For years, most exercise programs focused almost exclusively on only one kind of cardiovascular exercise, but that it no longer the case. There’s a new kind of exercise that is exploding in popularity and it is called "high intensity interval training" – and it’s a welcome add-on to traditional "steady state" exercise. If you’re wondering about interval weight training and those extra pounds around your waist, then we might have gratifying news.
Steady State Exercise & Weight Loss Exercise Programs
Most of our most popular exercising regimes – like pedaling a bike, doing laps in a pool, jogging in the fresh air or walking briskly 
through a park – are referred to as steady state exercise because our activity level is fairly consistent. Individual experience and medical science recommends this type of exercise as a high-octane way to burn fat because we need the energy to execute these activities and our bodies use fat to provide the fuel for that essential energy.
Have you ever exercised and found that you were depleted in only minutes or were urgently pumping your lungs, attempting to inhale more air? If that’s occurred, you’ve overdone your exercise and you are absolutely not burning fat efficiently. Bad idea. Tens of thousands of people are dedicated to steady state exercise because they’ve lost lots of pounds by sticking with it.
High Intensity Interval Training
Interval training isn’t "slow and steady wins the race" – instead, it’s about extremely intense activity, followed by low intensity recovery sessions. If you sprint as fast as possible for about 30 seconds and alternate this with a two minute, much slower run, then duplicate the sequence for 20 minutes, you’re practicing interval training. The consequences of such strenuous exercise are satisfying – for a minimum of 24 hours you will ignite calories like a furnace. A brilliant new star in gyms and fitness programs, interval training is exploding in popularity.
Interval training workouts are outstanding choices for individuals who don’t have much time to exercise because these heart-pounding sessions shouldn’t occur more than three times each week. Interval training and fat loss will only happen if the strength of your workout is really, really high. The end of your exercise periods should actually be painful and some suggest that if they don’t feel like throwing up they’re not doing it ‘correctly’.
Too extreme? An interval training program doesn’t suit numerous people who believe it’s too hard on the body (like me!). For those who avoid extremes, a more traditiona, steady weight loss exercise workout is the solution. On the well-known 1-10 scale expect to engage in steady state exercise at least to a 5, if you expect to lose weight. A window-shopping stroll is preferable to sitting in a chair, but you won’t lose weight.
So If An Interval Training Program Is Tough, Why Bother?
Some physically fit people love interval training, whereas others detest it, so make a choice that you can be comfortable with. If it’s tough, though – why bother? Simply because your weight loss exercise program will cause the weight to fall off fast, fast, fast!
My son got rid of almost 30 pounds with high intensity interval training and he keeps that low weight as long as he continues with steady state exercise, alternated with interval training, three times a week. And he makes no attempt to control his food intake. I attempted to work out with interval training and came close to passing out. Not for me, no way, nohow. In other words, it’s all about personal likes and dislikes. But, if you are intrigued with the idea of fast weight loss – while not suffering TOO much (let’s face it – no diet is painless) – why not lose your weight by cheating on your diet plan? Now THAT I like! :-)
Dennis Hester says
Sorry I can remember what magazine I read this article, but the idea was very interesting. The article said that extreme workouts – did not work. Why? Because when we exercise hard we become so hungry afterwards that we have a tendency to over eat. Yes, defeating our purpose in exercising in the first place. The article recommend, of course, eating less and light exercising to help us to stay in good health, but not to lose weight. Makes sense to me.
blissplan says
Dennis, after one of these workouts my heart was beating so fast that it was frightening. One time in my life I fainted – playing tennis in the hottest part of the afternoon in the worst part of the summer. It felt something like that – only worse. Of course, I’m not exactly a teenager – at least, on the calendar – so perhaps it’s more effective for younger people. It’s surely worked for my son who is skinny, skinny, skinny, as long as he sticks with this.