Interval training can cut exercise hours sharply

Intense, brief workouts twice as effective as other regimens, experts say The Associated Press updated 12:25 p.m. ET, Thurs., Feb. 25, 2010

LONDON – People who complain they have no time to exercise may soon need another excuse.

Some experts say intense exercise sessions could help people squeeze an entire week’s workout into less than an hour. Intense exercise regimens, or interval training, was originally developed for Olympic athletes and thought to be too strenuous for normal people.

But in recent years, studies in older people and those with health problems suggest many more people might be able to handle it. If true, that could revolutionize how officials advise people to exercise — and save millions of people hours in the gym every week. It is also a smarter way to exercise, experts say.

“High-intensity interval training is twice as effective as normal exercise,” said Jan Helgerud, an exercise expert at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. “This is like finding a new pill that works twice as well … we should immediately throw out the old way of exercising.”

Intense interval training means working very hard for a few minutes, with rest periods in between sets. Experts have mostly tested people running or biking, but other sports like rowing or swimming should also work.

Helgerud recommends people try four sessions lasting four minutes each, with three minutes of recovery time in between. Unless you’re an elite athlete, it shouldn’t be an all-out effort.

“You should be a little out of breath, but you shouldn’t have the obvious feeling of exhaustion,” Helgerud said.

In Britain and the U.S., officials recommend that people get about two and a half hours each week of moderate exercise.

When compared to people on a normal exercise routine, like jogging, research has shown those doing interval training can double their endurance, improve their oxygen use and strength by more than 10 percent, and their speed by at least 5 percent. Even studies in the elderly and in heart patients found they had better oxygen use and fitness after doing interval training.

Still, most studies have been done in young, healthy adults, and experts advise people to consult a doctor before starting any fitness program.

For Adamson Nicholls, a 36-year-old Londoner and martial arts enthusiast, interval training is a way to boost his endurance so he can outlast sparring opponents. “It’s a shortcut to explosive fitness,” he said, adding the training results in snappier and heavier punches.

Using interval training, Nicholls got into top shape last year in about six weeks, using weekly 45-minute sessions. He estimates the same level would have taken about three months via regular training.

Experts say that’s because intense bursts of activity are precisely what the body needs to build stronger muscles. Traditional workouts lasting an hour or more simply don’t push the body enough.

“A lot of the (benefits) from exercise are due to a stress response,” said Stephen Bailey, a sports sciences expert at the University of Exeter. “If you disturb your muscles, there’s an imbalance created and your body will start signaling pathways that result in adjustments.”

Bailey said intense bursts of exercise help the body to convert one type of muscle fiber into another type that uses oxygen more efficiently and is capable of exercising a lot longer. Even though interval training only takes a few minutes, its effects last for hours.

“You’ve exercised at such a high intensity that you’re going to create a massive disturbance in your muscles,” Bailey said. That creates a higher metabolism for several hours afterward, which the body will bring down by burning fat and carbohydrates.

Helgerud and others predicted that as further studies confirm interval training is safe for wider populations, authorities will include it in their exercise guidelines.

“This is definitely the way forward to save time on your exercise,” Nicholls said. “The results are worth it.”

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35581793/ns/health-fitness/

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Post your Favorite Interval Style Workout Below

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back.

It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings.

DO YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?

Read on to the end…gets very interesting!

Both have the same number of calories.

Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams for margarine.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.

Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and only because they are added!

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years .

And now, for Margarine..

Very High in Trans fatty acids.

Triples risk of coronary heart disease.

Increases total cholesterol and LDL (the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)

Increases the risk of cancers up to five times.

Lowers quality of breast milk.

Decreases immune response.

Decreases insulin response.

And here’s the most disturbing fact…. HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC….. and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT!

These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance) .

You can try this yourself:

Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things:

* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)
* it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weensy microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic . Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Share This With Your Friends…..(If you want to butter them up’)!

Chinese Proverb:

When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.

Pass the BUTTER PLEASE

So what I get out of the clean up week is a average daily intake of calories that I am eating.  I started using fitday again which I haven’t done in years.  So after logging my food into fitday last week I came up with my daily caloric intake.  My average caloric intake was 2600 calories on average for 5 days of logging. With that number my first step is to maintain that amount of food for 1-2 weeks.  I do not want to drop my calories from the start because I want to give my metabolism a chance to get adjusted to maintaining a set number of calories for a small period of time before I create a deficit.  This caloric average can actually be maintain for 6-10 weeks before creating deficits from it.

At this point my goal for the next 2 weeks is to log 2600 calories EVERYDAY and keep my workouts exactly as is which I will get to later or in another blog.  I will follow this for 2 weeks in which point I will make a small adjustment to either my caloric intake or my exercise volume.  Notice I said I will make a change to one OR the other and not both.  This is key to determining what method actually works best at that time for you.  If I decrease my calories and add more exercise all at the same time I will never truly know what is causing the change in my physique.  So in two weeks I will make an adjustment to my plan.  For now the goal at hand is to get my workouts in 4 times per week with intensity,  and break my daily caloric intake down into how much is needed in each meal in regards to protein, carbs and fats and stay on a steady path for 2 weeks.

