High Intensity Interval Training For More Benefits

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Sports, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | (0) Comments

Hack Squats

The benefits of exercise are in direct proportion to the intensity of the exercise. That is why you hear so much about high intensity interval training these days. Slowly jogging on a treadmill or elliptical will probably get you so discouraged that you eventually quit- most people do. I was talking to a friend today and he was lamenting how few calories he burns during his 1/2 hour on the elliptical machine. Treadmills and ellipticals are not bad, they just aren’t very good (but they are certainly better than nothing).  The reasons for that are twofold. First, even a fast pace on a  machine simply does not work your muscles to anywhere near exhaustion.  When I use the phrase “high intensity” I am obviously not referring to something that you could do for hours on end- like jog on a treadmill. I am referring to something that exhausts the muscle in about 60-90 seconds. So you have to ask “What is the most effective way to exhaust the muscle in 60 seconds?” And the answer is of course weight and resistance training. Weight training is by far the most efficient way to make significant progress. 30 minutes of weight training is exponentially better than jogging on a treadmill. The second part of this is the effect that weight training has on your resting metabolic rate. Obviously, a person with greater muscle mass will burn more calories even at rest. This is one of the big keys to losing fat and keeping it off. Weight training also has a powerful anti-aging effect on the body- even those considered to be elderly. So, once again, I recommend weight training for everyone- especially those people who only have a half hour per day. If you can add another 15-20 minutes on the treadmill after your workout, great. But don’t waste your precious time doing things that will not help you achieve your goals.