Very Effective interval cardio can be brief....

Today's Post:  Tuesday, 2-19-2013

I’ve run across this idea many times in the last three years. 

And, I’ve tested it to work in many ways in my own work and exercise.  In fact, my own last test of this has been rather spectacular.

Dr Al Sears teaches this using different kinds of calisthenics or walking and both has found research supporting this idea AND gotten great results with his patients and followers.  He calls his version of it PACE.

I first ran across the idea when I saw a study that found that to get into good shape, that research found that short bursts of high effort helped people get into shape far faster than much longer cardio even if that was done at a moderately high but unvarying level of intensity.

Unexpectedly this happened to me on a single afternoon.  I hadn’t gone swimming in ages and found I was pretty unfit in swimming.  I soon got bored with steady state swimming where I ran out of gas so soon.  So, I decided to swim as fast as I could for short efforts.  That was a lot more fun and actually was easier to do.  I got the idea of using the steady state swimming as a change of pace for a bit after that.  THEN I found, much to my shock it was far easier!

My more recent experience has been even more spectacular!  I once did 24 minute sessions on the NordicTrack where I periodically would speed up a lot for a few seconds.  And, by doing that 3 times a week, I was very fit.

Then my machine broke.  And by the time I replaced it, I was a bit older and found that many sessions that long showed signs of causing me to need a hip replacement or two.

So, I decided to do just one session of 8 minutes a week instead.  Again, I used my system I periodically would speed up a lot for a few seconds several times during the 8 minutes.  I did get pretty fit.  But I often found I was a bit slower than I’d been when I did more sessions a week.

Then I read that doing fast jump rope sessions was a good way to lose fat.  But, again I found if I did as much as that source recommended each week, I would give myself overuse injuries plus I was initially terrible at it.

So, I hit on the idea of doing 3 very short sets each time but at very fast speed with a rest just long enough to catch my breath in between.  And, I did this two times some weeks but often just one. With about 3 turns per second for 14 to 23 seconds with about one minute in between, the whole set of three only takes me about five minutes – TOTAL although the set up and cool off time push that to closer to 12 to 15 minutes. 

That doesn’t sound like a lot does it?  The sessions are certainly brief enough and I only do two a week about half the time with the rest of the time I do it once.

Then all of a sudden, my times on my weekly Nordic Track session dropped to BELOW what had been my very best ever personal record I’d thought incredibly fast when I set it!

Now on my easiest and slowest days I still smash that old record.  On good days I break it by about 15 seconds for each of the 3 parts of my 8 minute session.  Yep.  I’m now 45 seconds faster than a record I thought I’d never break!

My seemingly tiny jump rope efforts literally tripled how fit I am!

To me that’s astoundingly effective!

That means that this kind of cardio where you do a short amount of very fast or intense effort and rest for a bit as I do in my jump rope sessions and repeat after a few seconds of rest, interval cardio, is extremely effective.

Similarly, the version I do on my Nordic Track where I do that kind of effort periodically and in between I go at a brisk to very brisk pace is also quite effective.  Variable cardio is a name for this.

What they both have in common are bursts of high intensity effort lasting from 14 to 60 seconds and with a rest or a slow down in between bursts.

Then on 2-14, last Thursday, I got an email with information from more advanced research.

Among other things, these kinds of high intensity burst tend to burn more fat than the calories burned while you do them.  This is just like the extremely slow reps strength training we posted on two weeks ago on Tuesday, 1-29-2013.

Also, some time back I’d read that just a few such high intensity bursts a week in a total time of something  like 15 minutes total per week was dramatically effective in lower HBA1C in men who initially had high readings and in men with more normal readings initially.

Here are some of the reasons this works so very well from the email with the research on high intensity burst training.

“The Most Effective, Efficient Exercise in Just 4 Minutes a Day”

FEBRUARY 11, 2013 BY JJ VIRGIN

JJ Virgin is a Nutrition & Fitness Expert who helps clients lose weight fast by breaking free from food allergies. 

She is the bestselling author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, a Huffington Post blogger, creator of the 4X4 Burst Training Workout & co-star of TLC’s Freaky Eaters. Her latest book, New York Times Bestseller The Virgin Diet: Drop 7 Foods, Lose 7 Pounds, Just 7 Days, is out now. Learn more at www.thevirgindiet.com.)

