Best Cardio For Weight Loss: A HIIT Workout Routine to Burn Belly Fat Fast
Whether you’re 20lbs overweight or 5lbs overweight, a HIIT workout routine can help you burn belly fat fast. Many trainers and body builders believe that it comprises the best cardio for weight loss. Yes, weight loss can be done by combining diet, steady state cardio and strength training, but HIIT will up your fat burning ability to the next level.
HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. The basic principle of HIIT training is working your body hard and fast for a short burst, then giving it a bit of a rest with an active recovery period. For instance, sprinting for 30 seconds then jogging or walking for 1 minute would be a standard rep set. You would repeat this workout routine numerous times for the best effect.
A HIIT workout offers many important benefits. First, HIIT provides a great workout for your legs. You may not even have to perform any other strength training for your legs, unless you want to develop larger leg muscles. More importantly, HIIT really ramps up fat burning. The intense intervals allow for the release of fatty acids into the bloodstream. HIIT workouts also increase the level of HGH in your system. HGH is responsible for preserving muscle mass and burning fat. Finally, and possibly most importantly, HIIT results in EPOC, an after-burn effect which causes you to burn calories for hours after your workout is completed.
HIIT is not perfect in every way. For example, it is not meant to be done every day. It is easy to over train your body if you’re doing strength training for your leg muscles in addition to HIIT. This can be a serious condition where the muscles become over tired and more prone to injury. To avoid this, it is best to vary your cardio routine from day to day.
You can modify your HIIT training in a number of ways. First – change the length of your sprint intervals. Doing shorter intervals of between 15 and 30 seconds gives you more of a chance to exert yourself while sprinting. This increased exertion will help release more HGH into your system. You will also release higher amounts of fatty acids into the bloodstream.
If the time of the high intensity intervals is lengthened, the body will exert more effort. This results in the body burning more calories. