Introducing a Workout Designed by… You!

One of the most efficient exercises to burn fat and calories doesn’t require any equipment. Interval training (also known as High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT) can be practiced while walking down the street (or treadmill!), while riding your bike, or hiking the trails. And, it gets you fitter in less time.

Interval training combines short bursts of extra effort with normal activity over the course of several minutes and it can help you create flat abs and a healthier, leaner, more confident you. It supercharges your metabolism!

It’s easy to create your own interval training workout. The key to making 10-minute sessions of burst training work for you, is to make sure you have enough intensity. The Tabata Protocol is a common example of high intensity interval training. In the early 1990s, Professor Izumi Tabata trained the Japanese speed skating team, and he instructed them to do 20 seconds of all-out, fast-as-you-can-go intense activity followed by a 10-second rest period, and then repeated the cycle eight times. The whole workout took only four minutes, but the improvements in endurance were impressive.

The Tabata Protocol is the standard for high intensity interval training technique, but you don’t have to take it to that level to get the fat burning benefits. Determine your own level of intensity where you’re pushing as hard as you can. I like to visualize different faces to describe different intensity levels:

▪ When you’re at 60–75% of your maximum, you’ve got a happy face. Most of your long, slow training is in this range. At this level, you feel great, you’re relaxed and you can keep going for a long time.

▪ At 75–85%, that smile flattens to a look of determination. You’re not talking. You’re focused on your mission and entering warrior mode.

▪ At 85–95% you’re giving near-maximum effort with a battle-cry face. You can just barely keep this up for a few minutes.

Alternating between your happy face and battle-cry face is the essence of interval training, and it will transcend the calorie-blasting limits of what you thought your body was capable of.

As you continue your interval training, you’ll expand the time you spend at battle-cry. You’ll also see an improvement in your endurance on the days when you do longer, slower workouts. In fact, to get the best results from your 10-minute HIIT exercises, it’s important to not do them more than three times a week. This gives your body adequate time to recover, will help you avoid plateaus, and the variety will keep you interested in exercising.

My NEW HIIT Kit can help you quickly get from happy face to battle-cry and the trim and toned results you want.

Kathy

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Introducing a Workout Designed by… You!