(Chasing very fast fat loss is not always best.  I suggest putting all the key parts in place over 3 weeks and aiming for solid progress within 2 months – or 8 weeks instead of 7 days.

But clearly, any fat loss program that uses effective strength training and this kind of burst cardio will make your success quite likely over several months!)

“…. science backs burst training as the fastest, most effective exercise on the planet.

What is Burst Training?

High-intensity interval training (HIIT), also called burst training, involves short bursts of high-intensity-style exercise for 30 to 60 seconds followed by one-to-two-minute recovery periods. (I will use burst training and HIIT interchangeably throughout this article because the work/rest ratio concept are the same in both.)

You can do burst training practically anywhere. Stuck at a hotel? Find the stairs. See that giant hill at your local park? Run up it.

The key involves full-out maximum speed for up to 60 seconds. Dump the longer-is-better exercise myth: If you can do burst training over a minute at a time, you’re not doing it hard enough. (Literally) step it up.

You’ll subsequently slow down to a normal pace to catch your breath, and then repeat.

“The science behind burst training is based on something called the ‘excess post-exercise oxygen consumption’ (EPOC) effect, which is the recovery of one’s metabolic rate back to pre-exercise levels,” says Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Jini Cicero. “It is a measure of how much oxygen the body utilizes in the period immediately following a workout or bout of exercise. EPOC directly effects fat oxidation in response to high-intensity exercise.”

In other words, when you burst, your body creates an oxygen debt that it must then repay. This recovery requires energy, which your body utilizes via fat oxidation. Literally, you’re burning fat to meet this demand.

Science Proves Fast Exercise Superior for Fat-Burning

Imagine you could find a way to pack your eight-hour workday into just one hour. It requires more intense work, but you get more done during that one hour than you ever did before. Think of all the time you could spend shopping and hanging out with your partner!

That’s how I want you to view burst training: as a fast, efficient way to get fat-blasting exercise. Sure, it takes more work than watching The View while working an elliptical machine, but burning more fat in less time is a nice trade-off.

Studies indicate that HIIT is superior to cardio. One in the journal Metabolism, for instance, compared a 20-week endurance-training (ET) program to a 15-week burst-training program.

The HIIT group showed a ninefold greater fat loss than the ET group.

Numerous other studies demonstrate burst training’s effectiveness for fat loss. One in the Journal of Obesity, for instance, found that burst training forces your muscle to utilize more fat both during and after exercise.

And a study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that moderately active women burned impressive amounts of fat doing just two weeks of burst training.

You get it: Burst training burns more fat in less time than cardio. And now you’re wondering how exactly burst training provides those amazing results in just minutes a day. Let’s look at five reasons:

1. Burst training helps your body adapt to stress. Just to be clear: all exercise raises cortisol. This stress hormone gets a bad rep, but it can work for or against you depending on what you’re doing. “Cortisol is the Jekyll-and-Hyde hormone because it can be your best friend or worst enemy when it comes to fat loss,” says Dr. Jade Teta. “Long-duration cardiovascular exercise increases cortisol, but never breaches the intensity threshold necessary to get trigger [fat-burning hormones] like human growth hormone (HGH) and testosterone.” (More on HGH in a minute.) Chronically elevated cortisol can lead to muscle breakdown and fat storing.

On the other hand, burst training raises those anabolic (building) hormones like testosterone and HGH, which increases fat burning. Burst training also teaches your body to better handle stress and recover more effectively.

2. Burst training promotes post-workout fat burning. Sure, you’re burning fat while you ride that treadmill, but the lower intensity doesn’t require any metabolic post-exercise repair. Because fat burning and metabolism are not enhanced post-workout, you get limited overall metabolic benefits. Put another way: the more intense your exercise, the bigger metabolic cost you create when you’re done.

“It’s not the workout itself that has the greatest impact on fat burning,” says Cicero. “Rather, it’s the effect of that workout on the rate of calories burned afterward, over the course of the day even into the following day.”

