When it comes to exercising, the trick is to work out hard enough to produce heart-healthy benefits and yet not so fiercely that you do yourself harm. Here are several easy ways to determine whether your level of activity is helping or harming you...
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Every time I tell someone I only do 16 minutes or cardio (per session) they always seem to balk. Almost everyone believes that low intensity cardio for longer durations is the way to burn fat. I'm not sure where everyone got the notion from, including myself, but I want to tell you about 'High intensity Cardio' (HIC) and why it is the best way to reach your goal of losing body fat.
There are a variety of different forms of HIC - Some people call it high intensity training', some call it VO2 training, AST calls their version Max-OT Cardio and Body for Life calls theirs the 'High Point Training'. Whatever you call it, it all follows the same fundamental principles - high intensity cardio workouts, short durations (under 20 minutes) and increased intensity each progressive session.
Why does it work? Most people seem to think that they burn fat during their cardio workouts, thus more is better. But this isn't quite the case. While you are burning some fat during the workout, the amount is negligible. The real fat burning process starts after the workout - if you appropriately exerted yourself during the workout, then your metabolic rate will be higher during the hours following the your session, and this is when your body will really be burning the excess calories.
In addition, long sessions of cardio will force your body to go into a catabolic state - This is when your body starts using muscle for fuel. Why is the bad? Because the more muscle you have, the more calories your body needs throughout the day to maintain that muscle, i.e. you have a higher metabolic rate. So having a long workout, where the goal is to lose fat is in fact counterproductive due to the muscle breaking down, which will ultimately lower your metabolism.
A recent study showed people who engaged in 90 sessions of low intensity cardio over a 20 week period lost 1% body fat, while those who engaged in 25 sessions of moderate intensity cardio then 35 sessions of high intensity cardio over a 15 week period lost 3% body fat. Additional studies have shown that participants engaging in short HIC lost 9 times more fat than those who performed long low intensity training.
I will post more soon about how to incorporate HIC into your training program.