How to Easily Burn More Fat on the Treadmill

The reality is that fat loss is most easily achieved through calorie deprivation (eating less), improving insulin sensitivity, and theoretically, modified gene expression. The last two on the list can often be achieved via supplements or resistance training.

All that said, cardio can lead to weight loss, but the effort and exertion it requires is too impractical for anyone to do on a regular, prolonged basis. You really have to want it, and you really have to work hard.

Have you heard of Frenchman Benoit Lecomte? The dog paddled across the Atlantic Ocean without the aid of a skateboard. It took him more than two months to cover the 3,716-mile distance, often swimming up to 8 hours a day.

Now that kind of cardio burns fat. All you have to do is approximate Lecomte’s aerobic workload and keep doing it until you reach your goal, and then keep doing it forever to stay at your target weight.

C’est simple comme bonjour!

Okay, I’m being a bit of an idiot. Clearly, I think there are better ways to burn fat than running on a treadmill (or swimming across the Atlantic), but maybe there’s a way to make running on a treadmill a little more energy efficient .

Some researchers at the University of South Florida think they know of at least one way to do it. They found that using weights (arm weights, leg weights, and presumably weight vests) while using the treadmill can increase energy expenditure by 10% with no change in perceived exertion.

An extra 10 percent of “nothing at all in the first place” isn’t all that impressive, especially in my cardiovascular jaundiced eye, but for those who love the treadmill and cardio in general as a method of fat loss, portable weights, for For example, arm weights, leg weights or weight vests are something worth considering.