21
Apr 11
First off, after watching the video, I realized that I made some mistakes in my explanation but unless you’re an Exercise Physiologist you won’t catch on to them and instead of redoing the video I posted it anyway because the basic concept still applies.
Before I get into the post, let me ask you a question. How many fat basketball players do you know? Or how many fat gymnists do you see?
How much aerobic “cardio” do you think they are doing?
Nada, Zilch, None! Ok, that might not be totally true, but 90% of the time they will be doing intense bursts of speed and then stopping and guess what, they are some of the most ripped and toned athletes you’ll see.
Why is that?
They are basically using Anarobic capacity and causing oxygen deficits as well as incorporating a strength training program, all of which increased their metabolism and help build lean toned muscle (and raise their VO2 Max).
2 good definitions of VO2Max
- “Maximal oxygen consumption during exercise. Considered to be the single best measure of cardiovascular fitness. VO2max declines with age. A low VO2max score has been shown to be one of the best predictors of all cause[s of] mortality in people.”
- “The maximal rate at which oxygen can be taken up, distributed and used by the body during physical activity. VO2max is expressed in terms of milliliters of oxygen consumed per kilogram of body weight per minute.”
The point of the video is to show that you can achieve more in less time by doing short bursts or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) than by doing steady state cardio.
In case the video didn’t work for you, let me break it down this in a simple example:
45 minutes of steady state cardio => You may burn 300 calories in that 45 minutes of continuous movement
15 Minutes (of actual effort) of HIIT= You could burn 300 calories during the work out and an extra 200 or more calories after the work out.
Not to mention all the other benefits of HIIT
- Permanent increase in metabolism
- Better muscle tone
- Activation of fast twitch muscle fibers which degenerate with age, meaning that you will keep your muscle young
- Less time spent training
We actually created a program that mixes in HIIT training with strength and endurance which has had phenomenal results and we will be beta testing the program next month (and blog the results). So if anyone in the Beaufort area is interested please leave a comment below or contact us at EarthFIT