Tip of the Day: Remember to make yourself small attainable goals in order to not overwhelm yourself with the bigger picture.  I will prepare each days meals and have my workouts written out for the week in order to stay focused.

Training clients last night made for some good conversation about meal planning and fat loss.  When your goal is fat loss and getting leaner you have to remember that it is a process that requires some planning.   From my experience, if my meals are not planned out accordingly prior to the day starting than I am not as successful in getting leaner than if I do have all meals planned out.

So what if your day is filled with meetings, car rides to clients, or super busy with the kids?

Well it still has to be planned out.  I get asked quite often what do I do if I am on the road or get stuck out and don’t have a meal with me , what do I eat and from where?  This is a very common situation and I will answer this shortly but first I must give you the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear this.  If you had planned all your meals the night before and packed them up in a cooler this would not be an issue.  I know, I know you weren’t expecting this situation to happen right?  Ok but if you plan your meals prior EVERY night and bring your foods with you ALL the time than it still doesn’t cause a problem.  And even if you just pack a meal replacement in your car with a shaker than all you really need is a bottled water and you are good to go.

You see in order to lose bodyfat and get leaner you must have a plan of attack and if you have a plan of attack than you shouldn’t get caught out there with no meals ready because any sound plan of attack in regards to nutrition is going to tell you to plan your meals ahead of time.

Okay Mike I get it but what if you are in a jam and have to stop to get something to eat out?  It really isn’t as hard as some may seem to get a healthy meal out whether it be chinese food, sandwich, salad bar at a food store, etc.  There are so many healthy options today that it is almost too easy.  Here are a few quick meals for on the road:

1.  Steamed Chicken, Brown Rice and Borccoli (Chinese Restaurant) – can’t have carbs in this meal?  Swap out the brown rice for some almonds or fish oils you should have stashed in your car.
2. Chicken Breast, 2 slices of Rye Bread, Tomato, Onions, Mustard, Apple – Carbless would be over salad no bread,  fruit or no fruit, add olive oil.
3.  Cottage Cheese, Fruit, Almonds – all can be bought at a grocery store which is located at every other street corner.
4. Protein Shake with fruit and/or almonds
5. Pouch of Tuna, Apple, Nuts

So you see you can stop at a subway and get a calorie packed junk meal or you can swing into a grocery store and jam out in 5 minutes with a healthy meal,  it really comes down to your choice and what you want out of your results.  It can be difficult and sometimes it is not easy however if you work for your goals than are worth more to you.

Wednesday Meals for Mike:

Protein:
1. 9 Egg Whites, 1 Whole Egg
2. 5 oz. Chx Breast
3. 5 oz. Chx Breast
4. 40 grams in Full Strength
5. 5 oz. Chx Breast
6. 4 oz. Steak

Carbs:
1. 1 cup Oats
2. 6 oz. Sweet Potato/Broccoli
3. 2 Slices Rye, Apple
4. 25 Grams in Full Strength
5. 6 oz. Sweet Potato/Broccoli
6. Broccoli

Fat:
1. 1 Yolk
2. Fish Oils
3. None
4. 5 grams in Full Strength
5. None
6. 1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Total Calories: 2600(290P, 175C, 79C)

So far my daily average intake for the past 3 days has been as follows:

Calories: 2615, Protein: 285, Carb: 195, Fat: 75

I will be trying out various ways to log for you to see what way I like showing you what I am eating:

Protein:
1. 9 Egg Whites, 1 Whole Egg
2. 5 oz. Chx Breast
3. 5 oz. Chx Breast
4. 40 grams in Full Strength
5. 5 oz. Chx Breast
6. 4 oz. Steak

Carbs:
1. 1 cup Oats
2. 2 Slices Rye, Apple
3. 6 oz. Sweet Potato/Broccoli
4. 25 Grams in Full Strength
5. 6 oz. Sweet Potato/Broccoli
6. None

Fat:
1. 1 Yolk
2. None
3. Fish Oils
4. 5 grams in Full Strength
5. Fish Oil
6. Peanut Butter

Total Calories: 2580 (278P, 207C, 69C)

Felt hungry throughout the day and I am happy about that.  This week i am basically getting a estimated average calorie intake from what I eat in the first four days and that will be my base caloric intake which i will manipulate accordingly as the weeks go on.

Meal 1:
9 whites (31.5P)
1 whole egg (6P, 4F)
1 cup Oats (10P,54C,6F)

Meal 2:
6oz. Chx Breast (39P,6C,3F)
2 slices Rye (6P,35C,0F)
Banana (26C)
2 Slices Tomato

Squat Workout
Week 1- 70%,80%,90%

1. Free Squat – 45×10, 135×5, 135×3, 185×3, 225×3, 280×3, 320×3, 360×4
(Based off 400)

2a. Barbell Step-Up
4 sets of 8-10 reps
2b. Bent Over DB Rows
4 sets of 8-10 reps

3a. Reverse Hypers
3 sets of 10-12 reps
3b. Turkish Get Up
3 sets of 6ea side

That’s it for today.  I have a bunch of things to get done and needed to put time into other things today.

