Twenty minutes of high intensity cardio increases your aerobic capacity (VO2max) dramatically, maintains lean muscle mass, boosts your metabolism during and after exercise, and burns more fat calories than 30-45 minutes of low intensity cardio. Sound too good to be true? It’s not. In one research study participants who engaged in 90 sessions of traditional cardio over a 20 week period lost 1% bodyfat, while participants who engaged in 25 sessions of moderate intensity cardio then 35 sessions of high intensity cardio over a 15 week period lost 3% bodyfat. Additional studies have shown that participants who engaged in short high intensity training lost 9 times more fat than those who performed long low intensity training. Longer low intensity cardio can actually be counterproductive for more fit individuals because it burns up hard earned muscle decreasing fat burning. It’s also incredibly boring and time consuming and doesn’t do much for your aerobic capacity.
How To Start
The key to high intensity cardio is to incorporate it into your existing cardio routine. Because it’s a much more demanding workout you should start by replacing two of your weekly long low intensity cardio sessions with two short high intensity cardio sessions. Eventually you can work up to three sessions of high intensity cardio per week.
Best Activities
Choose an activity that you enjoy but is easy to adjust in intensity level and monitor like, walking, running biking, or any cardio machine such as the stationary bike, cross-trainer, treadmill, stair-master, or versa-climber. Most of these machines have high intensity programs but a lot of times they don’t provide a good enough workout so it’s good to just punch in a manual workout and then adjust your intervals as you go by manually changing the speed and or incline.
Helpful Gear
You will sweat like you never have, so be sure to take a towel to wipe off the excessive amounts of sweat. Hi-energy music whether it’s rock, techno, dance, or country, can help motivate you and makes those higher intervals go by a lot quicker. A heart rate monitor is a great investment and a fun toy that can help you maintain those intensity levels high and ensure that you’re rest intervals don’t go too low. A 5x7 with your intervals and corresponding minutes written out is a big help for most beginners.
Measuring Intensity
Using a heart monitor guarantees that you’ll stay within 60-90% of your target heart rate but using a ratings of perceived (RPE) scale is much easier for beginners. The scale goes from 0-10 with 0 being no effort and 10 being maximum effort but it has been simplified by various fitness experts as follows:
· Level 4: low intensity, warm-up level, easy
· Level 5: low to moderate intensity, still fairly easy
· Level 6: moderate intensity, working and breathing a little hard
· Level 7: moderate to high intensity, breathing harder, more challenging
· Level 8: high intensity, very challenging, breathing very hard, difficult to talk
· Level 9: very high intensity, busting your butt to keep up, breathing seriously hard
· Level 10: maximum intensity, feels like your heart will burst out of your chest.
Walk/Run Workout
This workout out can be done outdoors or on a treadmill, stairmaster, or crosstrainer. It’s very simple for beginners and you can adjust the interval lengths as your fitness level improves.
| Minute | Interval | RPE/Intensity | Target Heart Rate |
| 0-1 | 60sec. | 4 low(warm-up) | 50% |
| 2 | 60 sec. | 5 low to moderate | 60% |
| 3 | 60 sec. | 6 moderate | 70% |
| 4 | 60 sec. | 7 moderate to high | 75% |
| 5 | 60 sec. | 8 high | 80% |
| 6 | 60 sec. | 9 really high | 85% |
| 7 | 60 sec. | 6 moderate | 70% |
| 8 | 60 sec. | 7 moderate to high | 75% |
| 9 | 60 sec. | 8 high | 80% |
| 10 | 60 sec. | 9 really high | 85% |
| 11 | 60 sec. | 6 moderate | 70% |
| 12 | 60 sec. | 7 moderate to high | 75% |
| 13 | 60 sec. | 8 high | 80% |
| 14 | 60 sec. | 9 really high | 85% |
| 15 | 60 sec. | 6 moderate | 70% |
| 16 | 60 sec. | 7 moderate to high | 75% |
| 17 | 60 sec. | 8 high | 80% |
| 18 | 60 sec. | 9 really high | 85% |
| 19 | 60 sec. | 5 low to moderate | 60% |
Recommended Reading: "Hot Point Aerobics will super-heat your muscles, and burn fat from your body quickly, safely, and forever," says Steve Zim, author and celebrity trainer.
Hot Point Fitness: The Revolutionary New Program for Fast and Total Body Transformation
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