Fitness that Fits- Fun and Effective Cardio!

If the mere thought of spending an hour walking on a treadmill, or riding a stationary bike brings visions of torture to mind, than then you are not alone. Most of us (myself included) dread the typical cardio workout. Most of us simply do not have the time to spend a full hour, or the patience, and not to mention it can get down right boring.

So what happens? We skip it, or do it begrudgingly and hate every minute of it.
The purpose of a cardio workout is to burn fat, lose weight, and to improve our cardiovascular system (heart and lungs). New studies are out that show our long-low intensity sessions may not be as effective as we once thought.

When you continually workout at the same level, your body adapts to the level and is now trying to conserve energy. Since the goal here is to BURN energy not conserve energy we need to adjust our cardio workout.
High-Intensity Interval Training: is an exercise strategy that improves performance with short training sessions. These sessions involve a warm up period, several short, maximum-intensity efforts that are separated by moderate recovery intervals, and a cool down period.

HIIT, is a fairly new training technique that burns fat up to 50% more efficiently than low-intensity exercise, increases your metabolism and prevents boredom all while working at a level that’s right for you.

Now you can replace your 60 minutes of low-intensity cardio with a more effective, High Intensity Interval Training session for as little as 20 minutes. The addition of intense intervals will increase your muscle tone, strength, endurance and best of all will melt off the fat.

Here is an example of my HIIT workout – this can be done on any form of cardio equipment, walking outside or swimming laps:
• Start with an easy 5 minute warm up, gradually increasing your intensity to the one that you usually maintain for your workout.
• Once you are sufficiently warm, increase your intensity for 30 seconds.
• Return to your normal pace for the next 60 seconds and then increase intensity again.
• Repeat this 30/60 interval for 10 minutes and then gradually decrease your intensity as you cool off for 5 minutes.

If you aren’t ready to jump into a full-fledged HIIT session, try one of the following modified HIIT workouts:

Modification 1:
• Start with at least a 5 minute warm up, gradually increasing your intensity to the one that you usually maintain for your workout.
• Once you are sufficiently warm, increase your intensity for 30 seconds.
• Return to your normal pace for the next 2 minutes and then increase intensity again.
• Repeat this 30 second/2 minute interval for 10 minutes then gradually decrease your intensity as you cool off for 5 minutes.

Modification 2:
• Start with at least a 5 minute warm up, casually increasing your intensity to the one that you usually maintain for your workout.
• Once you are sufficiently warm, increase your intensity for 30 seconds.
• Return to your normal pace for the next 3 minutes and then increase intensity again.
• Repeat this 30 second/3 minute interval for 10 minutes then gradually decrease your intensity as you cool off for 5 minutes.

If further modifications are needed you can extend the recovery time as long as you need. Work up to the intensities at your own pace and make this a fun activity that you will enjoy doing over and over.

If you would like me to design an exercise program that will fit your unique needs please e-mail me at tammybartz@comcast.net.eills

Tammy is a successful weight-loss surgery patient from 2000 who has replaced her love for food with exercise. Tammy is a Certified Personal Fitness Trainer, and uses her professional and personal experience to help other weight-loss surgery patients get fit with customized exercise programs. She is the author of “Strength-n-Sculpt”. You can view her book and others by clicking here.

Fitness that Fits- Fun and Effective Cardio!

By Tammy Bartz, CPT, Bariatric Life Coach, WLS Patient 2000