Most people trying to lose fat believe that cardio is the answer.

Most believe
that more is better, and proceed to spend up to 60 minutes sweating away on the
treadmill, x-trainer or bike, keeping their fingers crossed that maybe this week
they’ll lose another pound…

The truth is, most of this hard work is a waste of time. Plodding along at one set
pace for a prolonged period of time will only help you burn a few hundred
calories. We call this ‘steady-state’ cardio – one speed, one level of effort,
total boredom…

If you really want to see a change in your body, you need to start upping the
pace. What YOU need is ‘interval’ cardio. By ‘interval’ I mean a variety of
speeds. By upping the speed or the effort in short bursts throughout your workout,
your body will find it hard to adapt.

Here’s a little known fact for you; performing cardio at one continual speed will
only burn calories while you are exercising. With intervals you keep your body
guessing. It never gets bored, you constantly adjust the pace throughout your
workout and you chew through a whole ton of calories, both during and after your
workout!

Interval work will send your calorie burning into orbit, as your body has to work
so much harder, and, like resistance work, will keep your calorie burning efforts
sky high for up to 48 hours afterwards! The results have to be seen to be
believed…

This torching of calories is what is known as EPOC - Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen

Consumption, if you want its full title. Without getting too technical, EPOC is
important for fat loss and increased fitness. It basically indicates the amount of
extra oxygen your body will need to recover from exercise. The more oxygen you
consume, the higher your metabolic rate will be.

Regular intense exercise will persistently raise your metabolism, and keep it
raised between sessions. The higher your metabolism, even if only temporarily, the
more calories you will burn!

Interval training involves using cardio equipment, such as the rowing machine, the
bike or the treadmill, for short bursts of high energy exercise, interspersed with
active recovery.

Doing intervals effectively 2-3 times a week will see you frying body fat in less
than 20 minutes at a time – guaranteed. First of all, understand that you will be
working to different levels of intensity within this workout.

3 out of 10 = easy level of work, able to keep up a conversation, and feel like
you are warming up

4 out of 10 = slightly higher pace, where you are starting to work harder but
still not out of breath

8 out of 10 = working hard, having to concentrate and starting to feel breathless

and tired

Try this workout for size and tell me that it doesn’t work…
Warm Up: 5 minutes at a 3/10 level of intensity.

Interval 1: 60 seconds Increase your pace / resistance level to 8/10

Recovery: 90 seconds Reduce the pace / resistance level to 4/10

Interval 2: 60 seconds Increase your pace / resistance level again to 8/10

Recovery: 90 seconds Reduce the pace / resistance level to 4/10

Interval 3: 60 seconds Increase your pace / resistance level again to 8/10

Recovery: 90 seconds Reduce the pace / resistance level to 4/10

Cool down: 5 minutes Slow things down to 3/10

Start with 3 intervals in the above fashion. As you feel fitter, start to increase
the number of intervals up to 6. This is just one of many highly effective cardio
workouts that you can do to shift body fat fast.

For 3 intervals you are looking at 17½ minutes, including warm up and cool down!
Even for 6 intervals you are looking at no more than 25 minutes in total!

Stick to this type of cardio training and you WILL see results, SO LONG AS you
recover between sessions with healthy, regular eating that fuels rather than fools
your body's fat loss efforts...

Remember: cardio intervals will give you a metabolic boost for up to 72 HOURS
after you’ve finished, whereas steady state cardio will only give you this effect
for about 30 MINUTES!!

How many of you have been guilty of 40 – 60 minutes labouring away with cardio in
the past?

No more!

To get the results that you want, you must strive to work hard and be consistent!