High Intensity Interval Training: What you can use to spice up your routine and increase your fat burning!

I am a big fan of High Intensity Interval Training.  It’s a short and to the point workout and it gets you GOING.  Make no mistake about it though: It is tough!   I do a 10 minute HIIT workout as part of my own fat loss program and it is the LONGEST 10 minutes ever.  I wanted to highlight some FAQ’s about HIIT training.

Benefits of HIT Training

• Works from the cellular level - HIIT increases the mitochondria which is the energy center of a cell. The increase in mitochondrial density increases the amount of energy available to the working muscle meaning you can run longer...faster.

• Leads to more effective fat burning and carbohydrate breakdown -  In the February 2012 IDEA Fitness Journal it was reported that: Fat Burning was significantly higher after 6 weeks of interval training (Perry 2008) and In as little as 2 weeks, there was a significant shift in fat burning after 2 weeks (Talanian 2007)

• Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption or “Afterburn”:  After an exercise session, oxygen consumption is elevated as your body tries to recover from your session.  What’s also elevated? Your caloric expenditure.  This means that even after your workout is finished you are still burning calories at an elevated rate.  

Isn’t that awesome!  Less time and also a great Return on Investment.

Some Caution about HIIT

It’s not supposed to be done every day

More is not better.  High Intensity Interval Training is awesome but it is also strenuous.  You should not be able to perform 5 HIIT sessions in a week.  If you are, then I doubt you are doing true HIIT.  It takes a toll on your body as it should.  It’s high intensity exercise.

Save your joints and other tissues and  only perform HIIT workouts at a maximum of twice per week.  I have noticed some gyms and boot camps offering HIIT workouts 5x per week and telling members it is fine to perform these exercises every day.  Think of this as the Law of Diminishing Returns.  More = Diminishing Recovery and performance.  

Remember: You should be working on other components of fitness in addition to HIIT to avoid injury and to improve performance while doing HIIT.

Don't Start off with HIIT if you are new or just coming back to exercise

I have watched clueless trainers start a new client off with intense exercising.  This is after the client told them they sit all day and haven’t exercised in 3 years, but they want to show off so they preach “HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING” during the session.  

No.  

First you need to improve form, technique, range of motion, movement patterns, and conditioning before launching into HIIT.

Give yourself about 8-12 weeks before incorporating a HIIT workout into your routine.

Start Slowly and add on from there

10 minutes is plenty to start off with and then you can add gradually.  I really don’t believe in anything longer than 20 minutes.  After you are finished, then you can finish up with some lower intensity steady state cardio to give the joints a break and to allow yourself to recover.  Your heart rate will remain high and you will still be burning calories at a higher level.

Types of HIIT

High Intensity Interval Training can be performed on the traditional cardio machines such as: the treadmill, a bike, or the stepmill but you can also use equipment such as dumbbells, barbells, kettle bells, medicine balls, or even your own body weight.

The possibilities are endless. Stay tuned for a sample HIIT workout!!

The REAL Reason You're doing an hour (or more) of cardio per day and seeing little to no progress

I'm working out (doing cardio and some weight machines) 3-5 times per week and sometimes even 6 and yet I'm still not seeing any results!


The first order of business would be to check your nutrition and re-evaluate your meal plan. No matter how hard you try you will not be able to out train a bad diet. 

I get the frustration and it's a common dilemma I see among a lot of faithful gym goers.
You're spending an hour a few times a week putting in work at the gym and expecting to see payoffs but you aren't. What gives?

Adaptation

Your body loves adaptation and it loves to become efficient.  When you first begin a cardiovascular program your body is burning a lot of calories as it tries to figure out what is going on.  
Your training goal is always to improve your recovery time. This is called conditioning.

As your conditioning improves, your calorie expenditure goes down.

Let’s say when you first began your cardio training program you burned 300 calories in 60 minutes and after 2-3 months of training that figure goes down to about 200 caloiries in 60 minutes.  Your body has adapted to the training

The Root of the Problem

That is why it is important to vary your cardiovascular training and that fact also leads us to the root of the problem.

You are not working hard ENOUGH during your workouts

You are working INEFFICIENTLY to reach your fitness goals.  

You are doing the WRONG workouts for fat loss goals.

Threshold

There's a point in cardiovascular exercise that we call threshold.  Think of the point where it's between you and the treadmill, bike, or whatever apparatus you are using.  That's what threshold should feel like.  Most gym goers I see never get to that point.  They slave away for an hour on whatever cardio machine they've chosen or class they are going to and never reach threshold.  

What ends up happening is that their bodies adapt and they stay the same.  You MUST add in threshold training to your routine.  The term that you've most likely heard when it comes to this type of training is HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).  It is essential for any fat loss program.

 The good news is that twice a week is plenty for this type of training but you still must work hard during your other cardio workouts.

How Do I know if I am working hard enough?

The most objective way to tell if you’re working hard enough is to use a Heart Rate Monitor. I talk about the benefits of HR Monitor training here

I have started using a HR monitor and if I do cardio without it I feel like I’m cheating because the HR monitor lets me know when I am out of my zone.  I use it to keep me accountable and on track.

If you don’t want to use a Heart Rate Monitor, then you can also use the talk test.  For healthy individuals who are training for fat loss, you should be able to give 1-2 word answers.  If you’re able to carry on a conversation AND IF YOU ARE ABLE TO TALK ON YOUR CELL PHONE then you are NOT working hard enough.

But I work Up such a great Sweat

Sweating is not the only indicator of how hard you’re working - I used to tell my cycle classes that just because you’re sweating does not mean you’re working hard.  I saw a man hollering and screaming on one of these talk shows and he was sweating.  Was he working hard?  When you’re in a sauna are you working hard?

Sweating is an indicator that you are doing something but it shouldn’t serve as a sole indicator of how hard you’re working.

Working Inefficiently to Reach your Goal

I touched on this earlier but if you want to see fat loss, then you MUST stop taking the path of least resistance and work in an efficient manner to reach your goals.

Let me ask you a question: Which is harder?  Sprint Intervals for 20 minutes on the treadmill or bike or the eliptical for 60 minutes

Boom. You guessed it. The Sprint Intervals

Which is harder:

Circuit Training where you complete one exercise after another with minimal rest for 30-45 minutes OR using all of the weight machines in the gym

Boom. You guessed it again: The Circuit Training

As a Fat Loss Client, your workouts should be heart pumping, calorie incinerating,and intense sections. The most common mistake I see are people with fat loss goals bouncing on the elliptical or an hour or meandering around the weight room.

These are inefficient workouts for your goals.

You MUST push yourself if you want to see change. Does this mean you need to give up Zumba or any other activity that you enjoy? Absolutely not. Your activities can all exist within the context of proper programming.

Let's go back to the original question about an hour of Cardio 3x per week and seeing little to no change.

Let's look at these 2 photos

Have you ever known someone who decides to do a Marathon and even after all the running they do, they still look the same or maybe they've dropped a few pounds but still don't look dramatically different.

Before I make my next statement, I need you to brace yourself for what I am about to say:

Distance running and doing cardio for hours on end is inefficient for fat loss.

In the next part we will discuss what IS efficient for Fat Loss and how to begin to create a PROGRAM that will help you achieve your fat loss goals.

Effective Cardio Training Series: Let's get off the Treadmill to no Results (Part 1)

As a fitness coach, it makes me sad to look around the cardio room and watch people work hard and sweat only to not see their bodies change or change in the wrong direction.

We've been taught that cardiovascular is the key to FAT LOSS. Many take up endurance sports like running and biking to lose a few pounds only to be frustrated that they lose weight at first but then get stuck and in some cases may gain body fat.

In this series I will be teaching how to effectively use cardio to their advantage whether they want to lose fat, gain weight, or improve their heart health.

Are we working efficiently?

Before we go any further with this, I want to ask you this question: When you're doing cardio, can you go for another hour or are you spent after 30 minutes?

I teach Group Cycling and recently I have heard feedback that my class is too hard.  I own it. I do not believe in people coming to a class for 55 minutes and just bouncing up and down on the bike without putting forth an effort or using the time to text and be on their phone.  If you're going to do cardiovascular work, then you are GOING to do cardiovascular work on my watch.  

Walking the Dog and Phoning it in

I use the terms "walking the dog"and "phoning it in" in my classes when I don't think the class is working hard enough.   

My recent experiences in the cardio area of the gym shows that "walking the dog" and"phoning it in" are common practices during cardio works. Every week I have gotten stuck next to people who are just chit chatting on their cell phones and not even short of breath.  Talk about phoning it in!

The truth of the matter is that walking the dog and phoning it in are not going to help you improve your conditioning nor is it going to help you to lose body fat.

Is Cardio the KEY to Fat Loss?

No. It's a TOOL in fat loss but the purpose of cardiovascular is to strengthen your heart and improve blood flow. It's not the KEY in fat loss which is why you're frustrated on the treadmill to no results.

The next time you are in the cardio area of the gym, I want you to observe  the people working away on the cardio machines.  I’m not saying this to be mean spirited or elitist, but I want you to make an observation and then take note of it.

Next, I want you to pass by the free weight area of the gym and observe the people.  

There is usually a big difference in body composition.  One group has a higher level of body fat and the other group has a lower amount of body fat and looks more “toned”.

That’s not an accident

I do not want to bash cardio and I am not a member of the anti cardio tribe.  As a matter of fact, I love cardio training for the endorphins and I think it’s necessary for cardiovascular health. Heart disease is the number one killer of women. We need to be serious about our cardiovascular health.

Common Questions about Cardio Training

In this series, I will be answering some commonly asked questions regarding cardio training.

• I do an hour of cardio 3x per week and I’m barely losing weight! What gives!
• What is the best form of cardio training?  Do I need to run?
• I heard that Low intensity cardiovascular training is known as the fat burning zone?  Should I only be doing low intensity cardio so that I burn the most fat?
• How can I do my cardio effectively so that I can maximize my results?