3. Bust training raises human growth hormone. Repeated, intense bursts raise lactic acid, which spikes human growth hormone (HGH). HGH is your “fountain of youth” hormone. It helps you burn more fat, boosts your immune system, increases testosterone levels, and decreases inflammation. Want a one-two punch to increase GH? Get an uninterrupted eight hours of sleep every night and then do burst training three or four times a week.

4. Burst training reduces your risk for chronic diseases. Fat isn’t just an aesthetic issue: it can also contribute to numerous problems like diabetes. HIIT can help reduce your risk for these and other diseases.

One study in the American Journal of Cardiovascular Disease concluded that, compared with endurance training, HIIT was an effective way to control and prevent hypertension.

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, author of The Blood Sugar Solution, 24 million people have diabetes, and half of them don’t even know it. Burst training can provide an effective exercise to ameliorate diabetes. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology, for instance, showed that for people with type 2 diabetes, burst training can rapidly improve glucose control and improve metabolic health.

Dr. Hyman also estimates 60 million people have pre-diabetes, or insulin resistance that paves the path for full-blown diabetes. A study in the journal BMC Endocrine Disorders showed that exercise could help prevent diabetes in otherwise-sedentary younger males. “The efficacy of a high intensity exercise protocol, involving only [a small amount] of work each week, to substantially improve insulin action in young sedentary subjects is remarkable,” researchers noted.

5. Burst training saves you time. My clients often complain they don’t have hours to spend at the gym or otherwise get in shape. Burst training blows the time excuse out of the water. After all, you’re looking at 30 minutes max, which even the busiest person can schedule (yes, schedule) into their insanely hectic day.

You don’t need expensive equipment, fancy workout clothes, or a gym membership. Some people favor compact, portable machines like the Xiser, but you can get equally effective burst-training results in your mall stairs or park hill. The worst you can say is that people might look at you funny, but that’s a small price to pay to burn fat and get in peak condition.

One last thing: I’ve combined burst training with weight resistance in my 4 x 4 Workout, which you can do in just 15 minutes, three times a week. Talk about effective and efficient: these are serious kick-butt workouts that will leave you lean and toned in time for beach season. My readers can get a FREE 4 x 4 Workout.

References

Babraj JA, et al. Extremely short duration high intensity interval training substantially improves insulin action in young healthy males. BMC Endocrine Disorders 2009, 9:3.

Boutcher SH. High-intensity intermittent exercise and fat loss. J Obes. 2011;2011:868305. Epub 2010 Nov 24.

Ciolac EG. High-intensity interval training and hypertension: maximizing the benefits of exercise? Am J Cardiovasc Dis. 2012;2(2):102-10. Epub 2012 May 15.

Little JP, et al. Low-volume high-intensity interval training reduces hyperglycemia and increases muscle mitochondrial capacity in patients with type 2 diabetes. J Appl Physiol. 2011 Dec;111(6):1554-60.

Talanian JL, et al. Two weeks of high-intensity aerobic interval training increases the capacity for fat oxidation during exercise in women. J Appl Physiol. 2007 Apr;102(4):1439-47.

Tremblay A, et al. Impact of exercise intensity on body fatness and skeletal muscle metabolism. Metabolism. 1994 Jul;43(7):814-8.”

My follow up comments:

First when you begin this, make sure to go a bit easy at first in your bursts, 70 to 85% effort instead of 90 to 98%.

And, at first, do fewer sets and rest until you are close to fully recovered in between and do one or two sets instead of three or more.

I started with one set of 14 jumps in my jump rope.  Now after many months, I do one of 42 and one of 56 after a shorter rest and then do 70 after a slightly longer rest. The idea which I got from Dr Al Sears is to gradually burst at a higher effort and rest for shorter periods of time.

But the critical idea for safety is to do it very gradually over many months.  So start easy with enough rest between sets.  Based on my experience with the jump rope, you WILL get to a higher level in a few weeks to a few months.   And it is VERY effective.

Also, follow our information on preventing heart disease in our post on Tuesday, 2-12, a week ago.  That both makes burst training safer to do; and once you get used to it, burst training is one of the two best ways to protect your heart.  The more weeks in a row you do it the better the protection it gives you.

Lastly, JJ Virgin’s 4 X 4 strength training is her, I think, version of the extremely slow rep strength training.