It seems like Cardio is the easiest way to burn fat. After all - you just plop on your headset and on goes the Ipod or TV on your cardio machine. Start the settings and away we go for up to an hour or more. You sweat and feel tired hence feel a sense of accomplishment - as you should! Kudos to you for being active and having the determination and will to do something about your health :)
What becomes frustrating is that I see people doing this at my gym - weeks and months on end and they still look the same - not good :( This can become discouraging to say the least! In this article I won't talk about the importance of nutrition in your fitness goals but I will teach you about a method of doing cardio that will rev up your metabolism and keep you burning fat the rest of the day!
Doing cardio the regular way will burn fat - yes. It can burn away at muscle too! Did you know that? *It's important to note you have a 45 minute window after you excercise to get protein into your muscles to help re-build and strengthen! * This can be either a protein shake or a meal with protein. Ok , I couldn't resist throwing in a nutrition tip in there :)
Using the HIIT Method (High Intensity Interval Training) you will spike your metabolism a few times hence the cycle will continue throughout the day.
Here's how to do it:
When you are first starting HIIT workouts, It's vital to keep the workouts to a minimum. This for two reasons: one being that HIIT can be physically demanding on your body and you don't want to get physically hurt; and two since HIIT can be so shocking to your body, you don't want to get discouraged early on and give up on it since the workouts are too strenuous for you.
Therefore, we are going to start off with moderate workouts and work our way up. The concept here is simple, every week, you want to increase your workload.
Beginner HIIT Method:
There are many different ways to do HIIT, and I have tried many of them. I find that 30 seconds 80%-100% sprint followed by 30 seconds of very light jog works great.
Step A
So for the first week, you are going to do 30 second sprint followed by 30 second jog. You are going to do 4 cycles of these without a break. Your total HIIT time for the day will be 4 minute. (30sec sprint x 30 sec jog x 30sec sprint x 30 sec jog x 30sec sprint x 30 sec jog x 30sec sprint x 30 sec jog). The HIIT should be done 3 days a week, preferably on days that you are not lifting weights.
Step B
For the next 7 weeks, you should be adding a sprint and a jog to every workout. So in week 2, your total workout should be 5 minutes. Week 3 would be 6 minutes and so on. After week 8, you should take a 2 week break to let your body recover and have a rest.
Step C
I know this seems very simple, and that it seems unlikely that you can lose weight from such a short workout. Try it for 3 weeks and let me know how you're doing. I've seen great results starting after the second week. Remember, this only works if you eat a healthy diet!
After this you are ready for the Intermediate HIIT Method. I'll post that at a later date :)
Stay Fit, Stay Healthy, Stay Beautiful!
~ Isabel ~
