I'm going to mix it up a little this week. No upper body exercise. No lower body exercise. No stretching. How about some cardiovascular work? "No!! Not cardio." I'm sure that's what some of you are saying. But what if I said you could do four minutes of interval work and burn just as much fat as you would performing a moderate 45 minute aerobic workout? Now do I have your attention? Through his research, Dr. Izumi Tabata discovered that high intensity interval training done for four minutes could burn just as much fat as moderate aerobic exercise done for 45 minutes. But this is not just any four minutes. This is breaking your you know what for four minutes. It involves working at a high intensity for 20 seconds , rest for 10 seconds and then repeat seven more times. I'd suggest the following protocol:
1) Warm up for 3-5 minutes
2)High Intensity for 20 seconds
3)Rest for 10 seconds
4)Repeat 7 more times
5)Cool down for 3-5 minutes
In order for this method method to be effective, each work interval should be to near exhaustion. And when that ten seconds is up, GO AGAIN!! The rest is not 11 seconds long, it's 10!!
If you're looking to drop some bodyfat, I'd suggest using this method 2-3 times per week after your strength training workouts. As far as what exercises to use, some of my favorites are: thrusters, burpees or using the upright bike, rower or step mill.
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