When you stand on the elliptical for a half hour and barely break a sweat, doesn’t that tell you that something isn’t right? Long cardio sessions in which you’re barely breathing hard aren’t the best way to spend your time at the gym. In fact, they actually burn more muscle than they do fat. In order to maximize the fat burning process in a cardio session you should be doing High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT.
HIIT is about going almost as hard as you can for a short period of time and then resting a minute. The idea is to keep your body guessing. When you’re speeding up then slowing down your heart and body have to work harder to keep up, which is why you burn more fat. For example, I use the stair climber. I turn it on as high as I can so I’m literally sprinting on the steps for 30 seconds and then turn it down to a slow speed for 60 seconds. This can be done on the treadmill, elliptical, stair climber, row machine, bike or even doing sprints outside. Here are some more facts to persuade you.
1 – You burn more fat by doing less cardio. HIIT burns more calories in20 minutes than you would in an hour of long distance at an easier work rate.
2 – After HIIT your body will continue to burn fat for up to 24 hours where as a slow, long distance will only continue to burn fat for 15 minutes after a workout!
3 – It makes the time FLY by! You’re constantly just looking forward to the next 30 seconds or a minute. By doing so you forget about the total amount of time you have to reach. You’ll be at 20 or 30 minutes in no time!
So next time you are going to do some cardio, try 20 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training. You’ll be amazed at what you were missing by doing those long elliptical sessions all the time. Start at 20 minutes then work your way up to more. Good luck and until tomorrow, spend Everyday Living Fit!
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