Gravity Fx Fitness

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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Flexband resistance bands are a great tool for dynamic flexibility and core training.  I’ve used several different types of bands for training and these are the most versatile.

These bands resemble thick rubber bands and have a lot more resistance than typical therapy bands.  I found an article by physical therapist Dave Schmitz about four years ago and was intrigued by his training methods.

Most resistance bands are made of tubing and are good for upper body pushing and pulling movements.  He uses the flat bands for dynamic stretching and agility drills that I haven’t seen before.

In particular, he has a lower body flexibility routine that gets great results.  I have been doing Active Isolated Stretching with myself and my clients for a long time.  I used to use it with the local arena football team before they went out for warmups.

His method allows you to do this same type of active stretching with resistance bands, making the muscles more elastic and stronger at the same time.

In addition to bootcamp classes, Schmitz uses the bands for agility and core training.  High school football teams in Wisconsin using his methods have won state championships in recent years or finished near the top.

They are a great tool for distance runners who want to stay flexible and minimize the risk of overuse injuries.  Self-massage with the Stick and then doing his flexibility routine is a potent combo.

If looking for a great tool for home workouts, I can definitely recommend Resistance Band Training.  Its also something you can take with you when traveling.

Oh, by the way, Dave can do the front splits at 45 and is as agile as most professional athletes.  Look for the Total Flexibility Training package.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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