Last year, I would slog into the gym several times a week and do my weight loss workouts. I watched my diet and even cut out my beloved white wine. The results? Nothing. I even ran to my doctor convinced that my metabolism was out of whack. It wasn’t, and I was left from where I started. Eventually a fitness trainer told me to include interval training into my weight loss workouts.
What are Intervals?
Intervals are when you perform cardio in short bursts of speed and intensity with even shorter rests to cool down. This somewhat schizophrenic fast-slow, fast-slow method is not new. Serious runners have used it for almost fifty years.
The Evidence
However, recent studies have shown that incorporating these types or weight loss workouts into your fitness routine will render greater fat loss, increased muscles, and better endurance. It can also improve your cardiovascular fitness and increase your body’s metabolism.
For example, a 2005 research study conducted by University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada examined whether interval training would change the way the body burned fat. Eight college-age women completed ten sets of four minutes of intense cycling, followed by two minute rests. They completed seven interval workouts within a two-week span. After interval training, the amount of fat they burned in one hour of sustained moderate cycling increased by 36 percent.
British exercise scientists discovered that speed-rest workouts on stationary bicycles increased the subjects’ levels of human growth hormone, a key ingredient in building muscle and burning fat.
In addition, a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that after just two weeks of interval training, six of the eight college-age men and women doubled their aerobic endurance. The eight volunteers in the control group showed no improvement.
Example Interval Workouts
Even if pure running or cycling isn’t your game, you can still choose from a variety of interval workouts. If you want to improve your cardio fitness and muscular strength, then look no further than the Circuit Interval Workout. You simply perform two mainstays of fitness – strength and endurance – in specific alternating time cycles resulting in excellent overall fitness.
Another first-rate interval weight loss workout is called good old-fashioned hill sprints. Simply charge up a hill or increase the treadmill’s incline and sprint for two minutes, then slowly trot down the hill or lower the incline and jog for one minute, repeat. Three weeks of these killers will give you the strongest quads in your city.
The Benefits
Researchers and fitness experts believe that interval sessions enable you to perform more prolonged high-intensity weight loss workouts than you could in one continual effort. The rests gives your body time to flush out waste products from your working muscles, while lowering your heart rate just in time for you to rev it all up again.
You’ll also train your body to burn fat more efficiently and effectively. As you exercise at maximum capacity, your body employs new muscle fibers. As the fibers develop, they will help the body burn fuel and calories even during light workouts. Now that’s efficiency.
The best part of interval training weight loss workouts? . . . the benefits are noticeable within weeks. After just five interval sessions within 15 days, I was back on track to getting fitness results.
* Photo by bensonkua
Looking for a weight loss exercise plan that will get you proven result in 90 days (or your money back)? Try: MAXWORKOUTS
{ 0 comments… add one now }