-: HIT Cardio :-
High Intensity Cardio or HIT for short, has been proven in many studies to be more effective in burning body fat than traditional, less intense, cardio. Reason for this is because according to studies, HIT elevates your metabolism for hours as opposed to more traditional cardio, which only elevates it during the actual workout. While you mostly burn glycogen (stored carbohydrates) when you do HIT, you end up burning more body fat at the end at the day due to the fact that the metabolism has been revved up longer. In addition, the shorter duration of the activity is more conductive to keeping muscle mass in caloric deprived situations (such as when you are dieting). There are many ways to implement an HIT workout. For instance, I like to sit on the recumbent bike and warm up for 5 minutes. After my warm up I then execute a hard minute sprint and then rest for 2 minutes going at a slower but challenging pace. I perform 5 sets of the 1–minute/2–minute combo (total of 15 minutes) and then I’m done. However, there are many other ways you can play around. For instance, you can do 10 sets of 20 seconds hard and 40 seconds slow. If you notice, I like to perform the active rest for twice the amount of time it takes to perform the sprint part. If on a treadmill you can run, and then walk, or alternatively you can play with the elevation as well. Use your imagination and have fun.
-: HIT vs Traditional Cardio :-
In my opinion, HIT is better suited for more advanced trainees as it can really cause soreness and even injury if your body is not conditioned enough for it. Therefore, I always recommend people start with more traditional cardio. Once you have spent a couple of months steadily doing your cardio and working out then you can start venturing into HIT.If you are wondering which version of cardio I practice, I do a hybrid. I typically do my cardio for 30–45 minutes. I enjoy doing cardio traditionally but a tad above the Fat Burning Zone (around 80% as opposed to 75%) as it makes me feel good and allows me to relax and meditate, but I also like the challenge of a tough HIT session. Therefore, if my session calls for 30 minutes, the first 15 minutes I perform at 80% of my heart rate and the remainder I perform implementing HIT. If the session calls for 45 minutes, then 30 I perform traditionally and the rest through HIT. In this manner, I get the best of both worlds.
