Burn More Fat with Less Cardio the HIIT Way

Good morning,

Today I want to talk about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and why it is is so frickin effective! What if I told you that you could burn more fat in less time by incorporating HIIT training into your training program?

In the past you have probably been told that in order to burn the greatest amount of fat you need to do cardio for 30 to 60 minutes at a moderate intensity. While this does work and also preserves muscle tissue it may be hard to fit an hour of cardio in 4 -5 times per week with our busy schedules. Also, if you are like me and HATE cardio, just thinking about doing 60 minutes of cardio makes me want to hurl!

HIIT is a more efficient and athlete-friendly way to train and burn fat at the same time.

With HIIT, you will be working harder than you normally work but for about a quarter to a half of the time that you would normally spend on the cardio machine of your choice. HIIT is so intense and effective that you only need 15 to 25 minutes, tops!

 

Here's What You Do:

• Pick the cardio machine of your choice (treadmill, elliptical, spin bike, swimming, sprints, stairs, skipping) and perform a 5 minute warm-up.
  
• Then take time to stretch properly and you are ready to begin.
  
• Start at a moderate pace for 1 minute, then crank up the pace to 90 or 95% of your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) from 15-30 seconds.

• Now bring the speed back down to a moderate pace for the same time period as the sprint.

Do this from the five minute warm up until you have five minutes left in your 15-25 minute workout so that you can use this time to cool down.

A study at Laval University in Quebec, Canada found that HIIT cardio helped trainees lose nine (yes, 9!) times more fat than those who trained the traditional way (moderate speed for 20-60 minutes). Combine HIIT with your weight program and you boost your metabolism through the roof!

The Reason HIIT Is So Successful Is This:

1. When you work at a high intensity, you burn more total calories per pound of body weight.
2. High Intensity workouts such as weight training and HIIT boost growth hormone levels.
3. Elevates the body's metabolism throughout the entire day!

The more calories that you burn in a day, the more weight you are able to lose. Even if weight loss is not your goal, HIIT is for you. Athletes will see better gains from doing HIIT cardio as opposed to traditional cardio.
Unless you are training for a marathon, you do not keep a constant pace during your sport. All sports whether it be soccer or football, even baseball or basketball have a point where you need to change gears and hit a full sprint.

When working with my clients as a personal trainer I want to get to best results in the shortest amount of time so I use this method of training almost exclusively.

Cheers,

Bouncelife