Which type of cardio is king? Part 2

Before reading if you have yet to read Part 1 do that now.

We need to answer the question, how is it possible to burn 9x the amount of fat doing interval training opposed to steady state or long distance cardio?

The answer comes down to pure science.

Think of your energy output as a box. The box represents the amount of time your system is elevated for burning calories. The more time you workout the bigger your box is and the more calories you burn. Makes sense right? Well, the question then becomes if I don’t have 20 hours a week to exercise or even 10 or 5 hours, how do I get the benefit of the full 20? Which by the way is a insane amount of exercise time!

Interval training allows you to get the benefit of exercise beyond the time you are actually working. If your heart rate when you do long distance training is 140-150 and you sustain that for 3-5 miles, and I have you do a 30 second interval that takes your heart rate to 170-180, there is a scientific shift in your body. You start to tap into different energy systems, challenge your body in new ways and transform your metabolism or the rate in which you process energy in (food and drink). After the 30 seconds of work you may have up to 90-120 seconds of rest depending on the exercise. During the rest is when the magic happens. As you are recovering from the sprint you are still burning more calories then when you were doing steady state cardio because your heart rate is still trying to recover from the peak levels.

I have over simplified this example for the sake of time but at the end of the training day I can elevate my metabolism by 24-48 hours just from interval work as apposed to minutes with steady state work.

So why aren’t more people doing intervals?

Because they are not easy. They are demanding and most people do not want to step outside their comfort zones. If you want to change your fitness, do something different. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.

Game on!

It is that time of the year again… Time to compete to raise money for breast cancer research.

This is the 4th Annual Competition for a Cure honoring Dianna Burke. Check out our video trailer:

Get your teams together and compete for a great cause!

We still need sponsors for the event so please consider taking a bigger role in the event.

Which type of cardio is king? Part 1

I have been in the industry long enough to see trends come and go. People get on the wagon then off. Most of the people I am speaking of are those that are just looking for the next best thing and not sticking to any type of philosophy or methodology. In my programming I get a lot of people that ask me about what the best type or “cardio” is for them but also in general; is it steady state/long distance or interval based high intensity. Although my answer is still the same as it was 5 years ago, it has evolved slightly.

There is clear evidence across the board, whether you are looking for overall health, weight loss or performance, interval training is king. BUT… Just like the hierarchy in a kingdom you have different stages of development before you can purely get into an interval base program.

If you have never worked out before and or have not in over 6 months, start with a longer distance program to get your base established. For example, I have people ride the bike or run for a mile. Over the course of their training I want to see a better time for that 1 mile. The distance stays the same but the intensity gets greater. They are getting their body used to working at a greater pace. This will last up to 4 weeks, each week seeing improvement in time.

After that 4 week period I will start to incorporate some mid distance or time intervals that will help with their transition. This will last about another 4 weeks.

Finally, after about 8 weeks someone is ready for a purely interval based conditioning program. BUT… I will also have them 1-2days a week incorporate a longer distance interval. So it may be 4 days of short high intensity work and 1 day of a 5 mile airdyne bike for time (believe me, this is no cup of tea).

For those of you that are very big into long distance conditioning, let me leave you with this. There was a study done of two groups of people. One group did steady state conditioning only. In other words, they just went for long distance runs at a steady pace and never exceeded any intense threshold. The other group did a pure interval based program of high intensity work followed buy periods of rest. At the end of the study, the first group work over twice as long and burned twice as many calories. Whereas the second group, the interval based group, worked less than half of the time and burned half the calories, BUT they burned 9x more fat then the steady state group. 9x!

How is that possible?

Find out in the next part…

P.S. If you have a child that is going to play sports in college or know someone that will I am holding a 1-day prep clinic on Saturday March 17th at 930am for all college bound athletes. If you or someone you know is interested please email me to reserve your spot.

Are you getting enough of this in your diet?

