We’re about to share a little secret with you about how to burn more calories when you’re doing nothing at all. That secret is called the ‘After-Burn Effect’ because your metabolism is elevated so you’re losing more fat. It also involves very a lot less time dedicated to exercise than you may think. Let’s delve into it, shall we?
So, the after-burn effect is created when you work really hard for a short period of time causing your body to require a large amount of calories even just when you’re resting. There are two effective ways to exercise: giving a lot of effort for less time and giving less effort for more time. Both have their benefits, but today we’re going to focus in on the former.
The second option is your standard approach to cardio i.e. long slogs on the treadmill or hopping on a bike for an hour. With LISS (low-intensity steady state) you burn more calories whilst you’re doing it. Sure it’s easier, but it takes up a lot of time. It’s not great for people who have a busy schedule and can’t take too long out of their day to hop on a treadmill or hit the pavements.
HIIT is the solution. HIIT standards for high-intensity interval training and this is what creates that wonderful after-burn effect. Essentially you work extremely hard, rest for a little bit and then repeat. We’re talking about really hard as well; not just getting a sweat on, you need to be out of breath and really feeling the burn. We’ll look at an example to help you get your head around it:
1 minute of push ups
20 seconds rest
1 minute of air squats
20 seconds rest
1 minute of burpees
20 seconds rest
1 minute of sprints
Rest 20 seconds
Repeat x 3
After the last set of sprints rest for 90 seconds before heading into the next workout:
1 minute of Australian rows
20 seconds rest
1 minute of walking lunges
20 seconds rest
1 minute of bicycle crunches
20 seconds rest
1 minute of jumping jacks
20 seconds rest
Repeat x 3
This workout lasts a total of 33 minutes but it will burn about the same amount of calories (if not more) than an hour on the treadmill at an average pace. You can now start to see the benefits.
The difference is that whilst you’ll burn more calories whilst doing the cardio, you’ll burn more calories after completing the HIIT workout.
Obviously, this approach doesn’t work for everyone. If you’re someone who likes the peace and calm of exercising, then you may want to stick to LISS. However, if you’re someone who likes to feel like they’ve given it all they’ve got as well as burn a lot of calories in half the time then HIIT will be perfect for you. Also, if you’re someone who tends to get bored with exercise, then HIIT is extremely dynamic. You can adjust each session towards your needs for a more upper body, lower body, core or all-round workout. Give HIIT a go today and see whether you can really feel the benefits of the burn.
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