You are running t-o-o-o-o s-l-o-o-o-w
20 minutes fast is better than hour slow. Intensity and duration are inversely proportional. That means if you want to run a long time, you have to run slower than you would if you ran a shorter distance. If you want to burn fat, and look hot, sexy and lean then the game we are playing is intensity.
Cardio for fat loss = cardio with intensity
Intensity is important for two reasons. First, most women stuck at the last stubborn 7 pounds of fat are doing lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of cardio. Whatever your favorite mode of cardio is, it’s pretty safe to say that your body has adapted to the intensity and duration that you’ve been doing for the last six months. We need to change it up. Switching out duration, and switching in intensity, will be a pretty major shock to your system.
I train a ton of marathon and half marathon runners. They all come to me with the same problem – they’ve been running and running and running, and somehow they’ve started to get fatter. When they first started running, they lost tons of fat. But after a year or two, it seems to all be coming back, and it doesn’t matter how much they run. Their bodies have developed an efficiency to running. In terms of their sport, this is really great. If they are more efficient, they can run faster and farther with less effort. Being more efficient also means that it’s going to have less and less of an effect on their fat loss. If all I do is put them on a rowing machine or make them swim in a pool, their cardio workouts quadruple in effectiveness. Usually I can’t make marathon runners shorten the duration of their runs, because they need them for their sport. But if your main concern is weight loss, lets cut your time down and jack up the intensity.
Tupac’s Brother, EPOC
Higher intensity also has some other benefits. E.P.O.C. Stands for Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption. EPOC is also know as the “after burn”. It’s that warm feeling you have after a workout, where you continue to burn calories even after you’ve stopped working out. It looks like that old Seinfeld episode where George finishes his workout, and he’s still sweating in the meeting. He’s still burning calories. It’s a nice bonus, and it’s a bonus that only comes with intensity.
By Josh Hillis
Author of How To Lose The Stubborn Seven Pounds: Take Your Body from Good to Rockstar.
National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT) and Performance Enhancement Specialist (NASM-PES)
Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certified Instructor (RKC) and Combat Applications Specialist (RKC/CAS)
© Joshua Hillis 2006
