Life and Fitness Coach

Interval training beats endurance sessions

For body fat loss and cardiovascular improvement I highly recommend interval training.

In this example I’m going to use running (treadmill, track or road) but the same principal could quite as easily be used on the bike, rowing machine or other cardio apparatus.

I highly recommend using a heart-rate monitor when exercising.

1. Walk 5 minutes as a warm-up
2. Gentle jog for 3 1/2 minutes
3. Sprint full-out for 1 1/2 minutes
4. Jog for 1 minute
5. Walk for 1 minute
6. Jog for 3 1/2 minutes
7. Sprint for 1 1/2 minutes
8. Jog for 1 minute
9. Walk for 1 minute

And so on ...

This routine can give you great results in as little as 25 minutes but can be done for up to 45 minuntes.

A recent study found sprint interval training to be more time-efficient than endurance training. Interestingly enough, the fat burning does not actually happen while you’re doing the exercise but from the workout's
"afterburn" effect. When you’re relaxing or even sleeping your body is using fat. Remember: The more intense your workout, the longer it’ll take your metabolism to return to its (less fat-burning) normal state.

Break out of your workout routine

Bored with your workout? Making little or no progress, wondering if all this time and effort is worth it? Sounds like you’re in a workout rut.

It’s very common to get to this place after only a few weeks, let alone a few years of working out.

Most likely you’re doing same routine week in, week out. The answer is to mix it up -- what’s known as cross-training. Let’s say you’re going to work out four times a week (which in my book is optimal). Well the answer is to do something different each time you go to the gym. Something like:

Monday: Treadmill, shoulder press, chest press, lat pulldown, tricep kickbacks and dumbbell bicep curls.

Tuesday: Bike, leg extention, let curl, calf raises, leg press and dead lifts.

Thursday: Cardio only: a mixture of treadmill, bike, elliptical and stairmaster.

Saturday: Maybe a class. Spinning, aerobics, circuit training or kickboxing or even better, an outdoor activity, like jogging, bicycling, playing tennis or an organized sport.

If you’re stuck for ideas, look online, check out a fitness magazine or hire a trainer.

Your trainer is ready -- are you?

Top 5 reasons for starting with a personal trainer:
1. It’s the New Year
2. I’ve just moved to the neighborhood
3. I’ve just broken up with somebody
4. I want to look good, so I can meet somebody
5. I just can’t take looking/feeling like this any more


Top "dumb" reasons not to work out with a personal trainer:
1. I already have to look good before I start
2. I don’t have the right outfits
3. The trainer will spend most of the time looking at himself
4. The trainer’s too cute
5. The trainer will expect too much of me