Up The Intensity!

Hey, want to lose weight fast?  How about pack on some serious muscle in as little time as possible?  Maybe increase your metabolism and push your body into building, burning, fitness mode?  Well my friends, it's about time you increased your workout intensity.

Sure sure, everyone tells you to "push it," or work harder, egging you on in the gym, while you might be perfectly content to walk on the treadmill at an average pace so you can still actually hear the TV hanging on the wall, and watch the soap opera comfortably.  To you, the gym might be just an annoying routine, where you'd like to be as comfortable as possible doing uncomfortable things (like walking, jogging, biking, or lifting heavy things.)  That's all fine and dandy, and it's up to you, but not only will your progress toward any sort of goal be slowed to a crawl, but you're more likely to get into the rut that so many fall into --The rut of ZERO MOTIVATION,and of course.....low intensity.

Listen, your body responds to intensity.  You'll feel your heart rate shoot skyward, beads of sweat pop out everywhere, and your muscles burn.  It's uncomfortable, no doubt.  But by doing intense things, in any sort of workout you do, you're forcing your body to adapt, to work, and to push itself to the next level.  You'll burn a fantastic number of calories.  Think about it, the harder your heart is beating, the more your calorie furnace is heating up.  If you just saunter along on the treadmill all day, or lift weights far below the level of any sort of real effort, your heart won't get going, your body won't strain, and you won't increase your metabolic rate a bit.  No effort = no results, it's as simple as that.  These days, I see far too many people who are too comfortable in the gym.  Listen, you can love the place, but love it for the results it gives you, not because it's comfortable.  Be comfortable with pushing yourself.  Here are a few ways to get on the seriously intense workout track:

HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING:  Are you a cardio lover?  Do you enjoy the treadmill, the spinning machine, or the elliptical?  Well then, HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training, is definitely for you.  This is truly the next level of cardio.  It'll take a shorter amount of time, and shoot your heart rate sky high (safely of course).  The concept is pretty simple.  Let's use the treadmill as an example.  When starting out, warm up for about a minute with a medium walk to slow jog.  Then, for the next minute or so, get up to a relatively comfortable pace, one you could keep for at least half an hour (a steady jog, I'd suggest between 5.5-7.0 mph for the average person).  Hit this for another minute.  Once that second hand turns over for the third minute though, the fun begins.  Quickly increase to an 80-95% sprint for a good 15-30 seconds, making sure to push yourself to near maximum speed.  Keep breathing deep and steady, and feel the burn in those legs.  PUSH HARD.  Then, when time's up, go back to your steady jog pace and cool down for about a minute.  Then...you guessed it, repeat.  For a beginner, I'd suggest four complete cycles (four jogs, four sprints), then every week or so get one more interval in there.  Work up to a total of around 20-25 minutes of HIIT, and I guarantee you'll see some real results.  Religious HIITers drop weight quickly and keep it off due to their vastly increased metabolism which is due to the irregular taxing of your heart and muscles.  You'll build leg muscle too, especially if you play around with the incline.  There's all sorts of HIIT workouts out there, google a few and try them out.

Oh, and HIIT works with any sort of cardio.  Try some hardcore spinning intervals, or elliptical, or jump rope, or take it outside and use a hill, a bike, or just plain RUN.  You can even walk and do it (have you ever tried to keep pace on a maximum speed walk?  Definitely not easy).  It's simple, and it produces guaranteed results.  It's not easy, but it gives an amazing sense of accomplishment.  And sometimes it's fun to see just how fast you can run.

