Hello,
I am wondering if taking a caffine tabelet and a couple asperin will help with fat loss during a cardio workout? The caffine is to speed up the heart a little, and the asperin is to increase the blood circulation in hard-to-reach areas such as the stomach on men and cellulite on women. Anyway, I've been told that this will help. What are your opinions?
Thank you!

For maximum fat burning you only need to increase your heart rate 50 to 60% and maintain for about 40 to 60 min. Achieving such HR is not very hard to do, and anything above that doesn’t allow for maximum fat burning. My suggestion is do not take anything before cardio or fat burning routine. It may be a good idea to take an aspirin or two afterwards.

I do take caffeine pills about 20 min before working out, but that is to maintain energy thru weight training.
Just to stress again… cardio and fat burning are not the same thing. For maximum fat burning, heart rate needs to be controlled thru extended period of time. For Cardio, take it up to 75% and maintain for 20 min only (include 5 min warm up and cool down for total of 30 min).

I hope that helps.

Hi Magic,
thanks for replying. I'm confused at what you said regarding cardio versus fat burning. Cardiovascular exercise does burn fat if one has fat to burn. So why is burning fat and cardio different? We do cardio when we do anything that elevates the heart to the percentage you suggested or faster, such as jogging, swimming, fast-walking, biking etc.... and there is no choice but to burn fat, or in the very least we burn calories which if we burn enough, we will achieve a caloric deficit below our maintenance level and we lose fat. So either way, cardio is the way to go to burn/lose fat.
Another way is by lifting weights which increases metabolism in order to burn more calories throughout the day. The third and last way is of course eating healthy, but making sure we are not eating more calories then we burn.
So to sum it up, any form of exercise that speeds the heart will burn fat or burn calories which in the long run we will lose fat do to the caloric deficit, along with lifting weights and eating right.
Any more comments welcome.

When you do cardio, you also burn protein (ie. muscle). When you keep you heart rate lower, you burn mainly just fat. However, you will still burn more fat doing cardio because you are working a lot harder. This is why, you can do 2 things to maximize your fat burning while reducing muscle loss during a "cardio" workout.
1) be sure to have lots of protein before and after a workout (also aids in muscle recovery)
2) use HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) - by running for short distances (20-30 seconds) and then jogging for longer (30-45 seconds), you will optimize your fat burning while reducing the amount of protein that is burnt.

Dear Bookstar,

You are absolutely right “any form of exercise that speeds the heart will burn fat or burn calories “

It really depends on what your goal.
For me, I try to spend less time at the gym with maximum results, which means that each exercise (activity) has a specific target. If I am concentrating on improving cardiovascular, then I don’t worry about fat burning (its just gravy  ). If its my fat burning day then I concentrate on fat burning by controlling HR, intensity and time. When it’s a lifting day, then muscle strength is my primary goal – elevated HR and fat bur again – just gravy.

There are many different approaches to building your routine depending on goals. I guess you are going to have to figure out what works for you.

You're right Magic. But I do have a question that has confused me from the beginning. You mentioned monitoring heart rate, and we both know it should be between 60%-75% to burn fat, but how do I know when I am achieving that HR level? I feel if I all out sprint, I won't be able to maintain it for more then the alotted time to burn fat, but at the same time if I am going too moderately, I feel I won't get results or burn very much. How does one know when they are at the proper HR level to burn fat?
I like to jog for 5 minutes, then walk fast for 5 minutes etc... alternating speeds (as I cannot jog for very long), but I am afraid when i slow to a fast walk from a jog I am no longer in that HR level of 60%-75%. A lot of people say we usually are most of the time, unless we are just walking or biking casually, then maybe we are only using 40%-50%.
What is your input? Anyone else is welcome too.

Oh I see now your dilemma 

Ok.
#1 You have to determent your HR ranges. This is how you do that.
1 –To determent your maximum HR. Subtract your age from 220.
(For example a 20 year old will have maximum HR of 200 ( 220-20=200)
2 – Determent your ranges.
60% HR ( 200*60%=120)
75% HR (200*75%=150)
80% HR (200*80%=160)
90% HR (200*80%=180)
you get the point…

If you are working out at a gym, then most cardio machines can measure your HR. If you are working out outside, get a sports watch with a timer or one that shows seconds at least (you can probably pick up one for about 20$ at any sports store and abuse it as much as you want) So in the slower intervals of your work out measure your pulse. I usually do it for 15 sec instead of the more common 10sec measurement. Lets say my pulse is 40 for the 15 seconds, multiply by 4… there you go 160 is my current HR. A little tip… I have a table that I use so I don’t have to do math in the middle of my work out. Determent your ranges for 15 seconds. Something like
Fat Blasting HR range
60% to 75% or
120 to 150 HR per minute or
30 to 38 HR per 15 seconds.

In the middle of my run, if my heart is dropping below 30, I know to raise it a bit. Don’t go crazy measuring it every 5 min or trying to be at an exact %, after all, this is why it’s a Range. After awhile you will get to know your body and won’t even need to measure. I don’t measure HR anymore, I just know.

Thank you Magic. I will take your advice and try it! ;-)