I’m constantly talking and speaking with people about exercise and cardio and I often hear about someone pushing the “interval” setting on the treadmill with 4min of a running and then a walking for some time….
Huh? An Interval? I am so confused….
Also, I often here hear about people spending 45min or 1.5 hrs of “cardio”
Seriously, cardio is a waste of your time and can actually sabotage your weight loss efforts. If you’re spending too much time doing cardio, you actually begin to store fat and burn muscle not too sexy right?
And if you’ve paid any attention to any of my newsletters you know muscle is your metabolism. You also know that interval training is the King when it comes to fat loss.
The key to rapid fat loss cardio is to deplete your body’s glycogen (the stored form of carbohydrate, or sugar, in muscle) tank so that your body starts using fat (both dietary and stored body fat) as it’s primary energy source at all other times of the day. You will literally be burning fat 24-7.
In addition, this form of training not only burns a ton of calories during the actual workout but has a serious AFTERBURN effect which will have you burning more calories for hours and hours after your workout is completed (some studies suggest anywhere from 12-24+ hours). This phenomenon is know as Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) and describes the energy expended by your body in the recovery of your metabolic rate back to pre-exercise levels. The best part about EPOC is that you control it, meaning that the harder you work during training the more calories your body will burn BOTH during your workout AND for up to 24-48 hours after completing your workouts
There’s two zones you’ll be working in when doing intervals. You’ll be working in the Carb Burning zone (which happens when you give your all or the shorter burst interval) and the fat burning zone (when you are in your rest/recovery periods). Your work period should be thought of an all out sprint. While the recovery periods like a cool down where it’s
low intensity levels (like when you see the person at the gym on the treadmill & talking on the phone)
But there’s a few mistakes people are making with it comes to working in intervals
4 common mistakes people are making with their interval workouts:
1) People are trying to work too hard during the recovery period.
It’s called a “recovery” period for a reason! So don’t worry about “keeping
your heart rate up”. Interval training is NOT cardio. Cardio is DEAD
Repeat that to yourself 7 times, so it gets embedded in your brain.
It is a complete different method of training. So give up the cardio
mindset and get to love your recovery. That is if you’re looking to shred unwanted fat.
2) As a result of working too hard in the recovery portion, most people are NOT working hard enough in their work period. It’s almost like they’re trying to preserve their energy and efforts, or just let the time pass. However, it is that hard, all out effort, intense work that forces the body to change. So make sure you are doing QUALITY WORK when training. It’s called “Work” for a reason, so do it.
3) To piggy back off of #2, I’ve heard many people claiming to have work periods that are far too long. There’s no possible way you can be working hard an intense pace for even 3minutes.
4) Lastly many people aren’t changing their interval training workouts. You should be using a variety of work-to-rest interval durations AND a variety of training methods as well.
Also, be sure to keep track of your results so you discover ultimately what works best for you.
Here are Some interval rest periods that we use at Hotlanta Bodies Fit Camp Atlanta’s #1 group training program. Longer isn’t necessarily better. Quick recap, the goal in your work period you want to give your all, maximal effort or an all out sprint. You need not to worry about working much during your recovery time because the body is still working. Once your recovery portion comes the goal is to make sure you “recover” so you can give your all through the next interval.
10 sec of work 50 sec of rest/recovery
20 sec of work 40 sec of rest/recovery
30 sec of work 30 sec of rest/recovery
40 sec of work 20 sec of rest/recovery
50 sec of work 10 sec of rest/recovery
A few good other solid intervals you can use and apply for your off days.
30 sec of work 60 sec of rest/recovery
30 sec of work 90 sec of rest/recovery
60 sec of work 60 sec of rest/recovery
60 sec of work 90 sec of rest/recovery
60 sec of work 120 sec of rest/recovery
30 sec of work 180 sec of rest/recovery
Interval training is the key to fat loss. And you need to do it right? So take action and get it done!
In case, you haven’t had a chance to get my Free Report of a Done for you 16 week Rapid Fat Loss Cardio Program, you can click this link and download that bad boy right here, right now
16 week RFL Cardio Special Report
Tags: carb burning zone, carbs, cardio, fat burner, glycogen, heart rate, metabolism, muscle, recovery, rest, sprints, weight loss
