Expert: Brandon Briggs, MS - 3/31/2008

Question
Hi Brandon

At the moment I am jogging around 40-45 mins 2-3 times a week for cardio and to reduce my waist. Due to time factor and the weather, I would like to switch to skipping indoors.

How long should I skip to get the same cardio benefit and to reduce my waist? Is it true you only need to do 1/3 or something like that of the time spent in skipping which is equivalent of the jogging?

Also what is the best to reduce the waist and have a six pack?

Thank you.

Sincerely

Eddie

Answer
Eddie,
Regardless of the type of exercise the time should stay the same. ACSM recommends that we get at least 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. The difference is in the intensity. A few ways to decide how hard you are work are..... target heart rate (THRR), RPE rating and target VO2. I would calculate a THRR and go by that. You can also check your HR during your jog and try to duplicate that during your other exercise.

Reducing you're waist is going to be tricky, since we can't spot train where we loose fat. Men typically loose more fat at their waist and women at their hips. Thats not to say that the opposite can happen. Burning fat requires aerobic exercise like your jogging but to get the most out of your exercise, I suggest increasing the number of days. you have to have a negative caloric balance to loose wait. Also mix in some strength training. Don't just work the core but all of your large muscle groups. Muscle is more efficient in burning calories.

Your abs will only show definition once you reach a certain bodyfat %. So to get that six pack you have to lower your body fat,as well as strengthen and tone your abs.

Hope this helps out.