Gravity Fx Fitness

If you want to lose weight without spending hours on the treadmill, burst training is the way to go!

Did you know that several studies have shown that you can burn fat in sessions lasting 30 minutes or less?  The key for weight loss in minimal time is intensity – turn up the flame.

When you go into oxygen debt with your workouts, you increase fat burning when the training session is over.  In one study, a group of women performed a short, intense workout and the other group did a moderate intensity aerobic session.

Both groups burned the same amount of calories (300) with their workouts, but the interval group lost more bodyfat, with the shorter workouts.  Another study saw the group doing short bursts of exercise keep their metabolism elevated for 24 hours after they stopped exercising.

Their workouts were 15 minutes shorter than the aerobic group.  Intense training puts you in oxygen debt, which leads to fat burning after the workout has ended.  If short on time, crank up the intensity for best results.

Interval (burst) training increases the production of testosterone and growth hormone in your body.  These hormones build lean muscle tissue to keep your metabolism elevated.  They also assist in fat burning.

Ropes Gone Wild are one way to speed up the fat loss, sprint training is another.  Vibration platforms have been shown to increase positive hormone production while decreasing cortisol, a stress hormone that is associated with endurance training.

I like to combine whole body vibration with sandbags, suspension training, resistance bands and ropes.  Besides giving you a great workout in 30 minutes or less, it gives you plenty of different exercises to choose from.

Besides being very time-efficient, it reduces the chance of boredom, which is why so many people give up their New Year’s resolution 3 months later.  For best results over the long haul, add in some leisurely activities here and there – long walks or hikes, bike rides, or paddling a canoe or kayak.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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Can you lose fat with short bursts of exercise lasting 15 minutes or less?  Yes – if you are doing sprint, interval or burst training!

With sprint training, you burn a LOT of oxygen, as you greatly increase your rate of breathing to recover from oxygen debt.  You burn a lot of oxygen in a short amount of time, which puts you in a state of oxygen debt, causing you to burn a lot of calories both during and AFTER you have stopped exercising.

This increases your metabolism for several hours after your exercise session.  The result is increased fat burning without spending several hours exercising.

We know that interval sprinting is a great way to burn calories while building or maintaining your lean muscle tissue, but this can be a little hard on the joints for those of us over 40.

The solution?

Burst (sprint) training on the X-iser!  This is an adjustable mini-stepper made of aircraft aluminum and used by several pro sports teams with their athletes.

It allows you to do sprint training without any impact on the joints, while working on single leg balance – which is important for injury prevention and performance.

You can use it as part of your warmup or as a separate cardio workout.  You would do 20 -30 second bursts, followed by a short rest period and then repeat for the desired amount of time.

This intense exercise elevates your heart rate in a hurry, making it a time efficient workout and a great way to lose fat.  As little as 5 minutes of this interval exercise can get the job done.

For those of you in decent shape who want to get even leaner, try doing Tabata’s – 20 seconds of all out stepping followed by a 10 second break, repeated for a total of 4 minutes.

Tell me what that does for your HR!  This routine was shown to increase your fat burning potential when done with cyclists on a stationary bike.

Don’t let a lack of time be an excuse for not exercising.  You just need to choose an efficient form of exercise.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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