Hitch Fit Living Magazine Volume 5 - March/April 2016 | Page 38

The result of this is a great increase in your muscular endurance. Even though the duration of the workout is only 15-20 min and you aren’t burning as many calories in the workout compared to someone doing an hour of steady state you’re body still continues burning calories for up to 24 hours after you’re finished with the workout! So at the end of the 24 hour cycle the person who did HIIT burned a substantially larger amount more than the person who just did an hour of steady state cardio. In the collective day you burn so many calories after the workout because the body is then recovering from a very strenuous workout and the calories being burnt are being provided by your body fat! Keep in mind cardio is done in addition to your anaerobic resistance training. Only do this type of cardio 1-2 sessions per week as it’s very strenuous on the body. If you over do it you can put your body into “over training” mode which will start moving you in the opposite direction of your goal and can lead to injuries. A balanced approach to cardio is important to maximize your overall health and fitness levels. I implement all 3 of these types of cardio in my program. A majority of the cardio I do is steady state fat burning cardio usually 45-60 minutes in duration at a heart rate of 135-145 BPM. Steady state cardio is done 3-5 days a week after all my meals that contain carbohydrates have been consumed so usually late afternoon. On occasion I will do fasted (before I eat anything) steady state cardio early in the morning. Once or twice a week instead of doing steady state cardio I will do a HIIT cardio which usually consists of a circuit type resistance training using light weight and very high reps with short durations of rest. This type of HIIT training not only increases the heart rate to near max but also stimulates and striates the muscles! Another type of HIIT I do is what I call the “county fair” which is an exercise circuit consisting of 5 exercises. All the exercises I set up are high intensity explosive type movements such as battle ropes, burpees, kettle bell swings, box jumps etc. I use a timer for my sets 1 minute working set followed by 30-60 seconds of rest based on how quickly my heart rate drops back down to the fat burning zone. After the rest period I move to the next exercise in the circuit for another 1 minute working set. On occasion I will also do long duration cardio such as cycling, jogging, hiking or swimming to improve my Vo2-max! Cardio is a major part of transformation and is often neglected! Be patient with it, the more body fat a person has the longer it takes for that person to see the results. Having muscle mass helps because with more lean mass you burn more calories than someone who doesn’t have as much lean mass even when both have the same high amount of body fat. Also, keep in mind that cardio is just 1/4 of the transformation process you need to have your nutrition, lifting program, and recovery all working together with your cardio program to yield the best results! Kurtis McLellan is a Hitch Fit Transformation Trainer at the Overland Park Kansas Location. To schedule a free consultation and start on your transformation please contact him. Phone: [phone] or E-mail: [email protected]