Many of you avid exercisers out there probably realize just how important it is to do aerobic activity to burn body fat, clear away toxins from the body, help in digesting food aid in recovery from weight training activity. Being a fitness professional I find that many times most people do the same type and intensity of their aerobic component over and over again. This can become boring and also non-productive after a certain period because you're not giving your body any new stimulus. In this article, I want to talk about a way to do aerobics that is quite different than what you may be doing now.



It's called Interval Aerobic Training. Basically, its comparable to shifting gears in a car. You actually burn more fuel when you' re constantly shifting gears. The same is true with the human body. If you just stay with the same type and intensity of your aerobic component, you won't burn the calories and expend the energy as you would when you're constantly changing the stimulus. Plus, I feel that the aerobic workout goes by faster, and it's more enjoyable. Here's how it goes. You would start out walking on a treadmill for about 5 minutes, not slow walk, but a moderate pace. Once you complete that, switch to a stair master, or elliptical crosstrainer for 3 hard minutes where you're almost out of breath. Once that is complete go to 5 minutes of recumbent or stationary bike. Use a moderate pace where your breathing heavy but not too intense. Again, once that 5 minutes are up go back to the stair master/elliptical for 3 hard minutes. Repeat one more time bike/treadmill for 5 minutes then 3 hard minutes on stair master/elliptical. Perform a cool down for 5 minutes by just walking around or slow walking to prevent the blood from pooling in one area. This whole workout should take 30 minutes.

For best results, I would recommend 3x's per week and then work up to 5x's per week if you have a slower metabolism and your goal is losing fat. And as far as timing goes, anytime is better than not doing it. However, I stress that it should be done in the a.m. before you eat ANY carbohydrates. You will burn fat more easily by doing the workout at this time. Another good time is to do it right after a weight training session. You will tap into the fat stores here as well, because the carbohydrates were used up during the weight training workout. Just keep in mind that your INTENSITY is a key factor in getting results with this type of program. You must work those 3 minutes really hard, to the point where you're breathing very heavily to get into the fat stores. Don't be lazy during this component, really kick it up a notch and go for it. If you do this you will get the results you want.

So now you have another weapon in your arsenal to burn stubborn body fat, have more energy, and just feel better overall. I challenge you to give Interval Aerobic Training a shot for 6 weeks. Another way to incorporate this into your workouts is do one day of normal, straight-intensity workout for 30-45 minutes then the next day switch to the interval method. I feel that combining these two ways of aerobic workouts will greatly improve your current physical condition. I actually perform very similar workouts when I prepare for bodybuilding contests, and have found it really helps me get into shape fast.

Copyright (c) 2007 Brian Gurneak