Here's a great intro to HIIT, along with a few provided workouts: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw40.htm

HEAVY SQUATS:  My personal favorite.  To be honest, I'm not the cardio type.  But guess what, to keep lean, cardio ISN'T A NECESSITY.  Sure it's great to get at least something aerobic in there every now and then, but you can have plenty of intensity in your workouts just from lifting heavy things.  Squats are one of the best high intensity movements out there, especially heavy ones.  I believe one of my biggest idols, Nick Horton (coach of PDX weightlifting) put it best in a recent email to me by saying: A hard set of squats is really similar to a sprint, actually, as far as your body is concerned. Boy is he right.  Squat a heavy set of five, and not only will your heart rate increase, but you'll feel taxed pretty darn close to your limit.  Keep the reps close together, push as hard as you can, and you'll use so many muscles in such an intense, powerful manner that your body can't help but go into "beast mode," and fire up that calorie burning furnace.  You'll also build a ridiculous amount of muscle too, quite quickly.  I squat 7  days a week (I do NOT suggest this to a beginner, start off with 1 or 2 at most, with wide spacing between days), and it hasn't even been a year and I've already put 100 lbs on my max squat.  I feel stronger than ever, and despite being about 10 lbs heavier I'm also leaner than I was when I started.  Amazing right?  The magic of squats is fantastic.  


Bottom Line:  Squats make you powerful and increase your metabolism enormously.  Do them.  But make sure your form is good.  Get flexible and lift heavy.

PLYOMETRICS:  Plyos are insane.  They kill you with just one set, then on each successive set continue to kick you when you're down.  But they feel GREAT.  They build muscle, they build explosive strength, and they shoot your metabolism through the roof.  They will force your body to go through calories like water through  a sieve.  And like any good high intensity exercise, after you're done you'll still be in high gear, burning through every new meal you consume, packing on muscle and dropping fat.  It's called the "afterburn effect," and it's basically an increased metabolic rate that lasts for a certain amount of time after your workout.  The more intensely you worked out, in general, the longer and larger the afterburn effect is.  Hard, explosive movements force your body to work at maximum level with each rep, and therefore your afterburn effect will be quite large.  So get jumping, leaping, and lunging.


Want a good plyometric workout?  Start here, but please look all over the internet, because there are thousands of different workouts that will ALL kick your butt and produce serious results.  People who practice plyometrics on a regular basis are stronger, fitter, faster, more powerful, and in general on a level above those who don't.  Step up.  Try a few.  Start small, then really go for it!

Now clearly you can't just jump into a highly intense workout and expect to be all right.  Don't start squatting twice what you are now, or sprinting for 12 solid intervals right off the bat.  Chances are you'll burn out, or worse, hurt yourself.  Increase the intensity in levels, or steps, starting small and working up to the truly daunting.  Like I've said in my previous goal setting articles (read my most recent one here: http://foodguru802.blogspot.com/2012/01/short-term-key.html ), give yourself a lofty goal that you really have to reach toward, and set smaller short term goals that will allow you to reach it.  Want a 50" box jump?  Start with 24" box jumps for reps this week, then maybe 26-28" next week.  You'll be leaping like a frog in no time, and the body fat will start to melt right off you with every successive day.

Also, one more thing to close down this article and send you on your way to success:  Be intense inwardly, not outwardly.  What do I mean?  Well, focus all your energy toward that next sprint, that next jump, or that ungodly heavy squat.  Don't waste it screaming your head off in the gym to get psyched up, or making a ridiculous commotion.  Sure, everybody's got their psyche-up routine.  I've got my own, and I'm sure it looks quite strange, but it doesn't necessarily draw attention.  Keep it refined, shall we?  Power toward the movement, not outward into thin air.  Efficiency is the name of the game.

Push hard, then harder, then do it again.  All it takes is all you've got.  GOOD LUCK!

Spot Fat Removal: ONE GIANT MYTH

Have you ever seen those commercials for the ab belt?  Or the ab spinner?  Maybe the glute strengthener?  Or the shake weight?  I've seen all these commercials, and all have one thing in common (besides being absolutely ridiculous.)  They all claim to be able to remove fat from those "stubborn" areas, like the lower abs, under arms, and legs.  They claim to target those specific areas and blast away the fat from wherever you would prefer.

Or maybe you don't care about those infomercials, and like me, think they're pretty ridiculous.  However you're in the gym every day doing crunches, determined to make that six pack poke through your belly.  Sit-ups, V-ups, leg raises, planks, you've done them all, but still can't see those abs.  While you may not believe in those infomercials and they're stupid methods, what you're employing is something almost as naive.


THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS SPOT REDUCTION

That means that you can't choose where to take fat off of.  Doing more crunches will NOT burn belly fat specifically.  Doing squats won't take weight off only your back end.  Your body doesn't work like that.  Fat loss happens gradually, and symmetrically.  Where you lose fat first is completely up to your genetics.  Yes, I'm sorry, but that's the truth.

So ladies, you say you have "trouble areas"?  I'm sorry to say, but those trouble areas won't go away from focusing on working them specifically.  You need greater overall fat loss.  Accomplish that, and I guarantee those stubborn fat areas will disappear.

So here's a piece of advice that you can take to heart.  You want six pack abs?  Stop doing crunches, and start doing some cardio.  Your abs will only show through when you have a very low body fat percentage (around 11%), and a calorie deficit for the day is really the only way to make sure your body is using fat stores for energy.  Here are a few suggested techniques to really get your fat loss kick started-

HIIT:  Hate running for incredibly long periods of time and seeing no results?  It's time to pump up the pace a little bit, and decrease that monotonous treadmill time.  HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) means you alternate between high intensity and low intensity exercise in timed intervals. Probably the most common example is to alternate between sprinting and fast walking (slow jogging.)  Try it out next time you're on the treadmill.  Jog for about a minute and a half, then full out sprint for 30 seconds.  Really push yourself.  Make those thirty seconds as intense as you can without risking injury.  After the thirty seconds, bring the pace back down to the original jog.  Repeat a few times, so your total time is between 8 and 20 minutes (you can start with less than this though, I'd suggest only 4 minutes of HIIT if you're just getting into it.)

HIIT will make your metabolism go NUTS.  You're heart will be working in overtime, and your metabolism will be elevated for up to 18 hours after you're done with your workout.  Now that's an after-burn effect.

Hill Sprints:  Yeah, they sound horrible.  And I guess I'll reveal that, no surprise, they don't feel good.  But they are extremely effective at both burning fat and building leg muscle.  It's a  pretty simple concept.  Find a hill, and sprint up it.  Walk back down it, then sprint up it again.  Do this as many times as you feel necessary (I would suggest around 4 to start, and 10 if you're a seasoned hill sprinter.  Try jogging back down, or find a longer/steeper hill to add difficulty.)  These are kind of like HIIT.  Short periods of high intensity exercise followed by a recovery period of low intensity exercise.  These will set your metabolism in FLAMES.

Build some muscle:  Muscle burns calories.  The more you have, the faster your metabolism will be.  So many people (I'll pick on women here) refuse to lift weights because they believe it has nothing to do with fat loss.  WRONG.  It has everything to do with it.  If you're looking to increase your resting metabolic rate, I would strongly suggest you lift weights.  Cardio is great, but definitely needs to be combined with weight lifting to have lasting effects.

Think of it this way.  You may lose fat by running.  But if your metabolism can't support your new lighter weight, you'll put it all back on.  More muscle will help you to support this leaner you.

And ladies, don't worry about bulking up.  You could lift heavy almost every single day and would never look like a bodybuilder.  Your hormones will NOT allow you to put on massive amounts of bulky muscle.  I can't emphasize enough that lifting weights will only do you good.

Go the extra mile:  Take every opportunity you can to just be a little bit more active in your average day.  Park a little farther away from the grocery store.  Stand for an extra ten minutes while you're watching TV or making dinner.  Walk the dog, or do some yard work.  If you put in a little effort, OFTEN, it will add up quite quickly.  An extra 100 calories burned per day will definitely add up quickly.

So if you're looking for those abs, stop doing crunches, and go find a hill, or a longer walk, or a hike, or some dumbbells.  Because like I said before, you may hate that belly fat, but it's not going away until your body decides its time.  And the only way you can make your body decide is to force all the fat you can off that muscle of yours.  Start slow, and build up, as with anything else.

Run hard, run fast, walk more, and pack on the meat.  Good luck!