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| Cool NEW Trick To Improve Your Interval Workouts |
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Increase The Fat Burning Effect Of Exercise With THIS New Interval Approach…
If you’re a reader of our newsletter and blog, you should know by now that we’re BIG believers in interval training or what we like to call “Metabolic Bursting”.
If you don’t know why, here’s the short list:
- Bursting and intervals are time-saving, efficient, and burn way more fat.
- They stimulate ALL kinds of fat burning hormones and metabolic triggers (a.k.a. Hormonal Response). Lowers insulin, raises Growth Hormone – GH, Free Fatty Acids, and powerful brain chemicals – Adrenaline etc.
- The famous “Afterburn”. The GL-12 protocol (discussed below) or also known as “Tabatas” has been shown to increase metabolic rate for 38 to 48 hours after doing just one 12-minute session. Pretty amazing.
- Challenging and fun.
- Great stress reliever too.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with interval training or metabolic bursting, it’s simply a very hard, short burst of exercise (sprinting, jumping, cycling etc.) followed by an active recovery period to let the heart rate come back down before repeating another burst or interval.
Just like anything else when it comes to burning fat, more is NOT better when it comes to interval training.
Three or four bursting or interval workouts per week will do the trick…and give you great results without overtraining. Confucius say: “Exercise is just the stimuli for the results to occur while you rest, recover, and nourish.” (really it’s me who said this, but Confucius sounded better I guess. 
The duration depends on the “type” of intervals, but in general the interval portion (minus the warm up and cool down) should be anywhere from 4 to 20 minutes. No more, no less.
A few minutes after you perform high intensity bursting or even metabolic circuit training (body weight circuits), science proves there is a BIG release of fatty acids into the bloodstream.
This is where this cool, new trick comes into play.
Since the fatty acids “dump” into the bloodstream after intense exercise, it only makes sense to try and burn them off.
If you don’t, research shows these fatty acids could literally move from your upper body to your lower body (or somewhere else) and just be re-stored. Weird and wacky – I know, but the human body is an amazing machine.
That’s why I always recommend walking or jogging at a low intensity for 10 to 30 minutes after high intensity bursting, if time permits. More on this in a second.
I’ve recently been studying a lot of research and advanced techniques about intervals and bursting from a guy named Lyle McDonald.
This guy is “the man” when it comes to cutting edge science and burning stubborn fat. But his strategies typically only apply to hardcore bodybuilders and people trying to achieve ultra low body fat levels. Like 8% or lower.
However, the techniques can be used and applied by anybody, they just have to be tweaked a little.
I know this might sound like advanced stuff, but I’ve dissected, researched, and applied his protocols on other people and myself so average people like you don’t have to try and figure out all the technical jargon.
Before I give you the protocol, remember to perform this workout 3 hours after a meal or in the morning after an overnight fast. Insulin is low and glycogen is more depleted to stack the deck in your favor.
Here’s the secret to getting those fatty acids to dump into the bloodstream at a steady rate AND burn them off after intervals.
Warning: This is NOT for beginners. Do not try this technique if you haven’t conditioned yourself previously with normal exercise on consistent basis.
In other words, be careful or you’ll end up like this guy below.
After you’re done getting a giggle, check out this new protocol.
- Warm up: 5 to 10 minutes at a moderate pace.
- Bursting Sequence: 10 to 12 minutes of bursting or intervals. 20 to 30 second bursts followed by 30 to 40 seconds active recovery (slow to medium pace), repeat until 10 to 12 minutes is up. It’s also recommended that you use a machine that you’re not used to. This will increase the “hormonal” response. Pretty cool little tip…I know.
- Walk briskly 3 to 5 minutes until you’re heart rate is about 120 bpm or lower. Rest completely for 5 minutes to allow fatty acids to be released and dumped into the bloodstream. I usually stretch or read a little.
- Drink lots of filtered water and make sure to wait 45 to 60 minutes before you eat anything, unless your body tells you something different or you have other sugar limitations (diabetics etc.).
You can also replace the bursts with body weight training like burpees, thrusters (both shown below), or even stuff like jumping lunges or other bodyweight type circuits.
Burpees Shown Above
Thruster – also called Squat Press
This protocol obviously takes a little longer, but it’s worth it.
