I see too many people at the gym sitting on the recumbent exercise bike, reading the latest issue of Us Weekly, and barely peddling fast enough to power the LED display. If your goal is fat loss, and you’re able to read a magazine while you’re exercising, you’re not working hard enough (not even close).
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) involves a series of maximum intensity efforts followed by low intensity recovery periods. A study at Laval University in Quebec, Canada suggests that HIIT trainees lost 9-times more fat than those who performed traditional aerobic cardio sessions (i.e. 20-60 minutes of long boring cardio).
Example HIIT workout on the recumbent exercise bike:
- Begin with a light 3-minute warm-up at 60 RPM
- Increase the intensity to 100+ RPM for 30 seconds
- Reduce the intensity to 70 RPM for 1 minute
- Repeat that interval system 3 to 6 more times
- Finish with a 3-minute cool-down at 60 RPM
Depending on your fitness level, you may need to adjust the difficulty by either increasing/reducing the length of the work/rest periods, increasing/reducing the intensity of the max efforts by peddling faster/slower, or raising/lowering the resistance on the exercise bike. The goal during the work period is to work as hard as possible, so that by the time the rest period arrives, you have no choice but to slow down so that you can recover and allow your heart rate to come down.
If you’re not seeing results from the time you spend in the gym, it’s possible that you’re doing too much low-intensity cardio, and not enough high-intensity interval training.
For high-intensity workout programs in Vancouver that produce real results, check out our outdoor boot camp program.
