Shed the fat with cardiovascular exercise!

Since the summer is approaching ( finally it will ;-) ), everybody really wants to loose some of that nasty body fat to look stunning on the beach. That's also where I come in. I strongly feel that a great deal of people haven't got the slightest clue regarding cardiovascular exercise. Many personal trainers and trainees tell everybody the same story: "to really burn the fat, keep your heart rate beneath 160bpm". No one doubts the advice: everybody says so, so it must be true right? Indeed it is, and tell sell ab-machines also give you that incredibly flat belly like the actors in the commercials.

Give me a break. It's complete and utter bullshit. So be warned: after having read this article, you'll never be able to say with a straight face that steady state cardio is the best choice for burning fat, no matter what. There is an upside however: you'll finally know how to effectively destroy that fat of yours!

So let's start off with the different types of cardiovascular exercise:

1) Steady state cardiovascular exercise (SS or LIT)

This is the form of cardio mainly used, fanatically used even, by fat people, Also, 99% of them haven't lost as little as an inch of off their bellies. It's called steady state cardio because you keep your heart rate quite constant, at a pace which isn't too tiring so you can do it for a long, long time. You try to keep your heart rate somewhere between 120 and 140 bpm.

Another downside is that doing long sessions of LIT will have your testosterone dropped. And testosterone is also essential for burning fat and maintaining muscle.

2) Medium intensity cardiovascular exercise (MIT)

As the name indicates, it's a bit tougher than LIT, but not so much tougher that you have to get out of the comfort zone. You'll strive to keep your heart rate around 160bpm, which still makes this an aerobic exercise.

3) High intensity cardiovascular exercise (HIT)

This is where the fun begins. High intensity cardiovascular exercise starts off in the aerobic zone to get the blood flowing, and warm up your muscles. As soon as your heart rate is around 150 bpm (to which you've gradually built up), the exercise flows into the anaerobic zone. This means that your lungs won't be able to provide all the oxygen needed, which in turn makes your body produce lactic acid. And, believe it or not, lactic acid boosts your growth hormone peak. That is very relevant (I saw the question coming), because growth hormone is one of the key hormones responsible for your fat loss.. You start your cooling down as soon as your lactic acid has piled up so high that it's impossible to continue going all out.

4) High intensity intervaltraining (HIIT)

And here comes my personal favourite: high intensity intervaltraining. Though intervaltraining is just a protocol, I'll only discuss the high intensity variant. I hardly ever see the point of medium intensity intervaltraining, so I won't discuss it here.

The name says it all: you train in intervals. For instance: you jog 10 seconds, than sprint balls to the wall for 20 seconds, and repeat for four minutes (this is the tabata protocol). It's as easy as that.

Than, how come you don't see this form of training more often? Because it is hefty. It's tiresome. And hardly any personal trainer feels that it burns fat more effectively than LIT, even though science says it does.

Why I strongly recommend HIIT?

First of all, HIIT burns fat. Not just that, but it does so in a short frame of time. Even doing a tabata (which is a very intense form of HIIT), lasting a mere four minutes, you'll burn an amazing amount of calories, and build an incredible endurance in a very brief period. I feel the question: "but how can you burn so much fat in a mere four minutes? I was always told that your body will only use fat when the intensity is (very) low, and that higher intensities were only to build endurance?". Both very good questions indeed. Let me begin by answering the last question. Your body always gets its energy from two sources: glycogen, and fat. When doing a form of low intensity training, the balance will shift to the burning of fat, while the balance will shift to glycogen when you're doing a form of HI(I)T. And no, this doesn't really matter. Confusing as it may sound, let me explain. Your body needs a certain amount of calories to stay as it is now (homeostasis). When you go below that amount by dieting and/or doing some form of cardiovascular exercise your body will burn some fat, and unfortunately in most cases a bit of muscle also. The point I'm trying to make is this: it doesn't matter where the shortage of calories comes from (whether it be from the fat burnt, or the glycogen burnt), as long as you create a shortage. Because when you deplete your glycogen, your body will use a lot of calories to refill your glycogen depots, thus creating a shortage of calories that can't go where they usually went. This in turn will burn the fat away.

Returning to question one: "but how can you burn so much fat in a mere four minutes?", that's an easy one. When doing a tabata you will jack up your heart rate incredibly. Also, when for instance doing a squat tabata, you'll use your entire ab section, leg muscles, calves and lower back. Which comes down to a great percentage of your body. All these muscles will have to work very hard, thus burning calories. But that's not all: your body will produce massive amounts of lactic acid to, and that will hugely boost your growth hormone. And as I pointed out earlier, growth hormone is one of the key hormones that burn fat.

So here comes a final summing up of all the good HIIT has to offer you: HIIT will burn fat fast, it will burn a lot of fat, it might even build some muscle, it won't screw up your testosterone, and all you need is four minutes and an iron will.

Tip:If you want to raise te effort of all your cardio exercises, consider using stackers for more weight-loss!

The possible excuses for not doing HIIT

As with everything good in life, there can be downsides. HIIT is hefty, so it could hamper your recovery from lifting hard. So if HIIT hampers your recovery, you might be better off doing MIIT.

Another excuse could be that you are on a diet that has very little carbs. No, we don't define very little carbs as 150 grams of carbs per day. An intake that justifies not doing HIIT is a carb intake below 80 grams per day.

So unless you don't want to burn some fat fast, have a hampered recovery or are on a very low carb diet: do your HIIT.