Tuesday, September 29, 2009

How to burn more fat in less time


How To Burn More Fat In Less Time



Are you exercising for long periods of time to try to burn fat?

If you’re like most people you probably are, but this week I want to share with you a far better technique to use. It’s called “high intensity interval training” (HIIT) and lately it's started to become pretty famous for its obvious health benefits.

--So What Exactly Are The Benefits?

1. Major Increase in Fat Loss. In a recent study two groups were assigned different training regimens. Group A performed the regular moderate intensity cardio (like jogging or bicycling) for 20 weeks and Group B performed a HIIT routine for 15 weeks. In the end the results of each group were recorded. Group B lost 9x more fat than Group A and in 5 weeks less!

2. Increased Lactic Acid Threshold. Lactic acid is that burning sensation you feel when you work a muscle really hard. You’re lactic acid threshold is how fast your body can remove the lactic acid in your muscles. The higher the lactic acid threshold, the harder you can work your muscles before they get tired.

3. Increased peak power, or the maximum amount of energy available for a sustained period of time.

4. Increased VO2 peak or ability to utilize oxygen.

5. Shorter Workouts. I don’t know about you, but would you rather spend 30 minutes to an hour jogging along the road, or crank it up a notch and just spend 4-8 minutes performing sprints?

--So Why Does This Burn more Fat than just Jogging?

Although HIIT is much shorter than a normal “run for 30 minutes” workout, it burns more fat. To put it simply, after your HIIT training session is over with your metabolism explodes and tons of calories are being burned. So essentially with HIIT training, you burn most of the fat after your training session.

--So How Exactly Do I Perform This?

Simply put, HIIT is based around this concept: Go fast then go slow. Repeat.

You can perform HIIT routines on pretty much any machine you want ... like a treadmill, elliptical machine, cycling machine, or apply it to almost any sport (swimming, cycling, running). Try to keep the bursts of speed at around 90%-100% of max effort.

Here is a sample HIIT routine:

Sprint 20 Seconds
Rest 10 Seconds
Repeat 4-8 Times

Or

Sprint 15 Seconds
Rest 5 Seconds
Repeat 4-6 Times

These are just samples, you can change it however you want (you could even use distance instead of time), but remember, HIIT is based around the concept of fast bursts of work.

Also, to continually challenge yourself you should add to how many times you repeat the cycle. Say for instance, day one you repeat the sprint/rest cycle 8 times, well the next week you should shoot for 9 times. Also remember the amount of time you sprint, rest, and the amount of times you repeat the cycle should depend upon your athletic ability.

If you haven't trained at a high intensity since your high school gym days, take it slow at first. If you have to start at 80% intensity and perform less cycles that’s O.K. too. Everyone has to start somewhere.

You may also want to check with your doctor before performing a routine like this as it is very physically demanding.

Sabotage Defence

It never ceases to amaze me that the people in our lives we think would be the most supportive of our health and fitness goals sometimes are the ones that sabotage us the most.

You know who I'm talking about. Those family members and friends that tell you:

"Oh, just have one piece."

"Oh come on, you only live once."

"Are you really not going to eat any of this?"

We all have these "bad food" villains in our lives and if losing weight wasn't hard enough, this does not make the situation any easier. (I know you can agree with me on that one.)

Trust me, I've heard it all. In all the years that I have been eating healthy, I don't care to repeat some of the ridiculous statements that have been said to me by my family and friends (I still love them all anyway).

Here are some ways you can deal with these "bad food" villains... I mean loving family and friends while still maintaining your cool and achieving all of your health goals.

1.) Remember most of the people who are trying to sabotage your new healthy eating plan are just jealous or upset that they do not have enough determination, will power and commitment to do it themselves. Please be compassionate. If we want people to be compassionate with us, we must show compassion towards them (yup, now we're back in kindergarten). Respond to them with statements that only describe you, not them. You do not want to offend anyone or hurt anyone's feelings (or at least I hope you don't). Try statements like:

"I really feel great eating this way. It's made such a difference in my life already."

Or

"I know I am doing something great for my health and I feel awesome about it."

Or

"I really want to be a good role model for my family and my children. I want to show them all healthy habits."

Who can say anything negative to that? (I know... I'm sure you've got at least one person). What you have done however, is not attacked them at all and you have kept it positive. No sense in resorting to childish antics like "Nani Nani Poopoo, I'm healthy and you're not." Come on, nobody wants to hear that.

2.) Next are those situations where you are in someone's home and you do not want to offend them. If this is a dinner party, just do the best you can. I promise you, you will not be sabotaging all of your good efforts by eating one meal that is not part of your plan. It might actually be a good break from your routine. Here's where most people go wrong. They think if they had one bad thing now need to throw in the towel all together. One meal is NOT enough reason to give up on your health goals. Make your grandma happy by eating her lasagna (or whatever the meal may be) and don't go overboard. One piece is enough and you have not offended anyone. Wake up the next day and move forward with your healthy food, like nothing ever happened (Lasagna? What Lasagna? I didn't see any Lasagna.) Don't torture yourself, or reflect on the meal. Telling yourself you have failed and then harping about it is actually worse than eating the bad food. No more beating yourself up!
3.) If you find that there are just some people who are super negative about what you are doing no matter what you try, don't talk to them about your eating. I would love to tell you to avoid these people, but sometimes they are people who are the closest to us. Show them the wonderful side effects of healthy eating just by your actions alone. Your results will speak for themselves. I gave up on trying to convince certain people of the true benefits of healthy nutrition a long time ago. It was just too exhausting and I'm pretty sure they are now well aware of all the wonderful benefits just by my own results and actions.

Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do anything, especially reach the health and weight goals that you want. Show them what you've got by your amazing results and that will be enough to keep most people from trying to knock you down.

Are you ready to take your weight loss and your health to the next level? I know you want to take the incredible principles you have already learned and apply them for a lifetime. That is why my Supporting Eating 101 cds can guide you in much more detail than I can in this posting. Order your copy of Supportive Eating 101 Program today to see your unwanted weight continue to drop off and stay on track with this incredible health journey.