Energia Fitness

One of the biggest revelations in the fitness industry over the last few years has been interval training and how effective it is for burning fat. However even is this age where everybody wants to know how to lose weight fast I still don’t see many people out there doing it. It absolutely baffles me that with all the information around especially on the web and every high profile fitness expert on the web singing its praises that even now most people still prefer to go down the long, slow, boring cardio path. I think it is unfortunate that interval training remains a mysterious, often unknown training method for many people when it could make such a difference to their progress.

How to lose weight fast in less time – The truth about Interval Training

I personally found about interval training when I picked up a copy of turbulence training many years back. Apart from being amazed how quickly I began to lose fat I was also training almost half the time. I went from doing 6 hours a week to around 3 hours and was seeing double the results.

Now I do know that doing regular steady state cardio does work for a lot of people and with give you decent results however if you want to lose weight fast then I personally think you have to start using interval style workout as part of your training program.

To back up this claim here a couple of scientific research studies that highlight this point.

First off there was a study done in Australia where two groups of women were given either a normal cardio program or interval training to help them burn fat. Each group exercised three times per week, but the interval training group only did 20 minutes while the cardio group did 40 minutes. At the end of the 12-week training study, only the interval training group had lost belly fat – over 6 pounds on average.

In this study here they have shown again that Interval training is effective for getting quick results in less time. They claimed that doing 10 one minute sprints on stationary bike with one rest 3 times per week works as well on your cardiovascular system as doing many hours on conventional biking at a moderate level. This just shows how time efficient HIIT is in delivering great results without wasting hours of your life in the gym.

Along with this conclusion it also stated that you didn’t have to be going “all out” to achieve these benefits so even if you are overweight, unfit or getting older you can still apply this concept and see quicker results not only in fat loss but with your cardiovascular fitness.

Another study in the University of Guelph you can view here showed how doing regular interval training not only helped you burn more fat during the training session but also actually improved your potential to burn more fat. For example after doing interval style workouts the people used in the research were shown to have burned 36% more fat when doing an hour of continuous moderate exercise and fitness levels increased by 13 percent. Therefore this seem to say that by doing regular HIIT workouts you are actually improving how efficiently you burn fat when doing other exercise and in general.

Finally I want to mention a major study that is often quoted with regard to interval training and is one from 1994 when researchers in a Canadian University published a study claiming that interval training was 9x more effective than steady state types or cardio training.

Now this was a very bold statement and not one I have thought true and in fact Tom Venuto from Burn the Fat did a great article you can read here that went through this study and revealed that the actual statistics from this study did not exactly back up this claim. Even though in the article Tom tries to dampen the hype surrounding interval training he does state that it is very effective for fat loss and states that “additional research has continued to support the efficacy of high intensity intervals for fat loss and fitness, not too mention it is one of the most time efficient ways to do cardio vascular training”.

What he then goes on to recommend as I am trying to do here is that interval training should be included in your overall training program along with steady state cardio and even low intensity such as walking when appropriate. The problem is that most people tend to rely on just the steady state cardio and then wonder why they are not losing weight at a faster rate.

So what is interval training exactly?

Interval Training is really just a strategy of alternating periods of high and low intensities or a length of time. It is more commonly associated with running both on a flat or hill surface but it also works well on a bike. In fact in the studies mentioned previously all the test subjects were using stationary exercise bikes as part of the research so you can start doing this without any fancy equipment or even without going to a gym. Apart from these forms of exercise I also recommend and use bodyweight movements, dumbbell and barbell exercises and kettlebells. However for beginners I would recommend starting with the more conventional cardio exercises.

The interval periods themselves can differ and I have experimented with many combinations and ratios but my favorite to lose weight fast is 1 min high 1 min recovery then repeat 8-10 times. Again this many be too much if just stating out so my advice is to begin with a 30 second high 90 second recovery combination.

In terms of intensity during the high period you should be aiming to working at an 8 or 9 out of 10 in terms of effort level. To give this some context if you were jogging you would normally be at a 6/10 level with walking classified as a 3. So in the example workout above you would exercise at 8/10 for 1 minute then recover for 1 minute a 3/10 level before repeating 6-10 times (2-3 for beginners) and then follow with a cool down. There would also be a few minutes warm up at the start of the workout before starting the intervals. In total the workout should last 15-25 minutes depending on fitness levels which is far less then normal steady cardio sessions which to be effective really should be at least 45 minutes.

If you can do this type of workout 3-4 times per week along with metabolic resistance workouts I guarantee you will lose weight faster than you have ever done before.

But how does interval training help you lose weight fast

In terms of actual fat burning during a workout long moderate cardio is actually more effective as the percentage of fat used, as an energy source is actually higher.

However because of the intensity at which you work during an HIIT workout there is a much greater metabolic disturbance in the body, which results in a number of factors.

•They results in more fatty acids being dumped into the bloodstream which then have to potential to be burned off.

•They provide a bigger boost in metabolic rate, which is elevated for much longer. HIIT has the potential to boost your metabolism for between 12-24 hours. This is often called the after burn and basically means you end up burning more fat as energy long after the workout has finished.

•They can raise the body’s concentration of human growth hormone (HGH). This hormone is one of the major ones for reducing fat in the body so the more you have the easier it is to become and stay leaner. Along with this insulin levels are lowered so the body has less potential to store fat.

•Finally another reason that is less cited but one I have definitely noticed myself is a reduction in appetite after doing HIIT workouts. Working out at intensity does lead to an increase in adrenaline levels which if present in the body can cause you to lose appetite so you are less likely to overeat after the workout.

As you can see this factors gives an HIIT workout far more fat burning impact than traditional cardiovascular workouts.

How you can start losing weight fast

So as I have hopefully shown interval workouts are a great tool to use if you want to lose weight fast and save time doing it.

I know at first these types of workouts can seem daunting and this is why most people will still follow the traditional approach to cardio because it’s what they know and within their comfort zones.

Don’t get me wrong interval training can be tough but to start seeing results quickly you don’t have to go crazy at first. Just add in a couple of sessions a week and begin with small increases in intensity for as long as you can manage.

My prediction is that once you experience the sensation of completing an interval workout and notice how fast you start losing weight and without being in the gym or out on the road all the time you will be hooked

If you want to how to lose weight fast and transform your body then I recommend doing 3-4 interval workouts a week combined with metabolic resistance training.

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