With a lot of us struggling to find time to exercise it would always frustrate me to see people month after month spending their precious time in the cardio section of the gym cranking out an hour of moderate intensity jogging or what have you. I would also notice there was little change in their weight as I'm sure they did too. Can you relate to this? Don't get me wrong, if you do long distance running, cycling, etc, because you enjoy it then that's brilliant, keep it up. However, if your main goal is weight/fat loss then it's time to try something new...
It's important to understand that for effortless weight management, hormone levels should be healthy and balanced. If you're doing a lot of steady state cardio, this causes a stress response in the body and cortisol is released to break down energy for the body to use. In the short term this is healthy and natural, but if this goes on then the cortisol can cause several problems, one of those being weight gain, especially around the middle.
If you want to get the most out of your cardio workout time then you might be surprised to learn that less is more, less time that is! Maybe you've heard of the term HIIT, or Hight Intensity Interval Training, which is a buzz word in the fitness industry at the moment. It involves short bursts of highly intense activity interspersed with rest/recovery periods, time and duration vary and you can be quite creative with a workout once you understand the concept.
Probably the most popular HIIT around is the Tabata, named after the Japanese Doctor who came to the conclusion through his studies that this particular structure of intervals and high intensity work not only benefited the aerobic system but also the anaerobic system (the system used when you lift weights and muscles are working hard) therefor making this a far more efficient method for fat burning than moderate intensity cardio. And you'll be pleased to know you can get all these benefits in just under 4 minutes!
Before I give you some HIIT workouts, it's important to understand what intensity you should be working at to get maximum benefits. For example, in a Tabata you want to be going for 80-90% of your maximum heart rate, you don't necessarily have to monitor this but you can imagine that you would be working extremely hard and not exactly feeling comfortable! There's also your perceived rate of exertion which will be quite different for everyone. Some of us are less tolerant to the discomfort of a hard workout but the more you do it, the easier it will feel. You also need to get to know your own capabilities, if you over exert yourself you might find it difficult to complete the HIIT in the given work and rest periods, so learn to pace yourself appropriately.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE!
This type of training is very demanding on the heart so if you have issues or you suspect you might have then get checked out by a doctor, I cannot stress this point enough! Also, the high intensity bursts of work can sometimes make you feel nauseous and you might even vomit. To avoid this make sure you're not too tired or haven't eaten a big meal in the last few hours. If you find this happens very often then, again, see a doctor to make sure everything is ok.
It's important to understand that for effortless weight management, hormone levels should be healthy and balanced. If you're doing a lot of steady state cardio, this causes a stress response in the body and cortisol is released to break down energy for the body to use. In the short term this is healthy and natural, but if this goes on then the cortisol can cause several problems, one of those being weight gain, especially around the middle.
If you want to get the most out of your cardio workout time then you might be surprised to learn that less is more, less time that is! Maybe you've heard of the term HIIT, or Hight Intensity Interval Training, which is a buzz word in the fitness industry at the moment. It involves short bursts of highly intense activity interspersed with rest/recovery periods, time and duration vary and you can be quite creative with a workout once you understand the concept.
Probably the most popular HIIT around is the Tabata, named after the Japanese Doctor who came to the conclusion through his studies that this particular structure of intervals and high intensity work not only benefited the aerobic system but also the anaerobic system (the system used when you lift weights and muscles are working hard) therefor making this a far more efficient method for fat burning than moderate intensity cardio. And you'll be pleased to know you can get all these benefits in just under 4 minutes!
Before I give you some HIIT workouts, it's important to understand what intensity you should be working at to get maximum benefits. For example, in a Tabata you want to be going for 80-90% of your maximum heart rate, you don't necessarily have to monitor this but you can imagine that you would be working extremely hard and not exactly feeling comfortable! There's also your perceived rate of exertion which will be quite different for everyone. Some of us are less tolerant to the discomfort of a hard workout but the more you do it, the easier it will feel. You also need to get to know your own capabilities, if you over exert yourself you might find it difficult to complete the HIIT in the given work and rest periods, so learn to pace yourself appropriately.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE!
This type of training is very demanding on the heart so if you have issues or you suspect you might have then get checked out by a doctor, I cannot stress this point enough! Also, the high intensity bursts of work can sometimes make you feel nauseous and you might even vomit. To avoid this make sure you're not too tired or haven't eaten a big meal in the last few hours. If you find this happens very often then, again, see a doctor to make sure everything is ok.
try these workouts!
Always warm up first, at least 5 minutes brisk walking or jogging, do make sure you are properly warm before you start.
Sprints:
You can do sprints outdoor or on the treadmill. Outdoors, if you can then choose a soft, even surface like a grass field for example. This will make it easier on your joints. If you want to make it tougher then run on soft sand or choose a hill to sprint up!
