5 Great Fat Burning Interval Workouts
August 6th, 2008 by Home fitness specialist
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Image via WikipediaBy Guest Columnist: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Long, slow cardio is not the fastest way to burn fat. Research shows that short interval training workouts burn belly fat faster.I was one of the first trainers to question long, slow cardio for fat loss
back in the late 1990’s and I believe that traditional cardio is over-rated.
Interval training, or interval “cardio” if you want to call it that, is
much, much better for fat loss. It burns belly fat in half the workout time.
I figured this out just before the year 2000.
In my study (which was published in the Canadian Journal of Applied
Physiology for any science nerds like myself out there), we had guys use the supplement androstenedione, and go through a couple of weight training sessions. By February of ‘99 I was stuck in the lab, analyzing the blood samples using some fancy radio-active isotopes.
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Craig sells a very detailed program he calls Turbulence Training. He provides numerous detailed workouts for the home or gym which really work.
If you’re seeking a plan which you can implement and track your results, then I recommend Craig’s Turbulence Training program. There’s numerous testimonials and even sample workouts available.
If you want to lose weight, tone muscle and get in shape, check out Craig’s weight loss workouts.
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Now coming from a very athletic background, this sedentary lifestyle didn’t sit well with me. But there I was, studing for a degree in Exercise Physiology and left with no time for exercise. Or so I thought.
Fortunately, I actually had a 50 minute window once per day of “down-time” while the lab’s gamma-counter analyzed blood samples.That left me 50 minutes to get to the gym (5 minutes across campus) and get a workout in the remaining 40 or so minutes. I knew that if I applied my studies to the workout, I could get maximum results in minimum time.
As a former athlete, I knew that I had to find a way to stay fit and to avoid the fat gain that comes with working long hours in a sedentary environment. And I also had to stay true to the high-school bodybuilder I once was, so there was no way I was willing to sacrifice my muscle to one of those long-cardio, low protein fat-loss plans that were popular at the time.
Instead, I had to draw on my academic studies and my experiences working with athletes as the school’s Strength & Conditioning Coach. I knew that sprint intervals were associated with more fat loss than slow cardio, and I knew that you could also increase aerobic fitness by doing sprints (but you can’t increase sprint performance by doing aerobic training).
So clearly, intervals were (and ARE!) superior to long slow cardio for fat loss. I had seen first hand the incredible results of sprint intervals in the summer and fall, as the athletes made huge fitness improvements and shed winter fat in a short time using my interval programs. I knew that intervals
had to be the next step in the evolution of cardio.
The biggest benefit of intervals? A lot of results in a short amount of time. I knew that I only had 40 minutes to train, and therefore I could only spend 15-20 minutes doing intervals.
Before I go on, let me clear up how an interval training workout goes.
After all, I believe everyone can do interval training for fat burning. Even beginners. For beginners who usually exercise for 30 minutes at 3.5 mph on the treadmill, their interval workout would be to go for 1 minute at 3.8mph and then recover for 2 minutes at 3.0 mph. That’s it. Repeat 6 times. If you are more advanced, you would use more intense exercise.
Interval training simply needs to start off harder than normal and progress from there.
Most folks hate cardio, so they are happy to use interval training as an effective replacement to lose stomach fat. Here is my list of preferred ways to do your intervals, ranked in order from best to worst, based on my experiences.
1. Sprinting outdoors (Hill sprinting might be the absolute best method)
2. Kettlebell exercises
3. Bodyweight interval circuits
4. Treadmill running
5. Stationary cycle (upright cycling preferred over recumbant bike)
With those 5 Turbulence Training interval training methods, you’ll burn fat fast and never have to do cardio again!
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Weight loss workouts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:05 am
[...] As you can see, bodyweight exercises are the best exercises to get functional use of your entire body. After you finish these exercises, you can move into workout programs and do at least 3-4 fitness exercise program that performed twice each with minimum rest between each. This not only cuts your workout time, but maximizes results. This way you only need 20-25 minutes to complete your fitness exercise program. [...]
August 16th, 2008 at 9:07 am
[...] Bodyweight exercises are great to get use of your whole body. They are all exercises you can do at home. After completing these exercises, you can move into fitness workouts where I recommend at least 3 fitness exercise program are performed twice each with minimum rest between each. This way you only need 20-25 minutes to complete your fat burning exercise. [...]
August 21st, 2008 at 5:55 pm
After getting started with your workouts and seeing some changes in your fitness levels, I highly recommend interval training. It is both fun and challenging which means you will be more motivated to stick with it … and after all is said and done, not quitting is really the key to long term fitness goals.