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Posts Tagged ‘intensity’

Since it hastens the fat burning process, high intensity interval training has become an essential element in a variety of body building and weight loss programs across the universe.

If the body takes in X number of calories a day, in order to lose fat, it needs to continuously burn more than X number of calories every day. To compensate for the loss, the body then utilizes the reserved body fat for the rest of the activities.

We usually resort to time consuming cardio workouts, such as treadmills and exercise bikes that require long hours of rigorous, exhausting workout sessions. Apart from the fact that we get bored and discontinue just after a few such sessions, these can also hurt the joints and drain out all the energy at the end of every session.

Highly effective and less-time consuming, the high intensity interval training is capable of burning calories real quick. Even if not more, almost the same number of calories as in normal cardio exercises is burned in the high intensity interval training.

What is HIIT?

Unlike normal methods, the high intensity interval training workout consists of a mix of relaxed, moderate and fast-paced exercises, while also alternating between two intensity levels.

Alternating between paces relaxes the body for a short while during the slow to moderate paced session before the next session of high intensity workout begins. The body is, thereby, able to bear the intensity of the workout and endure the prolonged sessions, not common with the typical workouts.

You may include the following in your routine workout sessions:

• Warm up – 5 minutes
• Moderate-paced jogging – 1 minute
• Fast-paced sprint – 20-30 seconds (repeat about 7 – 10 times)
• Relax/Cool down – 5 minutes

There should be nothing that restricts you to follow just the exercises above The following exercises can be interchanged with the ones above:

• On the spot jogging or marching/skipping (jump rope)
• Cycling (vary the speeds to alternate between fast and moderate intensities)
• Burpees

The heart beat is increased during the 15 to 20 minute high intensity sessions. While on the other hand, the following moderate intensity session helps the body relax and get ready for the next intense session.

A 30 to 40 minute high intensity inteval workout session can burn more calories than the normal 40 minute cardio excercises.

Interval training workouts are much more effective when paired with resistance training (using weights). The resistance training should, however, be done before the high intensity interval training workout session.

When resistance training is followed by typical cardio excercises, your body automatically regresses to the anabolic phase deterring weight loss. Resistance training, however, can be combined with high intensity interval training to accelerate muscle recovery by accelerating the fat break down. Thus, the high intensity interval training, due to its indisputable benefits in terms of effectiveness and time, be considered an integral component of all body building or weight losscurricula.

For even faster and safe results, follow your high intensity interval training with  suitable post workout meals.

It can be confusing to decide which is the best intensity of cardio for you and your body.  Both forms of cardio intensity have their benefits so why not implement both into your workout.  The question here is which way is the best way to burn off the most body fat. 

Scientists discovered some time ago that during intensive exercising, your body burns glycogen, which is a form of carbohydrate that is stored in your liver and muscles for quick energy.  Glycogen can be stored in the body as fat if it isn’t used or spent in some form of exercise.

If your questioning whether or not low intensity cardio will have the desired effect on its own, the answer is almost certainly no.  I am sure you have all seen those gym goers who never seem to shift their body fat levels.  A year later these people are still going through the motions without any noticeable difference. There may be many reasons for this, for example their diet may be awful so they are taking one step forward and two steps back.

Scientific research has stated that the body taps into the body fat quicker when using low intensity cardio but the rate of usage is low.  But when you train with high intensity by using a treadmill or rowing machine then a lot of glycogen and calories will be burnt off.  But it not only burns the glycogen from your muscles but a lot of body fat will be used up too.

To make it even better, the store of glycogen is depleted and then the food you consume later will replace the glycogen stores in your muscles rather than being stored as body fat like it usually would.

Really high intensity cardio will boost your bodies ability to burn fat even after your workout is finished.  What this means, is that your body will continue to burn body fat for hours after you have left the gym.  You will not experience this during low level cardio workouts.

As you get fitter with a high level of intensity you will be able to burn far more calories later on as you up the intensity even more. This allows for progressive loss of body fat as you become stronger.

The best of both worlds is known as interval training which combines high and low intensity training to really ramp up your metabolism for great fat burning. You can walk for 5 minutes or so, then jump on a rowing machine for another 5 minutes or so for example.  After that, start walking quickly again to catch your breath before sprinting again or hitting the rowing machine.  Then, simply rotate the low intensity and high intensity parts of your workout for 15 to 20 minutes.

A great benefit about cardio that is often overlooked is the great increase in energy each day.  You will burn a lot of body fat using cardio but that is only one of the great benefits from working out.

Don’t hesitate in giving your body a regular cardio workout. It promotes fitness, health and beauty.  If you like to keep fit then cardio exercise will give you the greatest increase in overall health and energy.  If you are just starting out, you’ll want to go slow and keep your cardio exercise on track - as it is very easy to over exert yourself.