HIIT for Fat Loss and Muscle Growth

If you are even a little into fitness you will have heard about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) for fat loss. In simple words, this means doing very demanding movements for short intervals followed by a resting period. You may have heard that it is the best way to lose fat and preserve and gain muscle mass. But is it really the case? Let's analyze.

Before I go any further, let me just talk about the traditional fat loss method...YES...that's the one. Getting on the treadmill and jog for 30 - 45 minutes at a constant speed while keeping in your fat burning zone which is about 65 to 75% of your maximum heart rate. So if you are 30 years old, you should stay in between 123.5 to 142.5 beats per minute (220 - 30 = 190 | 0.65 x 190 = 123.5 | 0.75 x 190 = 142.5). It takes about 60 - 80% of the energy from the fats. Anyone who hears this would be completely convinced that this is the best way to lose fat. But this is not really true. I agree that this will help you lose fat but I question the part about it being the best. Let's take a look at some of the drawbacks of this type of training. First of all, if you ask me, it is extremely boring. Anyone would be bored doing the same thing without any variation for a long time, but maybe that's just me. If we look at the more scientific side, this kind of cardio training will raise you metabolism (or use of energy) during the workout and an hour after the workout, after that you will get back to the normal metabolic rate. So you don't burn a lot of calories at rest. Then there's this problem of hitting the weight loss plateau. This means that you stop losing fat because your body gets used to your workouts and diet. Another huge problem is that when you workout for over 35 - 40 minutes you increase the release of a hormone called cortisol, which is a regulator of all the human body functions, but one of its not-so-good features is that breaks down the protein for energy (i.e. muscle loss). Let me also point out that muscle is heavier than fat so the scale will show that you have lost a few pounds but losing muscle mass is no good. The final and most important goes back to the first point where I mentioned that this cardio burns more fats and fewer carbohydrates. But if we look at our diet, we take a lot more carbs during our day compared to the amount of fats and if we don't use up those carbs, they eventually convert into fats. So whatever benefit you get, will not be the best result.
Now that we know quite a bit about the traditional cardio method, let's look into the HIIT method of cardio. As mentioned earlier, it involves short burst of highly intense movements followed by recovery periods. So as an example, a very popular HIIT workout is to jog for 2 minutes and sprinting for 10 seconds and repeating this from 5 - 10 times depending on your fitness level. Research shows that this kind of training elevates your metabolic rate for a number of hours (ranging up to 48 hours after a workout). This is due to the EPOC effect. EPOC stands for Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption, which basically means that you use up more oxygen at rest after a workout session compared to the amount of oxygen used pre-workout. EPOC is accompanied with a higher metabolism, which is exactly what you want to lose fat. I would like to make it clear that long traditional cardio also gives the EPOC effect but for a very short period of time. Research shows that anaerobic (weight lifting, sprinting etc) workouts keep you metabolism higher for a lot longer than traditional aerobic workout (jogging, walking, cycling etc.). At the end of the day, you burn a lot more calories, which include both carbs and fats.
Another effect of HIIT form of training is the release of testosterone and growth hormone which help build muscle but at the same time, a number of research shows that they help lose body fat and preserve muscle. Because HIIT is done for no more than 20 minutes, the release of cortisol can be avoided. Other benefits can include that HIIT helps you give a better tone to the entire body, it is not boring as you keep changing and planning every minute or so. HIIT is often used to break a fat loss plateau so your body will never get used to a workout.
In conclusion, we can see that HIIT is probably a better option for fat loss and/or muscle growth. However, please note that your diet and nutrition plays a huge role in this as well and it is not to be neglected.

Kate Walk

Lose Belly Fat in Minutes with Interval Training

You have probably seen the commercials that promise that you can lose belly fat in just minutes with very little effort. A commercial that I have been seeing here lately is the Nordic Track commercial in which it claims that you can lose weight in less time walking on their patented treadmill than a regular one. Which brings me to the question, can you lose belly fat in minutes? Would it take more time to lose weight? How much time should your workout last to lose fat? Can a five minute workout routine be good enough to make you lose weight? In this article, I will attempt to unravel these questions to give you the answers.
Can You Lose Belly Fat in Minutes?

