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But how can this possibly be? Everywhere you look, it's always said that
long-duration, low-intensity training is best for fat loss. All high-intensity
work does is burn carbohydrates, right?
Wrong.
After reading this article, I guarantee you'll develop a new respect for
high-intensity cardio training for fat loss.
Low-intensity exercise is defined as working at a heart rate of about 60% to 65%
of your maximum heart rate (which is equal to 220 - your age = maximum heart
rate, thus if you are 20 years old, 220 - 20 = 200 max HR). High-intensity
exercise is defined as working at about 75 to 85% or more of your maximum heart
rate.
Using the previous example for maximum heart rate (max HR=200), working at 60%
of your max HR would be 120 beats per minute and 80% of that would be 160 beats
per minute.
There are several reasons low-intensity exercise is normally recommended for fat
loss.
· It's
easy - In many cases people who are trying to lose fat don't always feel
energetic enough to do hard training due to the caloric deficit (a.k.a. diet)
that they are on. In these cases, just sticking to an exercise program can be
hard enough, never mind making the exercise itself challenging.
· It's
low risk - A personal trainer generally can't go wrong by recommending
low-intensity exercise to clients. Even the most out of shape person can
usually do low-intensity cardio training safely. While this is certainly
appropriate advice for novice trainers, it does not necessarily apply to the
more experienced trainer when it comes to effective training.
· It
burns a higher percentage of calories from fat - this is very true: exercising
at a lower intensity does burn a higher percentage of calories from fat than
high-intensity exercise. But, as I will explain, this does not necessarily mean
you're going to burn more fat.
Let's crunch some numbers to show you exactly what I mean when I say
high-intensity exercise burns more fat.
Low-intensity training burns about 50% fat for energy while high-intensity
training burns about 40% fat for energy. This is not a huge difference.
Say, for example, walking for 20 minutes burns 100 calories. Then 50% of 100
calories is 50 fat-calories burned.
Now say 10 minutes of interval training at a high intensity burns 160 calories.
Well, 40% of 160 calories is 64 fat-calories burned.
By doing the high-intensity work, you've just burned 14 more fat calories in
half the time. Starting to sound good? There's more...
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Low-intensity exercise only burns calories while you are actually exercising.
That means the moment you stop exercising, your
caloric expenditure goes back down to nearly baseline levels. Within minutes,
you're not burning many more calories than if you hadn't done anything at all.
High-intensity exercise, on the other hand, continues to boost your metabolism
long after you're done (often up to 24 hours after, depending on the length and
intensity of the training session). This means you're continuing to burn many
more calories all day long!
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Low-intensity exercise does nothing to build or support muscle mass. Maintaining
muscle mass is critical to an effective fat-loss strategy as muscle burns fat
just sitting there. Want to keep your metabolism working to burn fat? Do
whatever you can to build or keep your muscle tissue.
High-intensity exercise has the potential to increase muscle mass. Compare the
body of a top sprinter to a top marathon runner. The sprinter carries far more
muscle mass. You won't get big bulky muscles from high intensity training but
you will get shapely and more defined muscles!
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How To Do It
Now that you've seen how effective high intensity training can be for fat loss,
how is it done?
The absolute easiest way to start this type of training is to get on a cardio
machine at the gym and select the interval training program. As you'll see,
you'll start off with a fairly light warm-up cycle, then quickly jump up to a
high intensity level for a short burst. You will then drop back down to a low
level for a period of time, then back up to a high level again, repeated
several times and finishing with an appropriate cool-down period.
The repetition of these intervals is the nuts and bolts of high intensity
interval training. You can also do it manually by adjusting your intensity
level up and down over short periods of time.
For example, do 30 seconds at high power then 30 seconds at low power. Repeat.
It's very simple and very effective.
Another excellent method for doing high-intensity training is called aerobic
interval training. It is essentially the same concept as the previously
explained interval training but the work intervals are longer with the
intensity level somewhat lower. A good example would be running at a pace that
you can only keep up for about 5 minutes then walking for 2 minutes then
running 5 more minutes, walking 2 minutes, etc.
High-intensity training can be applied to any form of cardiovascular exercise.
Anything from walking/sprinting to swimming to bike riding will work perfectly.
I would recommend doing his type of training 2 to 3 times per week for best
results. As always, be sure to consult with your physician before starting any
exercise program.
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Remember, what you get out of exercise is directly proportional to what you put
in. Work at high-intensity training for awhile and see just how much better
your fat-loss efforts go.
For more information on cardiovascular training, including advice on activities
you can do, reviews of different types of cardio machines, other forms of
cardio training, and some well-explained, useful, basic physiology go to:
http://www.fitstep.com/Library/Info/Info.htm?news
About The Author
Nick
Nilsson is Vice President of BetterU, Inc., an online exercise,
fitness, and personal training company. Check out his latest eBook
"The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of" at http://www.thebestexercises.com
or visit http://www.fitstep.com.
You can contact him at betteru@fitstep.com
or subscribe to BetterU News, his fitness newsletter at betterunews@fitstep.com.
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