Ultimate Fitness Gym

Revealed: My Insider Cardio Workout For Maximum Fat-Loss!

Posted July 20th, 2010 by: Jesse Amarelo

I’m glad a lot of you liked my last blog post about revving up your metabolism. If you missed it you can read it here 4 Quick Tips To Rev Up Your Metabolism. I received some really good feedback and some great questions. One question that kept coming up was regarding cardio and how to incorporate interval training. I’m working on an in-depth report that will really explain why and how to do it but in the mean time I’m going to briefly go over it and how you can start right now and start burning fat!

Until now I’ve only used this workout with my paying clients. Primarily because it does require some explaining and some supervision but if you follow the steps I’m going to give then you will be fine. A common mistake that I see people make, regarding fat-loss by means of cardio, is spending way too long exercising at far too low an intensity. Yes it’s true that long duration-low intensity cardio will use fat for energy but what is also true is that valuable muscle mass is also burned in the process. So basically you’re burning fat AND muscle with your body fat % staying the same. So what’s the answer? You guessed it, interval training. It’s a much more effective means of fat loss and INCREASING lean muscle mass! Remember, the goal should always be fat-loss rather than weight-loss.

Now before I get into how to do it let me address the ‘total calories burned’ question because I know it’s going to come up. Don’t worry about what the machines read for total calories burned. Yes it’s true you will be burning less calories in an interval workout, as far as what the machine reads, but here’s the deal. The TRUE benefit of interval training comes from the after-burn effect. Your body will now need to repair the muscle tissue that you just damaged. And this repair process uses up calories. Not only that but your metabolism will actually increase for HOURS after the workout. So long duration cardio may burn more calories than interval training during the actual workout but interval training WILL burn many more calories when the cost of exercise and metabolism after-burn are factored in. Bottom line, interval training DOES expend more total calories than long duration-low intensity cardio.

Ok, now that we’ve covered that let’s discuss the actual workout. Interval training may be defined as high-intensity work intervals followed by moderate to low intensity recovery intervals. I have my clients use a 1:3 load:recovery ratio. What this means is if I have them push it for 30 seconds then they get a 90 seconds to slowly catch their breath. But the key is for those 90 seconds to keep up a moderate pace and not just come to a halt. Your have to keep moving.

Let’s take the elliptical for example. After an ample warm-up you would begin your intervals. Let’s say that you high-intensity interval equals 90-100 rpm for 30 seconds. Once that’s completed you would then go into your moderate intensity interval equaling 70-80 rpm for 90 seconds. Hopefully this is all making sense. You would then do this for 3-5 times, depending on your current fitness level, and then finish with a cool-down.

Now to really bring this all together I’m going to give you an exact workout to follow. Remember this is just a guideline and can be adjusted to fit your current fitness level. This workout can be done on the cardio equipment of your choice. The treadmill, elliptical, and bike all work fine.

Your Easy Glossary

*LOW INTENSITY – You can easily carry conversation during exercise.
*MEDIUM INTENSITY - You can carry on moderately easy conversation.
*HIGH INTESITY – The exercise does not allow for easy conversation.

Your 20 Minute Fat-Loss Interval Workout

(example below would be on an elliptical machine)

Duration                    Intensity

5 Minute Warm-Up ………    Low 40-55 rpm

30 Seconds …………………    High 90-105 rpm

90 Seconds …………………    Medium 65-80 rpm

(So the 30s:90s makes up one 1:3 interval. In this workout I have my clients repeat it 5 times for a total of work time of 10 minutes)

5 Minute Cool-Down ………..     Low 40-55 rpm
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The best part about this workout, besides the fat-loss, is that it will only last you 20 minutes. That’s it! I promise that if you start incorporating interval training into your routine 2-3 times a week you will feel and see a difference. Remember, interval training will build more lean muscle mass and burn more fat than long duration-low intensity cardio. Maximize your TIME and EFFORT by using interval training to reach your goals!

If you have ANY questions, comments, or just simply liked this post please leave a comment below