Saturday, March 5, 2011

A Full Cardiovascular Workout in 30 Minutes

By: Josh R. Rhodes

Thirty minutes may not seem like a lot of time to fit in a full cardiovascular workout, but depending on the intensity of your workout, it may be all you need to keep burning fat and build your cardiovascular endurance.

A method of endurance training, called High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT, is a popular method of burning fat because of its time appeal. When performing intervals, it is advisable to not extend training past thirty minutes due to its high intensity.

HIIT is performed by alternating periods of near maximal intensity with periods of moderate to high intensity, such as thirty seconds sprinting followed by one minute of jogging. Due to the effect of the active recovery period and increased resting heart rate, high intensity intervals have been shown to effectively increase athletic performance as well as burn fat better than traditional aerobic sessions.

Some may ask, what is maximal intensity? Is that considered a jog, a run, a fast paced walk? Basically, you want complete the thirty seconds going as fast as possible or with as much resistance as possible, depending on the type of cardio equipment being used. Follow this up with a ratio of 2:1 recovery period at half the intensity you just did, usually a power walk or light jog on the treadmill and a reduction of tension on other pieces of equipment.

HIIT is a great way to incorporate a short burst of cardio into your schedule which will help you lose fat rapidly and boost your metabolism for days. The reason for this is due to a process called excess post-exercise consumption or EPOC. During strenuous exercise, your body utilizes much of its energy stores, also called glycogen. When the exercise is finished, instead of using readily available glycogen from your bloodstream as a source of energy, your body pulls the glycogen into cells to restock the energy stores. In response to the exercise and large intake of oxygen, fat stores are broken down and released into the blood. These fatty acids are used for energy and means fast weight loss in a short period of time.

HIIT should not be used at every cardio session. Limit the duration of interval training to a maximum of 30 minutes, two to three times per week with at least 48 hours in between sessions to fully recover. Beginners should start with one HIIT session per week, adding another session in after three weeks.


Author Resource:->  Josh has been writing for many years on topics that interest him. An example of one of his websites is http://osterblenderparts.org which provides information on Oster blender parts.

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