Fitmark Ambassador Jennifer Slovinski explains how HIIT training can increase your fat burn
Every morning at 4am, I head out to the gym for my first session of the day. It never ceases to amaze me the things I see at this early hour. Every day it’s the same. The same faces pounding away on the treadmill or spinning their wheels on the Elliptical yet no matter how many hours they log their bodies are still the same. Dissatisfied with their outcome thus far they increase their cardio time. What they don’t realize, something I had to learn for myself is that instead of burning fat they are actually burning away the one thing that keeps your metabolism running at peak levels.
Fitmark Ambassador Jennifer Slovinski
When you do long bout’s of constant steady state cardio your body resorts to using muscle tissue to fuel your workout. So while you pound away on the hamster wheel instead of burning fat what you have done is burn off the glycogen stores stored in your muscle tissue and liver, and started to metabolism muscle tissue to fuel the insane cardio that you inflict on your body every day. In return you body becomes softer and less efficient at burning calories. Now what if I told you there was a way to workout for less time but burn more fat. Would you be interested? Do I have your attention?
H.I.I.T. cardio (High Intensity Interval Training) is one of the best ways to burn fat. Studies have show that the shorted the work interval the more fat is burned. I like to do 8 seconds of full out wind sprints with 12 seconds of recovery.
I do this for 24 rounds. This can be done on either a spin bike, elliptical, or treadmill. Unlike constant steady state cardio which uses muscle as fuel, H.I.I.T. uses the fat stored in your body to fuel your workout. I know what you are thinking. I use to think the same way. I always thought you had to log hours of cardio. Coming from a reformed cardio junkie H.I.I.T. is the way to go. Why spend and hour doing something that only burns glycogen and muscle tissue when you can spend 10 to 15 minutes doing a workout that burns fat and spares muscle. Take it from me, the reformed cardio junkie; more is not always better when it comes to cardio and burning fat. I challenge you to stop the cardio madness now. Give H.I.I.T. a try. Your body will thank you.
Stay fit,
Jennifer Slovinski
Fitmark Ambassador 2013
Follow Fitmark Bags on Facebook and Pinterest.
An Exclusive Brand of Sport, Fitness and Work Bags for Fitness Enthusiasts
