
1. Use light resistance with high ramp for 3 minutes.
2. Lower ramp and increase resistance; work at a challenging pace for 1 minute.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for a total of 30 minutes.

Bike workout:(outdoor or indoor)
1. Pedal at a moderate intensity (a 6 or 7 out of 10) for 3 minutes.
2. Up intensity (to an 8 or 9 out of 10) for 1 minute.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for a total of 30 minutes.

Last Updated: April 23, 2008

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