Fast-Slow-Fast-Slow Burns More Fat!

Some gymgoers are tortoises. They prefer to take their sweet time, leisurely pedaling or ambling along on a treadmill. Others are hares, impatiently racing through miles at high intensity. Each approach offers similar health benefiits: lower risk of heart disease, protection against Type 2 diabetes, and weight loss.

But new findings suggest that for at least one workout a week it pays to be both tortoise and hare - alternating short bursts of high-intensity exercise with easy-does-it recovery. Studies continue to show that a workout with steep peaks and valleys can dramatically improve cardiovascular fitness and raise the body's potential to burn fat! We call this "Interval Training."

According to a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, 8 women in their early 20's cycled for 10 sets of four minutes or hard riding, followed by two minutes of rest. Over 2 weeks, they completed seven interval workouts. After interval training, the amount of fat burned in an hour of continuous moderate cycling increased by 36 percent and the ability of the heart and lungs to supply oxygen to working muscles improved by 13 percent. It didn't matter how fit the subjects were before. Borderline sedentary subjects and the college athletes had similar increases in fitness and fat burning.

Here are someo guidelines to follow: The high-intensity phase should be long and strenuous enough that a person is out of breath - typically one to four minutes of exercise at 80-85 percent of their maximum heart rate. Recovery periods should not last long enough for their pulse to return to its resting rate. Examples would be: swimmers, two laps fast, 4 laps more slowly, runners, 1 minute fast, 3 minutes slower.

Interval training isn't for everyone. If you have heart disease or high blood pressure or joint or arthritis you may need to consult your doctor before starting this type of training.

Good luck this month - let us know how we can help! Check our club brochure for more information on our Meltdown program.

http://www.meltdownsc.com/programs.html#technogym