HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING FOR WEIGHT LOSS
High intensity, HIIT, Interval training, whatever you want to call it is all the rage right now! Gone are the days where long, steady-state boring cardio was the answer to our weight-loss woes. It’s all about high intensity now!
There are loads of pro’s to high intensity:
It’s FAST. You can put aside 20-30 minutes a day for high intensity training and see some serious results!
It’s EFFECTIVE. Giving 100% for 20 minutes will burn far more calories than that slow hour-long walk on the treadmill or fluffing around in the gym will!
It’s FUN. Maybe not at first, maybe not even at the time. But I’ll bet after a few sessions you start to enjoy the challenge and start enjoying pushing yourself every time! Plus it feels SO good when you’re done!
And finally, my favourite. High Intensity has a huuuuge list of health and fitness benefits. Sure walking on the treadmill burns some calories, but other than that – we walk all the time, it doesn’t do much else for your body.
High intensity training can build strength, muscle, support our joints, develop our flexibility, get us heaps fitter and faster, decrease our chances of all the most common health issues ALL while burning fat and making us look good.
If you had 20 minutes to spare, wouldn’t you rather take the option with ALL those benefits instead of just burning a few calories?
Check out a few simple high intensity, CrossFit workouts below:
-
Baseline: 500m Row, 40 Squats, 30 Situps, 20 Pushups, 10 Burpees.
Goal: Do it AS FAST AS YOU CAN. Aim for under 10 minutes! Some of the fastest people I know get it done under 4! High intensity is all about pushing to YOUR 100%. It doesn’t matter if that’s 15 minutes or 4 minutes – as long as it’s your best effort your body is going to love it and be killing off calories left, right and centre!
2. 4x 400m Sprints. If you find running really tough, start with 200m!
Rest as long as the run takes you. If the run takes you 2 minutes, rest 2 minutes before running the next 400m. Each run should be the FASTEST you can go! Record your times and see if you can beat them next time!
3. 3 Rounds: 1 Minute Max Effort Bike, 1 Minute Max Effort Kettlebell Swings, 1 Minute Max Effort Burpees, 1 Minute Rest.
Goal: Go as hard as you can and get as much done on each minute as possible. No rest between exercises, hold out for that rest minute! Then breathe and start again.
Good Luck guys! If you’d like to get into more high intensity training or need help with your weight-loss goals, we’re here for you!
Give us a call or shoot us an email, we’d love to hear how you’re going.
Coach Feebz
Head Coach / Owner
CrossFit Long Haul