Categories


5 Best “Cardio” Intervals for Fat Loss

Published in August 6th, 2008
Posted in Weight Loss

Advertising





Long, slow cardio is not the fastest way to burn fat. Research shows that short interval training workouts burn belly fat faster.

I was one of the first trainers to question long, slow cardio for fat loss back in the late 1990’s and I believe that traditional cardio is over-rated.

Interval training, or interval “cardio” if you want to call it that, is much, much better for fat loss. It burns belly fat in half the workout time.

I figured this out just before the year 2000. Back in 1998-99, I was but a lowly grad student, studying the effects of androstenedione (the supplement taken by the mighty baseball player, Mark McGwire during his record-breaking home run quest in ‘98).

In my study (which was published in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology for any science nerds like myself out there), we had guys use the supplement and go through a couple of weight training sessions. By February of ‘99 I was stuck in the lab, analyzing the blood samples using some fancy radio-active isotopes.

And when I say stuck in the lab, I mean STUCK. I’d get there at 7am, and record my last data point at 11pm. Sixteen hours of mad science. And if I wasn’t there, I was downstairs in the medical library, studying papers on testosterone and training.

Now coming from a very athletic background, this sedentary lifestyle didn’t sit well with me. But there I was, studing for a degree in Exercise Physiology and left with no time for exercise. Or so I thought.

Fortunately, I actually had a 50 minute window once per day of “down-time” while the lab’s gamma-counter analyzed blood samples.

That left me 50 minutes to get to the gym (5 minutes across campus) and get a workout in the remaining 40 or so minutes. I knew that if I applied my studies to the workout, I could get maximum results in minimum time.

As a former athlete, I knew that I had to find a way to stay fit and to avoid the fat gain that comes with working long hours in a sedentary environment. And I also had to stay true to the high-school bodybuilder I once was, so there was no way I was willing to sacrifice my muscle to one of those long-cardio, low protein fat-loss plans that were popular at the time.

Instead, I had to draw on my academic studies and my experiences working with athletes as the school’s Strength

discover new, no-crunch abs exercisesto get a flat stomach. lose fat gain muscleand get rid of stubborn belly fat with turbulence training.

craig ballantyne is a certified strength

Previous post:
« Speech Therapy for Hearing Impaired Children

Next post:
The Top 5 Questions »