Get Fit Faster

How much time do you spend doing cardio every week? It seems everybody thinks that this is the way to go if you want to burn fat. If you’ve been here before you already know I usually disagree!

However, although full-body multi-muscle workouts for boosted metabolism is the favored fat burning strategy around here, cardio CAN be a beneficial addition to your weight loss training program. But you have to do it right…

It’s common to hear trainers, doctors, and other health pros recommending low to moderate intensity cardio or aerobics to people who are trying to lose weight, burn fat or maintain a healthy heart. The recommendation is frequently something like, “Perform 30-60 minutes of cardio at a steady pace, 3-5 times a week, keeping your heart rate at a moderately high level”.

Before you succumb to this notion and become another lab rat, going through endless hours of boring repetitive exercise, consider some recent scientific research that demonstrates that steady-pace endurance work may not be delivering the results it’s supposed to be.

Our bodies are designed for short bursts of activity, followed by rest, to execute stop-and-go movements. This is what helps us define the 6 pack abs we’re after – not working at an endless, steady pace. Recent research is backing up the idea that varying our physical exertion levels during any type of training is an important contributor its positive results.

Consider the different physiques of sprinters and marathon runners. Most sprinters are lean, muscular, and powerful looking. Most devoted marathoners are, well… scrawny. Which result would you rather get for all the hard work you’re doing?

Something else to remember regarding changes in training intensity is the internal effect of different types of exercise on our bodies. Scientists have known that frequent steady-rate endurance exercise results in increased free radical production, can cause joints to degenerate, reduces immune system function, causes muscle loss, and can cause a pro-inflammatory response in the body that can potentially lead to chronic diseases. Doesn’t sound like much fun, does it?

Highly variable cyclic training

Training at different intensity levels in one session, however, has been found to increase anti-oxidant production and create an anti-inflammatory response. It promotes more efficient nitric oxide response (for a healthier cardiovascular system), and an increased metabolic rate boost.

Further, steady-rate endurance training only trains the heart to work well at one heart-rate range and doesn’t train it to respond to various every day stressors. Highly varied training teaches the heart to respond to and recover from a variety of demands, making it stronger and less likely to fail when you need it.

Exercise that trains your heart to handle rapidly increasing and decreasing rates will make your heart more capable of handling everyday stress. Stress can cause your blood pressure and heart rate to increase rapidly. Steady-rate jogging and other endurance training does not train your heart to be able to handle rapid changes in heart rate or blood pressure.

The important aspect of this training is the rest period in between bursts of significant exertion. That period is crucial for the body to elicit a healthy response to an exercise stimulus. Another benefit of variable cyclic training is that it’s much more interesting and has lower drop-out rates than long boring steady-state cardio programs.

Sports Workouts and Sprinting

There are many ways you can reap the benefits of variable intensity physical training. Most competitive sports are naturally comprised of fast stop-and-go exertion which trains the heart through a higher range than just steady walking or jogging.

Doing swimming workouts in a variable intensity fashion may also be more beneficial than just swimming for a long duration at the same speed. Same goes for bicycling – that’s why mountain biking, which involves extreme ups and downs requiring various levels of exertion, may also be more beneficial than just a long flat steady-pace bike ride.

One of the most effective forms of variable intensity cardio to include in your training is performing wind sprints.  Wind sprints can be done by sprinting at near max speed for 10-30 seconds, and then taking 60 seconds to walk for recovery before your next sprint. 6-12 total sprint intervals is usually a very challenging workout for most people.

High intensity interval training – varying between high and low intensity intervals on any piece of cardio equipment – is yet another training method that utilizes exertion and recovery periods. For example, an interval training session on the treadmill could look something like this:

Warm-up for 3-4 minutes at a fast walk or light jog.

Interval 1 – run at 8.0 mi/hr for 1 minute
Interval 2 – walk at 4.0 mi/hr for 1.5 minutes
Interval 3 – run at 10.0 mi/hr for 1 minute
Interval 4 – walk at 4.0 mi/hr for 1.5 minutes

Repeat that pattern 4 times for a very intense 20-minute workout.

Also, don’t overlook other great ways to incorporate variable intensity cardio training by using a jump rope, a rowing machine, or even outdoor hill running.

The message in this article is to train your body at changing intensity rates for at least most of your workouts to get the most beneficial response in terms of heart health, fat loss, and muscle maintenance.

Full-body resistance training programs, along with high intensity cardiovascular work, are guaranteed to strip off body fat when backed up with a healthy diet.

Talk to you soon!

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