Guess what I'm doing right now? Writing for you people, listening to Avril Lavigne, and burning massive amounts of calories. That's right, sitting on my ass, burning more calories than the next girl who's been sitting around all day. Now how did I manage this phenomenon?
Two words: Interval training.
Now, you may have heard a little myth that low intensity exercise burns just as much fat as high intensity exercise, and let me tell you, that is bullshit. When I started doing high intensity exercise as part of my "Aerobic Fitness & Weight Management" class, I saw a drastic difference.
High intensity exercise burns more calories while you're working out, but the miracle of it is that high intensity exercise makes your body burn more calories when you're done working out and sitting on your ass. That's because high intensity exercise drains your muscles of their inbuilt energy source, which makes your body go, "Oh, shit! I need energy! Need to replenish, now!" and it freaks out and takes every calorie from every fat reserve that it could possibly get its hands on. It does it while you're at your desk, sleeping, or laying wilted on your sofa gazing at the Jersey Shore cast pumping iron and making you feel like a lazy, un-ripped ass.
The good news is, you don't have to run a mile. In fact, you don't even have to run for more than 2 minutes in a row.
Interval training is a term for when you abruptly go back and forth between high intensity and low (or moderate) intensity exercise. You go fast, then slow, then fast, then slow... and so on. When I do interval training, I use the elliptical in the gym. I start off with 2 minutes low intensity, then do 2 minutes moderate, and then 2 minutes high. Once I've done the first high-intensity interval, I spend the rest of my course switching back and fourth between low intensity and high intensity 2-minute intervals. It's better to do this than go fast the whole time, because the low intensity breaks between the high intensity parts give me a chance to rest, so it's easy. It also ensures that when I do go fast, I have the energy to do so and don't crap out halfway through.
So I must do this a lot, right? Ptttttttttttttth!
Thirty minutes. Three times a week. That's ALL you need. Really.
I told you, there's always an easy way to do something, and that includes working out.
Proof:
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| My stomach is starting to flatten out! You can read more about Interval Training here. |
