F U N F E A R L E S S F I T N E S S . C O M
_________________________________________________________________________
On the road to a healthy lifestyle, fitness is your essential traveling companion. Have fun together!
Part One: You may have read or heard about the benefits of interval training. Specifically, High Intensity Interval Training (usually abreviated HIIT) is a brutal and brutally effective method of aerobic training. The operative words here are definitely High Intensity - prepare to be challenged! High Intensity Interval Training seems to be linked to better fat loss results than steady-state cardio, along with less muscle loss. These are very important variables for anyone interested in improving his or her fitness and physique.  So
what is this magical HIIT? At its most basic, it consists of brief
periods of all-out exertion interspersed with recovery periods at
moderate effort. By manipulating the ratio of intervals to recovery
time, it is easy to progressively increase the workload as capacity
improves. For example, you might start with a 1:3 ratio of
interval:recovery. Then move to 1:2, 1:1, and eventually even
2:1. In general, it is more effective to shorten the recovery periods between intervals than to lengthen the intervals themselves. The goal, remember, is to engage in a workout that is very distinct from the standard steady-state cardio most of us already do. The intensity of each interval should be extreme enough that it can be maintained for only 30-90 seconds. And 90 seconds is a very long interval. 45-60 seconds is a good goal. Provided you are working at sufficient intensity - we are talking all-out sprint - that will be quite long enough! If this is your first attempt at HIIT, prepare to be humbled. Remember that you will be working very hard and burning a ton of calories (both during the workout itself + after, due to increased post-exercise metabolism). So don't be dismayed if you spend only 10 minutes on the treadmill today - just make sure that you are pushing your body's capacity to nearly its limit. Good luck and happy training! Part Two: Equipment for Optimal Interval Training: This may not matter when you are first trying HIIT, but long-term you should take into account the limitations of whatever machine/equipment you are using. For example, treadmills are the most common for interval training but you'll notice that there is a considerable lag-time as the belt speeds up or slows down. This isn't usually a big deal, but over the course of each interval a few seconds will make a difference in workload. One solution is to use something like a jump-rope because the intensity level can be changed instantly by the user. The downside would be that it is easier to un-intentionally slack off in tempo (and the jump-rope requires more co-ordination than some of us possess!). Ellipticals provide a middle-ground - their speed is controlled easily by the user, but they also provide electronic feedback about your speed. The drawback to an elliptical, however, is that at very high rpm's you may actually exceed its functional mechanical capacity. Regarding safety, I would advise avoiding the stairmaster for true HIIT training. This is not to suggest that you shouldn't do intervals on the stairmaster (see a previous discussion for more) but when it comes to all-out effort, the stairs can be inherently unstable and dangerous. Also there is a natural tendency to support your weight on the handrails at higher speeds. This will prevent falling, but it also reduces the workload and encourages poor posture. The strain of your bodyweight is not meant to be carried on wrists and hunched shoulders. Many people have gotten good results on spinning bikes or other stationary cycles. They are similar in function and benefits to an elliptical trainer. Still others use no equipment yet still have a killer workout. Bodyweight exercises like jumping jacks, jump-squats, or burpees - performed very fast for brief intervals - will get your heart rate soaring. Part Three: So let's say you only have 30 minutes in the gym. What should be your priority? Or maybe you have 60 minutes but really want 2 hours. The same question holds - how can we make your workout as intense as possible? There are a few strategies, but if you break them down they all come under the catch-all category of supersetting. So what is supersetting? Basically, it is performing more than one exercise in a row such that rest periods are minimized. If you are hard-core, you'll be asking, "What rest periods?" And that is what the wonderful world of supersetting is all about. Circuit training is another word you've probably heard and it functions on the same principle. You might call circuit training a super-superset because it is comprised of so many exercises. Getting back to plain ol' supersets, they really can help make your time in the gym a time-efficient muscle-building and calorie-burning epic. Supersets can be comprised of anywhere from 2 to . . . there are no limits on how many exercises. However, for practical purposes, including equipment availability, I think a sequence of 2 - 4 are the most successful. Some of the choices involve opposing muscle groups (biceps and triceps, for example), or upper-and lower-body (chest press followed by squat followed by barbell row), or two exercises that work the same muscle group but in different way, or strength followed by aerobic interval. Some examples from recent workouts will give you an idea what we're talking about here:  1) Lunge + plie squat +
[unweighted] step-ups (a very tough circuit with aerobic benefit)2) Lat pulldown + low-back extensions (combining challenging upper-back move with a low-back move that focuses on endurance and stability) 3) Dumbbell lateral raise + overhead press (here the harder move is placed first. Due to fatigue, the same weights can probably be used for both) 4) Barbell skullcrusher [triceps] + dumbbell kickback [triceps] + barbell curl [biceps] (try doing this without any rest either between exercise or between supersets to really fatigue arms) 5) Upright barbell row + calf raises (here upper and lower are combined. Calf raises are a great example of an exercise that begs for supersetting. Done on their own, they aren't too challenging. But add another totally different exercise into the mix, and remove any rests, and suddenly you've got a killer workout) And don't ever limit yourself. Today I worked out
at a gym that has a .8 mile indoor track circling the weight area.
Whenever the mood struck me (read, when the machine or weight I wanted
was in use by another), I jogged once around the track, thus added some
cardio to the routine. More importantly, I avoided sitting or standing
still except as a last resort. To increase the metabolic cost of any
workout, try to keep the heart rate consistently raised.
|
Copyright 2010 FFF.com