What is the best cardio for losing fat without losing muscle?? Walking, running, HIIT, incline treadmill workouts, or Zone 2 cardio?
In Day 43 of The Body Recomposition Revolution, we begin Week 7 by answering one of the biggest cardio questions women ask:
Which type of cardio is best for fat loss?
The answer is not simply the workout that burns the most calories in 30 minutes.
For women over 35 focused on body recomposition, the best cardio is the type that supports strength training, preserves muscle, improves cardiovascular fitness, and allows you to recover.
You’ll learn why excessive cardio can leave women exhausted, hungry, weaker, and smaller without creating the toned shape they wanted. We also establish the body recomposition hierarchy:
- Strength training
- Daily movement and NEAT
- Zone 2 cardio
- Limited HIIT
- Recovery
You’ll also learn why adherence matters more than choosing the “perfect” machine, how daily steps can contribute substantially to energy expenditure, and why combining aerobic exercise with progressive strength training produces better body-composition results than cardio alone.
A practical weekly structure for many women includes three to five strength sessions, 8,000–12,000 daily steps, approximately 120–180 minutes of Zone 2 cardio, and no more than one or two brief HIIT sessions.
The goal is not to burn the maximum number of calories possible.
The goal is to burn the most calories you can recover from while continuing to build or preserve muscle.
Todays Targets
- Track your steps and begin working toward approximately 10,000 steps per day.
- Schedule your strength-training workouts before adding cardio to your calendar.
- Visit @RACFitness_ on Instagram, find the cardio guide, determine whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced exerciser, and plan your weekly cardio accordingly.
Ready to build muscle while losing fat? Join the RAC Recomp Collective for progressive monthly strength-training programs inside the RAC app.
Follow @RACFitness_ on Instagram for the cardio guide, strength-training education, and practical body recomposition resources.
Follow The Body Recomposition Revolution on Spotify and Apple Podcasts so you receive every daily lesson in the 90-day series.
Please leave a star rating to help more women discover the show and help me continue creating this free daily curriculum for all of you.
