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For those of you who wish to achieve a TONE and LEAN physique, then alternating the intensities of your exercise program is very important. Plateaus can hinder anyones progress to getting their body into great shape. When people hit these plateaus within their exercise program, they tend to become frustrated and discontinue their healthy lifestyle. Exercise and physical activity are what you want to keep consistent, but the TYPES of exercises are what you want to vary.
First of all, Forget the SCALE!!!!!
Do you tend to be the type that see an increase of 1 to 2 lbs in your bodyweight, and you equate it to an increase of 1 to 2 lbs of body fat? If you answered yes, then you are incorrect and you have been misinformed. Stop buying clothes to fit in to and try to make the clothes you already have feel looser. That means that you need to lose BODY FAT and retain your LEAN MASS. A reduction of 1 inch within your waist circumference is equal to a loss of 1lb of body fat. How many of you know the amount of calories you burn while @ rest? Here’s an example: If your resting metabolism is ~1950kcals/day and you consume ~2600 kcals/day, I don’t have to tell you what that means….
To help reduce that annoying body fat, I have three ways to help you keep you body guessing. These are also the same types of intensities that I tell my Cardiac Rehab patients to perform. So here they are:
1.) ENDURANCE Training
Over the course of your iCARDIO sessions, you want to maintain a certain heart rate and intensity throughout the duration of that exercise to help build your endurance. (Refer to the iCardio: Exercising within your Target Heart Rate zone) . The physiological benefits of endurance training is that you train you body to use oxygen efficiently and train your muscles to utilize that the fat stores as its primary fuel source.
2.) INTERVAL Training
A great FAT-Burning Training Technique. This type of training allows individuals to use whatever modality of exercise that they want. ( i.e running, walking, swimming or cycling). This type of exercise alternates between low intensities and short periods of higher intensities to help jump start your metabolism and energize your workout. This unpredictable type of training exercise and the changing of velocities between intensities cause your body to activate and alternate between the fuel sources (FATS vs. CARBS) to help increase your endurance, conditioning, and lactate threshold.
3.) High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T)
This type of training is very strenuous but has many advantages. You must perform short and high bursts of energy that will require you to push yourself past your 90-95% of your THR zone. (Ex. 2 min at a low intensity, and 20-25sec at the High Intensity). Total duration should be no longer than 20 -25 min. So what’s the pay off Reg? The benefits of performing H.I.I.T, is that such high bursts of intensities will jolt your metabolism to allow your body to keep burning those calories way after you’ve completed your exercise routine. As well as improving your Cardiorespiratory fitness to tolerate aerobic exercises at such intensities that could compete with Superior Athletes.
So what’s the take home message? To completely MAXIMIZE your workout, varying between these types of training intensities are vital to achieving your GOALS in becoming LEAN and increasing your CARDIOVASCULAR Conditioning!
My Philosophy: You probably can’t be a Superstar athlete, but you can at least Train like an Athlete! Shout out to D-Wade and Lebron James!
Reggie Laroche
The Exercise Physiologist
What's the Hype!?! 