HIIT it and Quit It! The ATL Fitness Club "Quickie" Cardio Workout

Cardi-O-M-G...Do we really HAVE to do it to stay in shape?!

We found a recent status update on Facebook the other day that read, " Cardio is like a stepchild. You don't like it, but you still have to deal with it!" And yes, that may be a bit of a mean (and funny...It's a joke, don't get offended) analogy, it can have some truth to it... Most of us (you know who you are) absolutely hate doing cardio. After coming across several exercise articles on the internet, we stumbled across some very helpful info from our fitness friends at nerdfitness.com. Here's what they had to say about the importance of doing cardio to get/stay fit:

Cardio is the most basic thing you can do when it comes to burning calories. Let’s talk science: if you burn more calories than you consume in a day, you will lose weight. Step on a treadmill, run three miles, and you’ll burn around 300 calories. You don’t need any special weights, have extensive knowledge of any difficult exercises, just a pair of shoes (ATL Fitness Club loves ASICS !) and your legs. This is why the majority of people who start exercising do so by just running a treadmill or elliptical for hours: it’s tough to mess up, and it’s pretty mindless.

Now, here’s my problem with cardio: it can be really boring (although running outside is a different story). Secondly, in terms of getting in shape, it’s definitely NOT the most efficient form of exercise. Lastly, although it trains your heart to be in shape by remaining at a higher level of operation while exercising, it doesn’t train your heart to prepare for moments of extreme stress because it never really has to deal with rapid changes (which is explained in the next section).

So why isn’t cardio efficient when it comes to burning calories? There’s very little Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) with cardio, which means you only burn calories WHILE you are running... but not much happens afterwards.

What IS good about cardio? The thing about cardio that makes it better for almost everybody, other than it’s an easy learning curve, is that it’s very low impact – your body can go for hours and hours, day after day, and not get worn out. If you have the desire and willpower (which we have yet to meet anyone who does this but please tell them to email us if you know one/them), you can burn calories all day long. But if you REALLY wanna burn a ton of calories in a short amount of time, why not " HIIT it and quit it?" And by that phrase, friends, we mean...

HIIT ( High-Intensity Interval Training )

When it comes to efficiency in burning calories, high-intensity training is leaps and bounds ahead of cardio. Why is that? Essentially, when you do high-intensity interval training ( HIIT ), your body and metabolism function at a higher rate of burned calories for hours and hours afterwards. What does that mean? It means you’re burning calories while sitting on the couch watching River Monsters during Animal Planet's "Monster Week" (we don't do this...we're just giving you a realistic example!).

So, how does HIIT work exactly?

HIIT constantly forces your heart to adjust to changing conditions: sprints, jogging, sprints, jogging, up hills, down hills, etc. Your heart learns to operate outside of its norm, and your body learns to adapt to these changes. All of this changing and sprinting kicks your metabolism into high gear for hours after you finish exercising. Don't believe us? Keep reading.

A recent study from the University of New South Wales followed the fitness and body composition changes in 45 overweight women in a 15-week period. The women were divided into two groups and assigned interval or continuous cycling routines. The interval “sprint” cycling group performed twenty minutes of exercise, which repeated eight seconds of “all out” cycling and then twelve seconds of light exercise. The continuous group exercised for 40 minutes at a consistent rate. At the end of the study, the women in the interval group had lost three times the body fat as the women in the continuous exercise group. (An interesting note: the interval group’s loss in body fat came mostly from the legs and buttocks area.)

Sooo...yeah. Three times the amount of fat loss and half of the exercise time? Sounds good to us! If you sift through the rest of that article (which can be found on marksdailyapple.com), you’ll find reference after reference discussing the benefits of varying your speed and intensity over straight normal cardio.

Now, the bad thing about HIIT ? It takes your body quite a bit of time to recover, and you can really only do it for 20-30 minutes at a time before you get too exhausted to continue. The other bad thing about HIIT ? Your body will hate you after just 20 minutes. But if it makes you leaner in the long run, your body (okay maybe your mind) will learn to forgive you. Who says quickies can't have their benefits? Well when it comes to getting or staying in shape, we say it's totally worth the half hour...and the results you will see in the mirror.

What are you waiting for...put on your running shoes and get out there!

--The ATL Fitness Club

For more information on fitness , strength , cardio , or nutrition check out our new web site (and register as a member for FREE!): atlfitnessclub.com .