There was a time when cardio was all the rage. For weight loss and general health, everyone was doing cardio. All the time. Women steered clear of weight training for fear of bulking up and men stuck with the weights simply because cardio options were mostly dance aerobics. The days of fitness tunnel vision have now passed, however.

We know now that the best way to maintain a killer physique and ultimate health is through a combination of different types of exercise.

Cardio is great to keep the heart and lungs healthy. It also has a fast acting calorie burning effect. While you are working out, you are burning serious calories with cardio. Cardio alone, however, isn’t enough.

In order to really sculpt the body of your dreams you need to have some strength training. Not only does strength training build muscle, it protects joints and even prevents osteoporosis. Lastly, building muscles provides a different kind of calorie burn. Because muscle burns more calories than fat, as you put on muscle your metabolism increases, allowing you to burn calories even when at rest.

Lastly, you need to ass some flexibility training. Whether you do simple stretching or a weekly Yoga workout, maintaining flexibility is a great way to prevent injury and to keep aches and pains at bay.

Overall fitness demands you add several different types of exercise to your fitness regimen. When paired with a healthy diet, a highly varies fitness routine can drastically transform your body. For great workouts that include a variety of approaches, check out the P90X system.

P90X includes 12 unique wor

The P90X workout videos are a combination of cardio routines and strength building. There is also a X Stretch DVD to keep the body limber. Each routine pushes you to your limits, in order to ensure you get maximum benefits.

With the program, each of these P90X workout videos is designed to build muscle: Chest & Back, Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X, Core Synergistics, Legs & Back, Back & Biceps, and Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps. These muscle building P90X workout videos will tone and define your muscles, working to increase your metabolism and subsequently burn fat as well.

These are the P90X workout videos for cardio fitness: Cardio X, Plyometrics, Yoga X, and Kenpo X. working your heart and lungs is important in your overall health. These cardio workouts will improve your endurance and also burn calories. In addition, each of these workouts requires some strength building activity, working the muscles to improve strength, flexibility, and coordination.

Many of these P90X workout videos pull double duty. Yoga X for example isn’t the calm stretching break people might think it will be. Instead you will be sweating and your heart will be racing as you push your body to hold poses for an extended period. The heart racing shows you it is giving your cardiovascular system a good workout while the poses force you to build strength and flexibility.

The P90X workouts are designed to work together. They are most effective when used in conjunction with the P90X workout calendar you received with your program. When used as recommended, you will be amazed at your results.

When we think of “aerobics” we commonly think of women in spandex doing dance moves to Top 40 music. This form of fitness is a good example of “aerobic exercise” but isn’t the only one. As a matter of fact, many fitness programs are centered on aerobic exercise. Simply put, aerobic exercise is exercise that increases your cardiovascular health. It is a synonym for “cardio” exercise.

As a cardiovascular activity, aerobic exercises include everything from running to many fitness DVD’s as well as some organized sports and martial arts. Non-aerobic exercise then is exercise that doesn’t increase your breathing and heart rate much. Very low impact and low intensity work qualifies as non-aerobic exercise.

Stretching is a great form of non-aerobic exercise. Things like Yoga and Pilates involve stretching but are both very intense and likely to dramatically work your heart and lungs. For this reason, the more strenuous versions of these types of workouts would not be considered non-aerobic exercises.

Light strength training can also be a good non-aerobic workout. Being careful to lift only light weights and use controlled measured movements will guarantee that your heart and lungs aren’t worked too hard.

Non-aerobic exercise may appeal to people recently out of surgery or of limited capabilities. Light exercise is great for people who may not have the capabilities that normal healthy adults do. Monitoring your breathing and heart rate are good ways to ensure the activity you choose is definitely a non-aerobic exercise.

First off, cardiovascular exercises burn calories immediately. When you get your heart rate up and maintain that elevation for an extended period you burn calories. This means, for that day, you are helping to create a caloric deficit that leads to weight loss. Weight loss workouts that include cardio are those that focus on cardiovascular fitness (health of your heart and lungs) and those that use an elevated heart rate to burn calories.

Not to be done by the immediate effects of cardio workouts, weight loss workouts should also include a good portion of strength training. When you build muscles you increase your metabolism. A faster more efficient metabolism means that you will naturally burn more calories, even when you are at rest. Chalene Johnson capitalizes on this principle in the new ChaLEAN Extreme workout system. Building muscle is a more long term solution to losing weight through exercise.

No weight loss workout would be effective if you continue to eat the same. Weight loss food plans are an important part of the whole weight loss experience. You can lose weight by only changing your activity level, but those results will be maximized when you also change your diet. Reducing calories and limiting fattening foods are the simplest ways to encourage weight loss through diet.

The best weight loss workouts consider all three of these things: cardio, strength training, and diet. A workout system like P90X, ChaLEAN Extreme, or 10 Minute Trainer does all of these things and encourages weight loss in its participators. With the help of expert trainers, these systems are foolproof weight loss workouts for those people who truly dedicate themselves to the system.