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functional fitness, strength training, and flexibility
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Stregth Training and Functional Fitness with a Warrior's Attitude
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Total Body Transformation Training BlogA journey about training the entire body to acheive peak fitness and health. Whole body training isn't about body building, toning or running a marathon per se. It's about teaching the body to optimize and balance strength, speed, and strength-endurance. And it's about developing an attitude that is all to lacking in the West around hard work, effort, and the meaning of the journey. Friday, February 06, 2004High Intensity Interval TrainingA number of years ago there was a constant debate about the best form of aerobic exercise to lose weight. Many doctor's and health care professionals -- not to mention personal trainers -- were recommending light to moderate intensity aerobic exercise.The thought was that moderate movement burned more calories per unit of time by keeping the body and heart in the "fat burning zone" as opposed to the more stressful "cardio zone" where VO2 max and a person's lactate threshold could be reached. The only problem with the analysis is that people didn't run the absolute numbers. While it is true that moderate exercise is a more efficient burner of calories, it not more effective when compared to high intensity activities. Time being equal, the higher intensity effort burns more calories total overall -- and causes more of a metabolic recovery response. This means that like strength training, high intensity aerobic activity causes the body to need to rest and repair, which itself burns calories hours after the exercise ends. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a form of "fast-slow" (or interval) training that has been shown to be particularly effective in improving athletic performance and in causing a high metabolic response. HIIT was made mainstream with some of the original Body for Life articles and advice but has been long a mainstay of track and field athletes and peak performance athletes. The idea is simple -- during a training period you mix periods of moderate activity with high intensity activities. A good example of this would be a jog/sprint program lasting 20 minutes: jog 5 minutes to warm up, then start the following cycle: sprint 30 seconds, jog 1 minute. Repeat the sprint/jog for 10 rounds. Then cool down with a fast walk or light jog for 5 minutes. HIIT has proven itself to be a major fat burner! Just combine rounds of a moderate longer burst activity with a short burst high intensity activity. You'll love the results on your weight and waistline.
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