Your Fitness

 So you want to burn fat?  Join the club.   With obesity levels in the U.S. pushing nearly 1 in 3 people it is on the mind of just about everyone.   If you want to get serious about your fitness and burning off the unwanted fat then you need to look into what is called High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

HIIT is short periods (intervals) of intense exercise followed by a resting period where less intense exercise is performed.  The question you may be asking is why is High Intensity Interval Training supposed to be so effective?  What makes it better than steady state cardio workouts?

You are probably familiar with steady state cardio.  That means hopping on the treadmill and jogging for about 30 minutes or so.  You try to get your heart rate into the fat burning zone and hopefully the fat will melt away.  When you get your heart rate into the fat burning zone (about 65 - 75% of your max heart rate) you will be burning fat at a good clip.  You will be getting most of your energy from your fat.  This is good.  You definitely will burn fat and lose weight by doing steady state cardio.  However, there is also a downside.

Outside of being boring, you will only burn calories while doing the exercise itself and maybe for another hour or so after that.  Maybe that doesn’t sound so bad but you will see in a moment that it is definitely not preferrable.

Your body will also adapt to your workouts at some point making them much less effective (that means you won’t burn much fat).  The other problem is that if you perform steady state cardio for too long you lose muscle mass.  Think about it; have you ever seen a muscular marathon runner?  There is a reason for that.  After about 35-40 minutes of  steady state cardio you begin to release a hormone called cortisol.  Unfortunately, cortisol will break down the protein in your body for energy instead of fat.   Less protein means less muscle.  Not enough protein means muscle loss.

So what does HIIT offer that steady state cardio doesn’t?  Research has shown that interval training will increase your ability to burn calories at an elevated rate for up to 48 hours after you workout.  This is a result of Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC).  You can click the link to learn more about why it works that way rather than go into a big discussion about it here.

One of the other positive side effects of High Intensity Interval Training is that it causes your body to release testosterone and human growth hormone.  Both of these are essential in building muscle and helping you to lose fat.  HIIT by its very nature cannot be done for long periods of time therefore cortisol never gets released.  A typical HIIT workout will only last about 20 - 25 minutes.

The other positive part about HIIT is that you body never quite adapts to it.  You can vary the interval times of intesity and rest and keep your body off balance.

So if you are at a fat loss plateau or need to ramp up your fat loss efforts then take a look at High Intensity Interval Training.

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