Many people struggle with losing weight, keeping their body fat at their desired percentage and building muscle mass. Countless people turn to long sessions of steady state cardio, hoping to change their appearance by spending hours on the treadmill or cross-trainer. These workouts, however, may not be the most efficient use of your time, or the best way to burn fat. Here are some fitness and exercise tips to workout, improve your health, and succeed in your weight loss goals.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
This is one of the most effective ways to dramatically alter the look of your body. High Intensity Interval Training consists of short bursts of intense exercise, follows by a period of rest or easy activity. Instead of an hour of slow jogging, why not aim for 8-10 bursts of sprinting, followed by a minute of recovery. While this will be a very challenging exercise routine, it will only last 25-30 minutes, making the best use of your valuable time.
Heart Rate
The point of High Interval Training (HIIT) is to rapidly increase your heart rate. If possible, wear a heart rate monitor for these workouts. Maintain a steady, stable, and relatively low heart rate for the "recovery" intervals, and then aim for 85% of your maximum heart rate during the intense intervals. Wearing a heart rate monitor makes it easy to see how hard you should be working. The higher your heart rate, the more oxygen your body needs to function, and in turn the more calories you expend during the workouts.
Build Muscle
Many traditional steady-state cardiovascular activities like walking, jogging, or cycling do expend calories, but they also deplete your muscle stores. They develop slow-twitch fibers, but not the fast-twitch fibers that are amassed from weight lifting, or rapid movement like sprinting. To maintain your muscle mass and achieve the definition you want in your body, short intervals of hard and intense cardio are ideal. Along with a healthy diet, you can achieve the body you desire.
Burn More Calories
While watching your diet and intake of calories in vital when trying to lose weight, it is also equally important to make the most of your workouts by burning as many calories as possible, in the shortest amount of time. Thanks to the "after burn" of a workout, your body is able to continue burning calories well after you finish stretching, shower, and start to relax. After a slow walk, your body does not continue to need more oxygen or blood than normal, so it returns to a resting state almost immediately. After even just a 20 minute interval session, however, the body requires more oxygen to circulate blood, and support a higher heart rate that will result to burn even more calories.