Lose Belly Fat in Minutes with Interval Training

The short answer is yes...but the minutes we are talking about are probably more than the time most of us would be willing to invest in. Most researchers now agree that if you want to lose weight, then you will need to put in at least 30 minutes a day of walking every day. But the reality is that you can do less minutes if your workout is challenging and intense enough to warrant it.
Just to illustrate, a person who walks on a treadmill for an hour will be lucky to lose 500 calories. A person who runs intervals for thirty minutes will lose the same amount in half the time. A person who can pack in 4 miles in 32 minutes can expect roughly a 600 calorie deficit.
And with interval training, it gets a little more interesting. Because you are running hard for your hard interval, you are going to challenge more muscles to work in unity. This will include your abs and lower back, you legs and even your shoulders and arms. And since interval training is both aerobic and anaerobic, your body will still be burning calories long after your work out ends.
How much time should your workout last to lose fat?
Intensity of the workout is more important than the length of your workout. You can get far more done and lose more belly fat by going at an intensive pace than if you were to walk for an hour.
Can a 5 minute workout routine be good enough to help you lose weight?
Good enough?...maybe. After all, any exercise is good. But if this is your intent, understand that if you don't put in the work, you won't reap the benefits of weight loss and that belly fat you are carrying around will likely be there longer.
All of this said, the big secret to losing weight isn't how often you work out as some people believe. The biggest secret is diet and proper nutrition. If you can pry yourself away from that bag of doritos and coke and replace it with good, nutritious things like almonds, fruit and water, then you will see the weight come off faster than if you were to simply increase your workout intensity and eat the same old bad junk.
Additionally, unless you are extremely overweight or obese, you may not see much change at all for a while. This is normal and the thing to bear in mind is that if it took you a year to gain 20 pounds, then a good goal would be to drop the weight slowly over the next year.
The Most Important Thing You Can Do To Lose Belly Fat
Probably the most important thing you can do is to follow a good, clean diet. If you take into account all the junk that enters your body (even the "fat free" yogurt is junk) like mayo, ketchup, bread ect....then you should understand why we are in the middle of a fat epidemic. If you want to lose weight and lose the belly fat, then you should be considering Diet and nutrition first.
As far as exercising goes, intensity matters. The more intense you can go, the more you will challenge your body to surpass plateaus and peaks that come with work outs. How intense? You exercise routine should be intense enough for you do it for at least 20 minutes but not so intense that you run out of gas after 10.
Should You Weigh Yourself as a way to measure success?
While everyone gets excited about losing a pound or two on the scale, understand that our weight can fluctuate wildly over the course of a day. You may weigh yourself in the morning and find yourself 5 pounds lighter than the night before. A better barometer of success when it comes to weight loss is to have a fat analysis done (you can have it done at practically any gym) before you go on a diet plan and then have a weekly or bi weekly test done to measure how much fat you are losing.
You may be losing fat and not lose weight. The good news is that the more fat you lose, the more fit and healthy you are. There have been a lot of cases where someone doesn't drop any weight or maybe just a pound or two but winds up lowering their fat percentage significantly.
The bottom line is if you are losing belly and body fat, then you are doing pretty well for yourself....and that is one thing that the standard scale can't measure accurately.
So there you have it. Some great advice for anyone who is looking to lose belly fat or fat in general. Nutrition and diet is the way to look great. Exercise is the catalyst to feeling great. If you don't do both or don't have time to workout, then you should in the very least, watch what you are putting into your body. The stars all have not only intense workouts but they also are very religous into what they are going to allow themselves to eat.
So, the next time you pick up a Star Magazine and see the top 10 beach bodies, understand that diet plays a much more crucial role than exercise. And while a 5 minute workout routine is better than nothing at all, your chances of losing the belly fat aren't as great as the commercials are promising you.

Kate Walk