CARDIO
[C]
HIGH
INTENSITY
INTERVAL
CARDIO
W
e all know that one person who is a fixture on the treadmill or elliptical trainer –
every time you come to the gym, there they are, working away at monotonous
high-duration cardio to burn body fat. But what they’re really doing is breaking down their
muscle and burning very little fat.
Studies show that type of cardio isn’t as beneficial for fat loss as experts once thought,
and even worse, it can be detrimental to body composition.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), sometimes referred to as High-Intensity
Intermittent Exercise (HIIE) is the best prescription for fat loss.
When it comes to fat loss you want to burn at as high a rate as possible right? HIIT
accomplishes this through intervals that push heart rate to the brink, then back it off to a
moderate pace, and resume a higher intensity again at the end.
The best part is, with HIIT you're burning more calories and fat, but for a much shorter
time than the old school cardio method. Shorter, more intense, sessions for cardio mean
optimal fat loss and maximum muscle retention – which has always been a necessary
evil for the kind of aerobic training that's always been done for competitions.
With HIIT, you don’t have to do hours of cardio because your workouts are going to
actually be more intense and more difficult than the guy working three times as long on
the treadmill next to you.
For bodybuilders and others trying to
hang on to hard-earned muscle, the old
steady-state cardio, with low to moderate
intensity levels, are no longer the norm. In
fact, exercise performed at 60 to 70 percent
of one’s maximum heart rate (MHR),
whittles away not only body fat but muscle
too. HIIT cardio, on the other hand, uses
short intervals of high-intensity exercise to
peak your heart rate at 90% of your max,
but, followed immediately by intervals of a
slower recovery to a more normal heart rate.
HIIT should be considered the only way
to truly lose body fat fast, while increasing
heart health and retaining muscle.
THE PROTOCOL
Typical HIIT sessions vary, but run
anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes, depending
upon your level of fitness. Don’t be
surprised, even if you’re a seasoned cardio
guy or girl, if you are not up to the HIIT
challenge at first. It’s a gut and lung buster,
and is challenging for people of all fitness
levels.
But however grueling it may be, it is
proven to increase athletic capacity, and
improve condition, and glucose metabolism,
as well as burning more body fat than
steady-state cardio at low to moderate
intensity.
One of the reasons HIIT is more effective
in 20 minutes than standard cardio in 60
minutes, is that HIIT training causes your
body to produce more fat-burning hormones
(hGH) through working more than one fiber
type. Whereas running may work one type,
and cycling may work another, HIIT works
three types:
TRAINING GUIDE
PRIMAL MUSCLE 19