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Lets face it….. These days it seems as though you have to choose between different forms of cardio. Most of the time people will only do one type of cardio training and thats it! They will either do high intensity interval training, sustained cardio, circuits or no cardio at all. This is outrageous because each form has different benefits. Why limit yourself to one?
Now lets take a look at the different groups of cardio practitioners:
Bodybuilders feel as though fast paced cardio burns muscle tissue so they stick with low intensity cardio on an empty stomach to burn fat.
Low intensity cardio effectively utilizes fat as a fuel source which is great. The problem with this method is that because they intensity is so low you burn relatively few calories even when exercising for long periods of time.
Traditional Cardio Junkies just do sustained cardio at a faster pace for 20, 30, or 45 minutes straight at hopes to burn off any extra calories they ate that day.
This type of training burns more calories than low intensity cardio but most of the calories burned are from carbohydrates. After a cardio workout in this nature your body wants to replenish all of the depleted carbohydrates. As a result your body naturally craves sugar. This is why most people that do this form of cardio never lose weight. They burn 300+ calories or so only to eat it all back.
Interval Training Fanatics swear by high intensity interval training as the only acceptable form of cardio. They look at lower intensity cardio as a complete waist of time.
This type of training is very effective at elevating your metabolic rate, boosting your bodies natural fat burning hormones and releasing your bodies fat cells into your bloodstream. The only problem is that if this type of training is not followed by additional exercise all of those fat cells that were released into the bloodstream go right back into the fat deposits.
So What is the Ultimate Fat Burning Workout you ask?
The Ultimate Fat Burning Workout would look something like this:
WARM-UP: 5-10 minutes of skipping, light jogging or an easy pace on a cardio machine
HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING on a treadmill, recumbent bike, rower, or stair-mill: 12-16 minutes total of short burts of intense exercise alternated with longer periods of rest
LOW INTENSITY CARDIO: 20-30 minutes of slow and steady cardio such as walking on a treadmill at 4mph with a 3 degree incline.
How does it work?
The high intensity interval training puts your body into a CRAZY fat burning state. Most people call it a day here and let the released fat cells crawl right back into your bodies fat deposits. Not us though. Were going to exploit the fat burning state were in and follow the intervals with low intensity cardio to burn off as much fat as possible.
Interval Workout Options: These are just a few options. Feel free to experiment with your own work to rest ratio’s.
1. 30 seconds work / 90 seconds rest x 8 = 16 minutes
2. 30 seconds work / 60 seconds rest x 10 = 15 minutes
3. 30 seconds work / 30 seconds rest x 12 = 12 minutes
4. 60 seconds work / 120 seconds rest x 5 = 15 minutes
5. 60 seconds work / 90 seconds rest x 6 = 15 minutes
6. 60 seconds work / 60 seconds rest x 7 = 14 minutes
Workout Notes:
- Avoid eating any food for at-least 3 hours before your workout. By going into your workout in a fasted state your body is going to utilize fat as a primary fuel source.
- Avoid eating any food for atleast 1 hour after your workout. The high intensity intervals boost your bodies natural fat burning hormones (HGH). As soon as you eat food your insulin levels shoot up and your hgh tanks.
- If performing intervals on a treadmill with less than 60 seconds rest than put your feet on the sides of the treadmill durning the resting portion. It will take too long to change speed.
- For the intervals only use a machine that you can really push yourself on.
- For the low intensity cardio you can use any cardio machine you want.
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So does this mean protein shakes are no even after your workout? I typically take ON whey, but I’m on a budget now so I bought a cheap Body Fortress brand.
Protein shakes are fine to have after a strength training workout. After a fat burning workout you should wait about 1 hour before you eat anything. And only drink water during the workout and after. Gatorade or anything like that will shoot up your insulin levels.
Thanks for the quick reply. The reason is I’m starting a cut very soon and plan on doing a Tabata phase. I guess no protein shakes right after for those days.
I’m tearing through your articles. Great stuff!
Glad you like them!
Let me know if you would if there is anything in particular you would like me to write about.
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I am in interval training junkie LOL. This is some great advice. I’ve been throwing my intervals around like crazy. But I would do 40 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest, or 60 sec of work and 15 min rest. But I think I am going to try a few of your suggestions, 60 sec or work and 60 seconds rest for 14 minutes. I am beginning to like the idea of resting a bit more.
It’s just every time I increase my resting period from 10 seconds to 15 I feel like the time is dragging. 120 sec of rest will for sure be too much rest for me, but I am also going to give 30 and 30 a try.
I’ve never tried not eating 3 hours before me workout, and I always have a protein shake right after my workout. Tomorrow I am going to give that a try your tips of not eating an hour after the workout.
Thank you for an amazing post.
I personally like to utilize short exercise periods and longer rest periods for the majority of my intervals. There is a greater HGH boost from this method. In addition these intervals have a positive effect on my strength and power. On the other hand Intervals with shorter rest periods are more effective at increasing VO2MAX and thus increasing your ability to burn fat.
In order to get the full spectrum of benefits people should perform workouts with short rest intervals and workouts with longer rest intervals. I personally use long rest intervals 80% of the time and short rest intervals 20% of the time.
You can actually get the best of both worlds by performing a workout like this:
Interval 1: 30 seconds hard / 90 seconds rest x 10 (build up the speed on each interval)
Interval 2: 60 seconds hard / 30 seconds rest x 10 (maintain the same intensity on each interval)
Steady State: 10-25 minutes at 65-75% of maximum heart rate
This would be one incredible fat burning workout.
How often should I do this?
2-4x per week.
are bcaa good to take before./after?
Hey man I desperately need your advice asap! I am stuck in a rut in my training program and do not know which way to turn. Currently I am 5’7 150 lbs and around 14-15% body fat. My goal is to drop my body fat to 10% or even less as well as gain about 10-15 lbs of lean muscle mass. Please tell me exactly what program to follow in order to acheive this goal. I will do whatever it takes to accomplish my goal and with your assistance I know that it is right in front of me. Thank you for all of the help my friend.
Hi Greg,
When I played basketball for a team, we did many “suicides” at practice.
Suicides has that “stop and start” type of feel to it like HIIT…
But do you think it has the same fat burning effect?
(I was thinking about setting cones/markers and repeating the suicides for 10 mins straight, then I could walk/slow jogg for another 10 mins.)
Note: I don’t have a treadmill, so that’s why I’m asking this question.
@Mark
Mark for suicides to be the same as intervals you would have to do suicides for 30-90 seconds and rest for 30-180 seconds
Hey Greg, How often can this be done a week?thx a lot :)
@Marcus
Two times is perfect. No more then 3 times.
Hi Greg,
I was wondering if you sprinted “full-out” on each interval. (In other words… did you sprint with 100% intensity?)
Does your speed and/or intensity lower each interval?
I did the 30/30 Intervals (to be repeated 12 times) and after the 6th one, I couldn’t sprint any more. (It was more like “fast jogging”.)
And do you perform some kind of warm up before the interval training?
Thanks.
@Mark
Yah no way you can go full out on each one. If I’m doing them on the treadmill I gradually build up to a maximum intensity sprint. Then try and maintain that level for a few more rounds. If I feel whipped I’ll lower the intensity until I complete my desired interval time.
Greg,
Would it harm me if I did 15 min HIIT training followed by strength training, and then take a whey protein? My strength training is phase 3 from visual impact, so it takes me around 45 min to 1 hr. Is that enough time to recover from my HIIT workout?
What about days when you are strength training and doing cardio? How does the 3 hour pre/1 hr post fast work then?