When I am giving nutritional coaching advice some of my clients ask me for concrete numbers of exactly how much protein, carbohydrates and fats should they be shooting for on a daily basis. Although each person differs with their exact number the percentages still hold true for each population. If I had to put the above three in order of importance; it would go protein, fat then carbohydrates. We will focus on protein today. Let’s take a look at some different populations and see what is needed in protein consumption based on age and activity level. There are plenty of other factors but these are the 2 biggest.

Children from birth through elementary school:
These kids, even babies are in such a developmental stage and high activity level that they need close to 100% of their body weight in grams of protein a day. Infants have that easily taken care of through the purest source of protein on the planet; mother’s breast milk. Toddlers and school age kids need to get that from foods. Since they are eating similar foods as their parents they should be getting close to that percentage purely based on the fact they weight less. For example, if your child has a piece of chicken breast, which is about 20g of protein, and they weight 40-50lbs it is easy to make up the 100%. This age is very active which means they need it for development and recovery.

Middle school through high school:
This becomes a wide range because it is completely dependant on activity level. There are some kids that play a sport all year round and are constantly doing activities. Then, there are kids that don’t do much but play video games. In this field it ranges from 50-100%. Those that are inactive need at least 50 and those very active still need the 100%. I was talking with some parents the other day about protein supplements for their kids that are in high school and was it safe and necessary. My response was that it was safe and should be taken after a practice or game. It will give the kids immediate replenishment of vital nutrients that will help in their recovery and rebuilding.

After high school:
Again, depending on your activity level if you are playing sports throughout college or beyond or if you are not will depend on your intake. The same percentages hold true as above for all adults. There are some exceptions but for the most part it is a general guideline.

So take a look at your daily nutrition and see how close you come to your right percentage.

P.S. REMEMBER THIS SATURDAY AT 930AM IS OUR CHARITY WORKOUT TO RAISE MONEY FOR LAMB’S FARM!

If you were given a magic pill would you take it?

I was reflecting on my studies from the nutritional certification since I have started a new Transformation Contest leading up to spring break.

I saw a staggering figure that I can’t believe I forgot. Before I reveal it to you I have some questions for you:

If you had a disease that could be cured or managed with a pill, would you take it? Diabetes? Cancer? Heart disease? MS?

Let me take it further…

If you were given a pill that would give you the body and health you desired, would you take it?

Think of the power you would have. Think of how good you would look and feel. Think of the relief that you would no longer feel the need to struggle to get and feel fit.

So here is the figure… Since the magic pill for health and fitness doesn’t exist I can only go off other scientific things like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. People only take their medication 55% of the time! 55%! That is basically saying that half the time they don’t care if they get better or not. Taking a pill is less than 20 seconds yet it is only successfully done 55% of the time.

If we translate that to health and fitness it is no wonder that people struggle and fail miserably at getting healthy and fit. There is no magic pill. There is work involved. There is accountability. There is thinking. There is peer pressure. Let’s just agree that there are a ton of things to juggle.

So how can you do it successfully and be better than the 55%?

Pick one thing at a time and do it until you master it. In other words do it until it becomes a unconscious action. For example, if exercise was something you wanted to focus on, then we could have a goal of 5 hours of exercise a week. The exercise can vary but 5 hours total is the goal. Then we map it out on a weekly schedule for when it works best and what days work best. Then take action and do it. Start with day 1 and accomplish that, then move to day 2, and so on. Much easier said then done for most especially since some do nothing. The point is if I gave you 5 things or even 2 things to do most would fail after day 1. I would venture to say that most of all of us can accomplish 1 thing with some consistency.

Once you have completed one then move to the next and the next and the next. It is not an over night thing, BUT, if you look at the big picture and your objective is to lose weight, 1 pound a week for a year is 52 pounds! Even if it was 1/2 pound a week, that’s 26 pounds in a year!

P.S. If you want to take a step in the right exercise direction and help a great cause mark your calendars for next Saturday the 18th, at 930am for the charity workout supporting Lamb’s Farm.