Optimal Fat Loss-high Intensity Interval Training

What is high intensity interval training and can I really lose more fat following this routine? Many have said that optimal fat loss should be done at a lower intensity level and longer duration. Most people assume that doing aerobics for 40-60 minutes is the proper way to burn fat efficiently. In actual fact, when you do aerobics for that long, you are training at a lower intensity level. Also, after you are done your workout your metabolism stays elevated for up to an hour after you finish. With high intensity interval training, your metabolism will stay elevated for about 24 hours! Alright I'll be discussing why high intensity interval training can help you burn up to 50% more calories and the reasoning behind this madness!

First thing, let me discuss some calculations between low and high intensity exercising. Low intensity exercising is classified of having 60% to 65% of your maximum heart rate. With high intensity exercise you are working about 75% to 85% of your maximum heart rate. To make things simple we will assume that person is 20 years old.

Formula: 220- (your age) = maximum heart rate

From our formula, we know our maximum heart rate is 200. So, working at 60% of your maximum heart rate would be 120 bpm (beats per minute) and 80% of that would be 160 bpm. With those numbers low intensity burns 50% fat for energy and high intensity burns 40% fat for energy. So, right now it seems low intensity training is the proper way to train? Ok, lets go a little deeper comparing both training methods. A person walks for about 30 minutes burning 150 calories. We then calculate 50% of 150 calories is 75 fat calories burned. Now, lets say that person does high intensity training for 15 minutes burning 240 calories. So, 40% of 240 calories is 96 fat calories burned! We have just determined that high intensity is done in half the time and it is also burning an extra 21 fat calories! On top of that, I've already discussed that your metabolism will stay elevated for about 24 hours with high intensity training.

Now you are thinking to yourself, how is it done? Say you are jogging outside and you'll begin with a light jog or brisk walking to warm up. After a few minutes of getting blood flow throughout your body, you'll begin your high intensity interval training. Next you'll run for about 2-3 minutes and then walk for about 1 minute and a half. You'll repeat this a few times depending on how intense you want to continue. That's it and high intensity interval training can be applied to any form of cardiovascular exercise. You name it and it can be applied towards walking, jogging, running, biking, etc.

So why are more people not following this type of training method? Some people are just misinformed and the way they are exercising it will just take them longer to get to their goals. In some cases, its hard enough to exercise and a lot of people just feel comfortable training at a low intensity level. Also, most personal trainers find it a low risk to their clients and its very generic. The personal trainers feel they wont be blamed if their clients get injured since they may be inexperienced. It is true that exercising at a lower intensity level will burn a higher percentage of calories from fat than high intensity but it will not burn more fat. Don't get me wrong and its great people are exercising. All I am doing is just addressing the best productive way to get the most out of your workouts as efficiently as possible. We all have a busy lifestyle so every second counts and I truly understand that we have our own career, friends, and family to take care of. Besides training hard, most importantly I want everyone to train smarter!