Are You Using Your Time In the Gym Wisely?
Performing long bouts of steady state cardiovascular exercise with a lack of variety and intensity is a common mistake made by people trying to lose weight. Many people who set out on a new weight loss regimen believe that doing long cardiovascular workouts on the treadmill, bike, or elliptical will result in loss of pounds and a better body. This statement is partially true; however, there are some questions I would ask these people:
1.) How hard are your cardiovascular workouts? How do you monitor your exercise intensity throughout the workout?
2.) Have you tried adding interval training into your routine?
When doing cardiovascular workouts, it’s important to monitor your heart rate and train in the specific heart rate zone to meet your individual needs. Calculating your heart rate before exercise allows you to set a desired tempo for your workout and reduces the risk of “slacking off” once you are distracted at the gym by TV’s, magazines, cell phones, or friends. Set a heart rate goal for each workout and don’t let it get below that number for the entire duration of your cardio session.
Calculate your target heart rate prior to your cardiovascular workouts using this formula:
(220) – (your age) = (Heart Rate Max)
(Heart Rate Max) X (Desired Intensity Percentage) = (Target Heart Rate)
It is believed that performing steady state cardiovascular exercise (long walks or runs) becomes less effective after a couple weeks of starting an exercise program. Interval training is a great way to increase the intensity and productivity of your cardio sessions, decrease boredom, and increase fat loss. Interval training is the action of performing a bout of intense exercise for any given amount of time and following it with a bout of short rest or less intense exercise. The time and intensity can vary depending on an individual’s fitness level, just be sure that the bout of intense exercise is at least 80% of your heart rate max and the recovery phase is back into your regular fat loss target heart rate. Interval training can be performed on any of the cardio machines you find at the gym or outdoors in a walk to run or run to sprint type program. Performing interval training sessions will allow you to decrease your time spent in the gym, see results faster, and actually allow your body to keep burning more calories post-workout than after you perform steady state cardiovascular training sessions.
Time is precious these days so don’t waste it going at a snail pace on the treadmill, challenge yourself to see the best results!
Michelle Roots BA Kin, CSCS