Outdoor - Do 8 X 50m sprints, rest for 1 minute in between sprints.
Treadmill - A bit trickier as you have to keep changing the speed but the best way to do it is increase the incline to at least 12%, get the speed up so it's challenging enough for you to almost max out after 15 seconds. You need to be confident with the treadmill for this! Hold the hand rails and jump onto the outer foot plates. Keeping the treadmill running, do 15 second uphill runs, holding the hand rails to jump on and off as you need. Rest 1 minute in between. Safety wise I don't recommend this if you're not comfortable on the treadmill but this is how I have done it and as long as your timing is right then it works!
Tabata:
This can work with any type of exercise that gets your heart rate soaring, try alternating between jump squats and plyo lunges as shown in the video. You will definitely need a timer for this, download an interval timer app or get yourself a gymboss timer: http://www.gymboss.com
Here's how it works:
Round 1 - Do 20 secs hard work - Jump squats
Rest 10 secs
Round 2 - Do 20 secs hard work - Plyo lunges
Rest 10 secs
Round 3 - Do 20 secs hard work - Jump squats
Rest 10 secs
Round 4 - Do 20 secs hard work - Plyo lunges
Rest 10 secs
Round 5 - Do 20 secs hard work - Jump squats
Rest 10 secs
Round 6 - Do 20 secs hard work - Plyo lunges
Rest 10 secs
Round 7 - Do 20 secs hard work - Jump squats
Rest 10 secs
Round 8 - Do 20 secs hard work - Plyo lunges
Done!
Sprints:
You can do sprints outdoor or on the treadmill. Outdoors, if you can then choose a soft, even surface like a grass field for example. This will make it easier on your joints. If you want to make it tougher then run on soft sand or choose a hill to sprint up!
Outdoor - Do 8 X 50m sprints, rest for 1 minute in between sprints.
Treadmill - A bit trickier as you have to keep changing the speed but the best way to do it is increase the incline to at least 12%, get the speed up so it's challenging enough for you to almost max out after 15 seconds. You need to be confident with the treadmill for this! Hold the hand rails and jump onto the outer foot plates. Keeping the treadmill running, do 15 second uphill runs, holding the hand rails to jump on and off as you need. Rest 1 minute in between. Safety wise I don't recommend this if you're not comfortable on the treadmill but this is how I have done it and as long as your timing is right then it works!
Tabata:
This can work with any type of exercise that gets your heart rate soaring, try alternating between jump squats and plyo lunges as shown in the video. You will definitely need a timer for this, download an interval timer app or get yourself a gymboss timer: http://www.gymboss.com
Here's how it works:
Round 1 - Do 20 secs hard work - Jump squats
Rest 10 secs
Round 2 - Do 20 secs hard work - Plyo lunges
Rest 10 secs
Round 3 - Do 20 secs hard work - Jump squats
Rest 10 secs
Round 4 - Do 20 secs hard work - Plyo lunges
Rest 10 secs
Round 5 - Do 20 secs hard work - Jump squats
Rest 10 secs
Round 6 - Do 20 secs hard work - Plyo lunges
Rest 10 secs
Round 7 - Do 20 secs hard work - Jump squats
Rest 10 secs
Round 8 - Do 20 secs hard work - Plyo lunges
Done!
It's as simple as that! You can do up to 4 Tabatas in a row making sure to rest fully between sessions, 3 minutes or so. At first just go for the one to get you used to it. Make sure to cool down after, have a slow walk for 3 to 5 minutes and do some static stretching.
So how many times should you do this per week? Well that depends on the time you have, some say as little as twice a week is enough to be effective. Because these workouts are so demanding you also need time to recover so you don't want to be doing them every single day! You might not feel like you've done enough because you're still fixated on the myth that you need to do hours and hours of cardio to burn calories but due to the fact you've used your anaerobic system while doing these HIITs that means you're still burning fat while you're at rest, how good is that!
As well as doing HIITs, get in as much walking as you can every day and in the next post I'll talk about the benefits of incorporating resistance training into your program. Good luck and let me know how you get on!
So how many times should you do this per week? Well that depends on the time you have, some say as little as twice a week is enough to be effective. Because these workouts are so demanding you also need time to recover so you don't want to be doing them every single day! You might not feel like you've done enough because you're still fixated on the myth that you need to do hours and hours of cardio to burn calories but due to the fact you've used your anaerobic system while doing these HIITs that means you're still burning fat while you're at rest, how good is that!
As well as doing HIITs, get in as much walking as you can every day and in the next post I'll talk about the benefits of incorporating resistance training into your program. Good luck and let me know how you get on!