Hi everyone, Kris Stokes here with Custom Fitness, your personal trainer in Amarillo, Texas. Today we are examining how to lose fat faster when you implement intervals. The other day we spoke about how you can lose fat faster by minimizing your cardio time. If you didn’t get to catch that blog, go back and check it out at the link above. For the cardio, we provided some good information about sprint training, sprint cardio, and emphasized that “sprint” not a bad word; it’s a good thing to help you raise your heart rate. If you have any questions about any of the information we talk about here or would like to know how to better customize exercises to you, give our team a call: 806-322-3188.
A lot of people don’t realize the benefit of interval training. Some go to the gym do strictly cardio (for hours) to lose fat. Some do a chaotic workouts where they’re doing a ton of reps on machines similar to circuit training, but it’s not ever the same circuit. They use different machines or a different amount of reps each time. Those people have the idea that that their workouts (chaotic circuit training or strictly cardio) is going to get them where they want to be. As a personal trainer in Amarillo for 20 years, I have seen a fair share of clients get burned out doing this same thing everyday and not seeing the results they hoped for. Don’t get me wrong, each has their perks but it’s not a long-term solution to fat loss. So what does a long-term solution look like?
Using Sprint training from the Minimizing Cardio blog is your first step of action. Second step would be utilizing interval training. I am going to use a term here that some people aren’t comfortable with because they may have had too rough of an experience with it: High Intensity Interval Training, AKA HIIT training. HIIT does not have to be something that hurt your joints. It does not have to be something that causes you pain in anyway. Discomfort is okay, but pain definitely not.
What is HIIT?
HIIT is where you take the same amount of work and intensity that you would normally do and then squish it down into a shorter amount of time, alternating between pushing and resting. Let’s say you typically run 45 minutes on the elliptical at a certain pace. To turn this into a HIIT workout we would convert that intensity into a 30-second interval of all-out work followed by say a time to 20 seconds rest afterwards. Some people think HIIT is an alternative for Tabata training. Actually, Tabata is merely one form of HIIT.
You can do different intervals sets when performing HIIT depending on your goals and your body’s needs. A really good interval set is to pair 30 seconds of hard work with either a 30-second break or 20 second break. Over time you can progress that 30 second break down to 20 second break, or a 20 second break down to a 10 second break. This approach allows your to get more exercise done in less time.
Equal Weight Without the Pain
HIIT has nothing to do with impact; you do not have to be jumping, nor do you have to be putting more force on the joints. You can have a HIIT workout with bodyweight, you can do it with light weights, you can do it with bands. I highly recommend incorporating fitness bands into your program. We posted a blog on bands the other day, so again, if you missed it feel free to scroll back. Band training will reduces stress on the joints. You won’t have as much pain in the joints or as much impact on the joints from doing the excessive lifting. When you’re doing lifts — depending on what you’re doing and what goals you have — if you’re trying to do heavier lifts and you’re grabbing those dumbbells, it’s a lot of force of gravity on the joints. Instead, doing the band training you can get the same results muscular wise without the joint damage.
What to put into HIIT?
You’re HIIT will make you lose fat faster than your normal weight lifting – cardio routine because it will combine the two together in a simple workout. Now you have to look at what kind of exercises and movements are we going to include in our training? For me, I’m not going to put in a static bicep curl or just a run of the mill squat. Rather, I am going to take the exercises and combine them together for a multi-joint activity. Example: instead of just a squat, I am going to add a squat with an arm curl (when I’m squatting) and a shoulder press (when I stand back up). To be able to add movements together. The more movements we can add together, without over-complicating things obviously, the more the body is going to have to work together to make those movements happen.
Another example would be a Clean and Press where you would pull your weights up to your shoulders and then press them overhead. You could add that squat move so you get the movement at the shoulders, the triceps, the legs, and everything is firing together. Your joints and body are working together. Then you begin working what’s called Chains of Motion. You’re not working the muscle groups individually. You are going to benefit your body better by creating a working kinetic chain. Thus, giving your body different types of results.
So, to burn fat fast we want to be sure to do some great HIIT training with multi-joint movements to get the best bang for our buck. You also want to add in some interval training into your sessions as well. During your off days, you want to take part in the sprint cardio we covered in the other blog.
Fill that formula in with research-based, good quality exercises and you can do great things. I personally believe in foundational exercises. Meaning tried-and-true movements that are proven to work and that keep your body safe from injury. Put all those types of things together and you’re going to have an awesome program.
Whoa…Info Overload
This may seem a little overwhelming. Start googling Tabatas or HIIT, you will come up with a million different things. Pinterest has tons of workouts out there to try as well. Don’t worry. You’re not on this journey alone.
If you really want to have some good guidance with your workout routine approached with proven research methods, we at Custom Fitness can create a program that is tailored to you. You will know this plan will keep you safe, get you to where you want to be in minimal time, and be able to help you to understand how to be better. Maybe today you are struggling through a plateau. Maybe you haven’t even started your quest to a healthier lifestyle. Maybe you are still working towards the goal that has been sitting on the back burner (for years?). My team and I ready to help you get to where you want to be with a personalized look at your fitness and nutrition. If you want to know more about which of our services are right for you or are interested in just a consultation to see where you could be in a few months, give us a call 806-322-3188 or e-mail us at info@customfitness.biz. Our team of certified trainers are eager to help get you on your way towards a better lifestyle. At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo. Have a great day.