You hear me talk a lot about HIT training and Circuit training… We’ll that is because there is something to be said about it! We all have limited amount of time to spend working out and with the reality of LIFE, time is of the essence so why not spend it wisely and be as productive as we can, right!?
HIT is where you take your heart rate so high and push your muscles so hard that the little rest period between intervals just barely gets you recovered. By the end of 20-30 minutes of that you are dripping in sweat, exhausted and ready for a good long stretch and some serious rest! Try some of my circuit workouts for examples of this type of workout! Did you see Jessica in our card deck circuit! Yes, boy was that a great workout and in 25 minutes MAX!
Now let’s go a little bit deeper, which type of cardio is best?
The rule of caloric deficit AKA: Calories In vs. Calories Out, will always apply as the most basic “lose weight” strategy. Aside from the very important fact that cardiovascular exercise is good for your heart, in terms of weight loss it is simply a way of burning more calories. This is a crucial piece of your fitness puzzle because you really can’t live a balance, realistic and a healthy life if you can only eat 800 calories a day. Most weight lose programs recommend watching your food intake and increasing exercises, TRUE! But it is what types of exercise and what type of calories that matter most! Exercise burns calories, so instead of reducing your calories by 500 a day, resulting in 3500 calories a week and 1 lb a week, which can leave some people very hungry and cranky, it is best to watch your food intake and see about decreasing calories by 250 AND exercising to burn the extra minimum of 250 calories. Now don’t get hung up on those exact numbers please! The numbers are a bit different for every person. Remember, we are NOT about numbers so the bottom line is Yes calories in calories out BUT it is more about what you eat, when you eat and getting in your activity, however that may be!
Don’t think you have to do hours and hours of cardio to lose weight, REALLY teamers, who has that kind of time? NOT ME!!! You want to be sure to utilize lifting weights and resistance training AND cardio. If you are doing an hour a day of cardio and you have no time in your busy lives to lift weights, you are doing yourself a huge disservice! TIME TIME TIME… WHO HAS IT??? That is why we do our circuit training or HIT training to allow us to get both cardio and resistance training done in less time! Get in and get out!
Of course, depending on your training and goals, you may incorporate more duration cardio into your workout plan but for lifestyle fitness and weight loss or maintenance, The key to doing cardio to lose weight is all about the calorie output and temporary rise in the metabolism. If you do 60 minutes of cardio at a slow sluggish pace FOR YOUR FITNESS LEVEL you could burn as little as 120 calories an hour! If you changed that INTENSITY you could burn 500-600 calories or more. Now rather than running for 60 minutes straight, why not split your intense cardio sessions with resistance training to gain the full benefits of increasing your metabolism, getting your heart rate up and burning those calories!!
For long term success and for managing your precious time better, start focusing on cross training, using a variety of duration and intensity. Remember teamers, Change is good!!
CROSS TRAINING is simply changing the form of the cardio exercise frequently. This helps make your body work harder (burn more calories) because it doesn’t adapt as quickly. Keep your body guessing!
VARY YOUR INTENSITY! If you have less time to spend in the gym, make your shorter session more beneficial by making them your hardest sessions! This is when you need to dig deep within yourself to push yourself mentally and physically to the limit. Longer sessions of cardio will be for some intervals or steady state work, reserving energy for longer periods of time!
If you are planning on cardio 6 days a week you might do something along these lines:
* Day 1: Power Walk 45-50 minutes OR Incline Treadmill, fast walking & FULL BODY Circuit workout
* Day 2: Kickboxing 30 minutes + 30-45 minutes Strength Training
* Day 3: Jog/Sprint/Fast walk intervals 45 minutes
* Day 4: YOGA plus 30-45 minutes Strength Training
* Day 5: Aerobic Dance Class, kickboxing, body pump (circuit style full body workout) 60+ minutes
* Day 6: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) 20-30 minutes + 20-30 minutes Strength Training in between spurts of intense intervals
Use this as a guide and see how you do. You may find a class you really enjoy and want to do an additional day of that class or you may want to add in an additional HIIT session, as you become more and more fit.
Play around with your program and see what works best for you and your precious time but get in and get out, Less is more!!
