Do you consider cardio exercise to definitely be the way to go when you’re thinking of getting in great shape and melting off excess fat?
I’m sure you’ve been told this is true lots of times.
“Do Thirty to 60 minutes of average level of intensity cardio exercise 3 to Five times a week. Perform this cardiovascular exercise in your “fat burning” range of 60% – Seventy Percent of the maximum heart rate.”
Do not succumb to this BS. The fact is, high intensity interval training is much better to help you get healthy, in shape and burn off fat faster, than any common cardio exercise. And the scientific data backs it up.
Our bodies are certainly not made to do endless amounts of a steady state exercise task. We’re made for short bursts of activity then short recovery periods.
Most tough sports (basketball, hockey, football, soccer, etc.) were created much the same way.
A great illustration I usually give is comparing the body of a top level sprinter towards that of the marathoner.
Which do you think seems to be healthier?
Which one looks to be in much better physical shape? If you wanted to know how to get ripped fast, would you ask the marathon runner or the sprinter?
And it’s not simply for shedding fat or becoming fit. There are more health and fitness benefits to high intensity interval training in comparison to longer period steady state cardiovascular exercising.
Most scientists consider long constant state cardio raises free radical production in your body, can degenerate joints, brings down immune function, causes muscle wasting, and can result in a pro-inflammatory reaction in the body that will possibly cause severe diseases.
A number of physicians felt the fact that this serious state of being physically over trained may have led to hockey star Mario Lemiuex’s cancer.
On the other hand, circuit training workouts and exercises in the form of interval training is shown to boost anti-oxidant production in the human body, as well as improving your metabolism and allowing you to lose weight and lose fat better than steady state aerobics.
There’s a lot of tips on how to do interval training.
For instance, a high intensity interval training session on the stationary bike could look something similar to this:
Warm-up for 3-4 minutes at a low setting, sufficient to break a sweat.
* Interval 1 – pedal at level 6 for 1 minute
* Interval 2 – pedal at level 2 for 1.5 minutes
* Interval 3 – pedal at level 8 for 1 minute
* Interval 4 – pedal at level 2 for 1.5 minutes
Repeat those 4 intervals Four times on a very intense 20-minute workout plan.
Clearly you have to change the levels based on your existing fitness level. But before you know it, you’ll be using intense interval training sessions to drop lots of fat quicker than you thought possible.