How to Do HIIT at Home Without Cardio Equipment
YES, you can do HIIT inside your home without cardio equipment, all while the babies are asleep.
You can get just as much a crushing fat-burning effect as you would on a machine. (more…)
How to Correctly Walk Sideways on Treadmill Without Holding On
Stop doubting in your ability to walk sideways on a treadmill without holding on; this is so much simpler than you think.
I’ll have you walking hands-free next time you step onto a treadmill. (more…)
Sideways Treadmill Walking: 1 to 2 mph: Guidelines
If you hold on while walking sideways on a treadmill, you totally defeat the purpose. An able-bodied person has no excuse for this.
Here’s why it’s wrong. (more…)
Can Food Alone Flatten Your Belly?
You’re heard of “belly flattening foods,” right?
While LESS food can shrink fat cells in your stomach, what about a particular food that actually shrinks fat cells? (more…)
New to Treadmill, Men 65+, Guidelines: Don’t Hold Onto Rails
Hands off the treadmill is the first rule for men 65+ who are new to exercise.
This destructive habit is worse for seniors than young people. It could strain the hips and shoulders. (more…)
What Is Hormonal Exercise and Why Does It Burn So Much Fat?
Hormonal exercise is the best way to blast off body fat, no matter how much you have.
Anyone can do hormonal exercise: beginners, old, obese. It saves time too! (more…)
Can You Lose Weight with Exercise Alone?
Yes, you can lose weight with exercise alone.
It’s actually a myth that you cannot lose weight with only exercise and no change to your diet. Losing weight happens when you create a calorie deficit.
Many times I have read articles stating that you cannot lose weight with just exercise. This is incorrect.
A calorie deficit can be created by just exercise, thereby causing weight loss. Look at this in reverse: a slender person who eats quite a bit, but hits the gym 90 minutes every day, and on weekends, goes on 40 mile mountain bike rides.
If this person were to quit exercising, yet not change his eating habits, he’d gain weight.
He then moves to another town, 15 pounds overweight, still not exercising, and asks a fitness professional if he can get slim by just exercise alone.
Chances are that the fitness professional, or even a physician, would say, “No, you cannot lose weight with just exercise.”
This person then resumes exercise, and the weight comes off.
The general consensus is that exercise alone will result in some weight loss, but not all the pounds that a person wishes to lose.
But this is false. It depends on how much weight the person needs to lose.
Let’s take a sedentary person, who eats 2,000 calories a day, and is 10 pounds overweight, who decides to take up strength training three times a week for 45 minutes and cardio training three times a week for 45 minutes.
If he works out with gusto, they will certainly lose all of those 10 pounds, and maybe even a few bonus pounds of fat.
It isn’t just the calorie deficit created by new physical activity that matters here.
It’s the faster resting metabolic rate that results from exercise if it’s intense enough.
hutterstock/wavebreakmedia
So if you burn an extra 300 calories a day strength training, for instance, your caloric deficit will be more than 300 calories a day, because strength training, especially if it’s intense, will cause you to burn more calories per hour even when you are at rest. This is called the after-burn effect.
Over time, a lot of fat can be lost, if the person goes from completely sedentary to very active, engaging in hormonal exercise and HIIT training.
The result will be many more calories burned every day, which will lead to pounds lost.
However, fat loss will be expedited if a person indeed changes their eating habits, and especially if their original eating habits consisted of huge quantities of food; this creates more room for a larger daily caloric deficit.
Conclusion
1) You can lose weight with exercise alone
2) Exercise alone may cause all the weight you want to lose to disappear, depending on how much you wish to lose, how you work out and how much you overeat.
Obviously, a 300 pound person needs to alter their diet to lose weight, but someone who wants to lose only 15 pounds and is sedentary may very well be able to rid this weight with a strength training and cardio program alone.
If they are already working out hard, then they will need to alter their diet.
3) The more weight you have to lose, the more you’ll need to change your eating habits to get the job done.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained clients of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
The Best Cardio Machine for HIIT
The best cardio machine for HIIT is the one in which you can do the greatest variety of routines, while including impact.
The best cardio machine for HIIT is one in which all levels can reap rewards — including the abs you’ve always wanted.
It is the treadmill.
The treadmill not only provides impact, but for those for whom impact is not a smart idea, the treadmill can also provide a softer strike by slowly walking a steep incline.
The best machine for HIIT is definitely the treadmill because of the many permutations that can be done on it.
You can walk, skip and jump, as well as jog, run and sprint. You can go forwards or backwards, even sideways. And of course, you can add the incline.
Another reason that the treadmill is the best cardio machine for HIIT is because it most closely mimics real-life movement.
Shutterstock/wavebreakmedia
HIIT stands for high intensity interval training, and the truest definition of this form of training is alternating about 30 seconds of your hardest, most strenuous effort, with 2-4 minutes of a casual recovery pace.
The reason the intensity interval lasts no more than 30 seconds is because this is the time frame, 30 seconds or less, in which a person can sustain their absolute hardest effort.
If you can sustain a pace for longer than 30 seconds, then it isn’t your absolute all-out effort.
An example would be a 13 mph run on the treadmill. You may only be able to sustain this for 18 seconds.
This would be a great intensity interval. If you can run 13 mph for 38 seconds, then this would not be the most effective training interval.
What you would need to do is increase the speed of the treadmill, or add an incline, so that within 30 seconds, you have totally run out of steam and are left feeling hammered.
Some people believe that the best machine for HIIT is the stationary bike, because it is gentler on the joints, and if you have knee issues or plantar fasciitis, I recommend the stationary bike.
But for the average, “healthy” person, I say that the treadmill is the best machine for HIIT.
However, another great piece of equipment for high intensity interval training is the revolving staircase and the “Treadclimber.”
I explain to my clients why holding onto these machines, as well as the treadmill, is wrong, takes work away from the large muscle groups, is a bad cheating habit, and should only be done when you check heart rate or turn around momentarily, to prevent falling.
Otherwise, hands should be free, arms moving in unison with your lower body, the way you would be moving if walking, jogging, running, stepping or hill climbing outdoors.
Ultimately, the best cardio machine for HIIT is the one that you look forward to using the most. And this includes only your body!
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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Top image: Shutterstock/George Rudy
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