There are many fitness and fat burning cardio myths that just won’t go away. These non truths are passed from one unsuspecting individual to the next, tidbits of misinformation that do more harm than good. I’ve heard them all. Of course there’s the myth about ab crunches melting off belly fat. (Sorry folks, spot reduction doesn’t exist. You’ve got to burn the fat from your body as a whole. It chooses where to pull fat from when it needs it for energy.) Then there’s the myth that says the faster you do an exercise the better, even at the expense of good form. (Ouch. This philosophy has caused many an injury. Never sacrifice form for speed.)
I’ve even heard one that says recovery days are not necessary. Rest days are actually of vital importance to your recovery and weight loss. But of all the fitness myths out there, the one that gets under my skin the most is the belief that fat loss comes as a result of long, slow steady state cardio sessions. I’ve seen many people waste their time and effort on this one. The truth is that intense, shorter workouts that incorporate resistance training with challenging bouts of cardio will burn fat quicker than a long, steady cardio session. Who doesn’t love to save time? If you are still plodding away on the treadmill 60 minutes at a time then you are spending more time to get less than half of results.
HIIT for Fat Burning
Allow me to introduce you to a little technique called HIIT. High-Intensity Interval Training is a cardio exercise strategy that improves performance with short training sessions. These sessions involve a warm up period, several short, maximum-intensity efforts that are separated by moderate recovery intervals, and a cool down period. The addition of explosions of speed to your comfortable pace will increase your power, muscle tone, speed, strength, endurance and best of all it allows you to burn more calories.
There you have it-all you need to know to take your workouts to the next level.
Fat Burning Bonus
After you exercise using HIIT, your body goes into a state of increased metabolic output. Simply put, this means that your body will continue to burn extra calories long after you have performed your last set. On the other hand, if you stuck with a long session of steady cardio, your calorie burning would stop quickly after you hopped off that treadmill.
Do you have questions about using HIIT to get better results? I would love to hear from you. Call or email today and I will schedule a time to meet with you one-on-one to strategize the quickest and most effective route to meeting your fitness goals.
I don’t know about you, but I like the concept of burning more calories – a lot more – after I’m done exercising. Talk about a bonus! Do yourself a favor and say goodbye to steady state cardio and fat loss myths for good by embracing a whole new fitness philosophy centered around HIIT. Watch how quickly your body begins to transform. And if you want proof take a look at some before and after pictures of my personal training and fitness boot camp clients –> HIIT Training Fat Burning Cardio Success Stories