Meal 3 – Post-Workout:
5oz. Chx Breast
1 cup Brown Rice (
1/2 cup Broccoli

Meal 4:
Full Strength MRP (40P,25C,5F)

Meal 5:
2 Scoops Whey (50P, 8C,6F)
2 TBSP Almond Butter (5P,7C,19F)

Meal 6:
4oz. Steak (34P,7F)
Asparagus

Daily Total: (285P, 202C, 78F) Calories = 2650

When it comes to the type of workout you should do, most people get it all backwards.  How bout this statement, “I heard I should lose some weight first before I start to workout with weights.”  What kind of crap is that?  I have never heard something more outrageously ridiculous as this one and yet I have heard this a thousand times from prospective clients at our facility.  People have   this fitness thing all backwards when it comes to losing bodyfat.  Weight training is THE #1 soultion for losing bodyfat.  Here are a few reasons why you should choose weight train as your first priority:

1. It increases your testosterone and growth-hormone levels better than any other form of training so you can quickly gain strength and muscle, even after a hiatus from exercise.

2. Weight training improves the strength of your ligaments and tendons, if the exercises are done in full range of motion.  This will decrease the chance of any overuse injuries as your training intensifies.

3. It boosts your metabolic rate because of the high caloric expenditure of multi-joint movements, as well as from the resulting increase in lean muscle you will experience after a few weeks to months of regular exercise.

So when you go to the gym tomorrow please do not jump on the treadmill or elliptical and do an hour of cardio as your first workout back.  Here is what I suggest you do:

1. Sign up for my newsletter and grab your gift which gives you the 10 Top Muscle Building Exercises

2. Head over to the dumbbells and grab a pair and get to work!

3. After your workout jump back over to this blog and post your workout for the day.  I will critic it for you and give you some feedback regarding your workouts.

Have a Great Workout!

Mike

DE Bench - 95 x 3 x 3, 115 x 3 x 6

*this was perform with a mini band doubled around the bar and band peg.  I use 3 different grips when doing speed bench.  Close grip, thumb from smooth and pinky on the ring are my grips and I do a set of each then repeat.

Accessory Work

1a. DB Bench Press – 50×6,65×3, 75×20, 75x 8,8,12 * couple extra reps this week.

2a. Fat Grip Pullups – BW x 8,8,8,8

2b. DB Power Cleans – 20×15,15,15

3a. Band Pushdowns – Monster mini x 25 x 3

3b. Iso-Hold DB Curls – 15 x 15ea. x 2

* This week I used the Tyler Grips which are fat rubber handles to put over the bar.

Cardio - I walked the treadmill for 30 minutes at an incline of 8 and a speed of 3.4,  I really do this to keep myself loose and get some recovery work for my hamstrings.

Post your Workout in the Comments Below!

1. Free Squat: barx10, 145×5, 195×5, 235×3, add briefs: 285×5, 325x5x2, 375×5

* this was performed to practice form more than anything else, I used the competition squat bar so the bar weighs 10lbs more therefore my numbers look a bit different. I also used my competition briefs which are metal ace briefs

2. SSB Reverse Lunge: bar x 10 each leg x 3 sets

* this was just to get some blood flow in my quads and some single leg work which I do less of during a competition cycle.

3a. GHR: BW x 10 x 3

3b. Fwd/Bwd Sled Drag: 3 Plates x 10 yds (2 laps) x 3

4a. Reverse Hypers: 200 x 12 x 3

4b. Pushups: BW x 20 x 3

4c. Seated Rev Grip Cable Row: 160 x 15 x 3

I did a little upper body to get some blood work in and break a little sweat.

Over all it was a really nice workout and I have been feeling really good. Looking forward to my meet in November.

Post your Workout in the Comments Below!

DE Bench - 95 x 3 x 6, 115 x 3 x 3

*this was perform with a mini band doubled around the bar and band peg.  I use 3 different grips when doing speed bench.  Close grip, thumb from smooth and pinky on the ring are my grips and I do a set of each then repeat.

Accessory Work

1a. DB Bench Press – 50×6,65×3, 75×17, 75x8x3

2a. Fat Grip Pullups – BW x 8,8,7,6

2b. DB Power Cleans – 20×15,15,12,12

3a. Band Pushdowns – Monster mini x 25 x 2

3b. Iso-Hold DB Curls – 15 x 12ea. x 2

Cardio - I walked the treadmill for 30 minutes at an incline of 8 and a speed of 3.3,  I really do this to keep myself loose and get some recovery work for my hamstrings.

Post your Workout in the Comments Below!