Fitness
Day after day I see people pounding thestreets, often in a vain attempt to lose thebodyfat that seems to creep on little by littleevery year. I recently saw a quote that said“Calories - those things that sit in your cupboardand stitch your clothes a little tighter each year.”
I laughed, but this really is what happens eachyear. Our training must be effective and in thiscurrent climate of ‘go-go-go!’ it is also timeefficient. If we have 30-45 mins to exercise onlyyou need to know that their are more effectivethings than going for a long run. This is especiallytrue for people who carry their weight in thelower body (thighs). These people have beenshown to have excess estrogen, and knowinghow to effectively get rid of this could changethe way you exercise forever.
It all comesdown to growth hormone: if your exercise ismaximising growth hormone release, then youare truly helping to shift that fat on the thighs.So how do we do this? The answer is intervaltraining. The start/stop nature of intervaltraining increases your lactate, and it is lactatethat increases growth hormone. With increasedgrowth hormone you are destroying that bodyfat more effectively than any form of longcontinuous aerobic activity.
A recent study published in the Journal ofStrength and Conditioning Research showed thata decreasing sprint interval scheme (400, 300,200 and 100 metres) produced a large growthhormone and lactate response.
So try this as your summer workout. Go to theNewtown (or any) 400m track and run 4 x 400mwith a 90 second rest in between each one. Then4 x 300m with 75 rest in between and 4 x 200mwith 60 second rest in between and then finallyfinish off by 4 x 100m with only 30 second rest inbetween. Not only will this be one of the hardestworkouts you will ever do, it will take less than40 mins and you will burn more bodyfat thanpounding the streets for hours.
Or you could utilise Wellingtons waterfront bysprinting 4 x 4 streetlight lengths, 4 x 3 streetlightlengths, and so on. You will be in great shape inno time.