I have to admit; at first I was very hesitant to share this cool new metabolic bursting trick with you.
Why? Because so many people think that more is better and they’ll go overboard and try to do this 5 or 6 times a week. IF you decide to be an over-achiever with this technique it WILL backfire on you – I promise.
On the other hand, try doing this twice a week (and twice a week ONLY) in place of two of your normal interval or bursting workouts. You just might magically get rid of the stubborn stuff you’ve been holding onto.
Plus, variety is a spice of life…so spice it up!
Don’t forget to hit the “like” button below and I’ll be back in a couple days to talk about the “Strategic Cheat”.
Every person who exercises and eats healthy a couple days a week now thinks they have the right to go on a food bender. This is a big mistake.
You have to know WHEN and HOW to cheat so it provides the physical and psychological response you’re looking for.
Your fat burning friend and coach,
Shaun
Tags: exercises to lose belly fat, high intensity interval training, interval training program, interval training routines, interval training workouts, interval workout, interval workouts
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on Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Fat Burning Cardio.
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How does this fit in with the H.I.R.T.? Also what about the 8 week sequencing schedule? I am trying to figure out if I can do the H.I.R.T. and the aerobic on the same day—or is that too much? Also on the H.I.R.T. do you just work one body part per day (for 12 min)?
I was thinking I could do the H.I.R.T. workout and then after a little rest continue with the aerobic portion of the sequencing schedule—so let me know please.
Hi Emily,
You could easily just take 1 or 2 of the Pillar 3 (high intensity) workouts from the 8 week sequencing schedule and replace them with this new technique.
You can do 1 body part or stack 2 body parts back to back for 24 min total if you want on the HIRT.
Also, you could definitely do the aerobic portion after HIRT. Just follow the rules above and never exceed 50 minutes total workout time if possible.
I hope this works. Keep us posted!
Hi Shaun. I know I’m replying late to this blog, but better late than never? You say to not have anything one hour after any kind of workout/cardio circuit, yet the other’s (Jayson, Coach Josh, etc…) are saying that the window of opportunity after a workout is small and that something should be ingested after a workout. I’m confused! Help, please.
Thanks,
KC
@KC
GREAT Question. There’s a lot of debate here, but it really comes down to what type of exercise session was performed and what your goal is.
If you’re doing long duration cardio or using the protocol above, it won’t make THAT much of a difference because the session was longer and most of the hormonal effect has ended by the time the low intensity portion of the workout is over. The after burn will still take place with or without food and calories…and the hormones have already worked their magic.
However, when performing GL12 bursts all kinds of metabolic triggers are set off and hormones are released rapidly. Bursting stimulates catecholamines which increase fatty acid mobilization without calories and the whole idea of high intensity exercise is to let insulin stay low and allow GH do work it’s magic after the short, intense bursts. If you consume food or a shake directly after, it might be a healthy choice, but it could very well blunt the GH response on top of spiking insulin. Even though it’s still a healthy choice, it very well could defeat the purpose.
The best way to handle this is to get the best of both worlds by waiting about 45 minutes after. This way you get the post metabolic hormonal effect while still flooding your muscles with nutrients within the “magic” window of opportunity you have after the workout.
I also think marketing plays a roll. Think about it. If you don’t eat anything before and after workouts, then what are you consuming? Nothing. So who makes money? Nobody. Food for thought.
On top of all this theory, science, and research…you have the element of real world results. I’ve witnessed people “tweak” their workout strategy with this trick and immediately be down another notch in their belt the next week…and they usually cut their exercise time down dramatically at the same time.
I personally get the leanest when I fast before and after workouts and I’ve actually gained muscle at the same time…hell I’m even willing to sacrifice a pound or two of muscle with this strategy cuz it gets me so lean when I apply it.
It also might have something to do with the fact that people psychologically think they can eat what they want and consume more calories before and after workouts. If they strategically fast before and after workouts, then this won’t happen.
In the end, there’s always more than one way to skin the cat and there’s strong research for both sides. I typically have something after weights, but always ride the fat burning wave for 45 to 60 minutes after short-burst workouts.
I’m going to do a detailed post about this soon.
Would love your feedback on my response.
AWESOME response. Thank you so much for clarifying this for me. I’ll wait the 45 minutes each time – that’s easy enough.
KC