Listen in ladies: Slaving for hours on a treadmill is not the best or the most entraining way to burn calories. You can speed up your metabolism by switching your routine up with some higher-intensity interval training.
Researches, and my own personal experience has shown that high-intensity interval training not only increases your fitness rapidly and your resting energy expenditure, but also results in greater fat loss and less muscle breakdown! Which is exactly what you want we want.
Consider this: Twenty or so minutes of high-intensity aerobic interval training can burn more calories, increase your metabolism and preserve your muscle tissue, all at the same time! On the other hand, long, slow cardio sessions which a lot of us do may actually have a detrimental effect on your physique because, in addition to using fat as fuel, the body breaks down muscle protein for energy.
What To Do
Interval training must be carried out correctly and to be used no more than twice per week. Continue with longer cardio sessions also, switching between length, slow-paced cardio and shorter but more intense interval-training sessions. Remember to switch up the type of exercise your doing to keep it different and to also shock the body with something new.
Start each session with a 5-7 minute warm-up, then start to increase the intensity one of two ways:
- Increase speed
- Increase resistance
Do this for the prescribed amount of time, then reduce intensity and recover. After you’ve alternated work and recovery intervals for the desired length of time, cool down and stretch.
Think Outside The Box
High-intensity interval training isn’t just about limiting yourself to cardio machines which can get very tedious. Running on a track, bike riding, jump rope and small circuits of different activities are other examples. Your fitness and recovery time will increase dramatically, whilst burning a lot more calories than you used and in the mean time holding on to as much muscle as possible.
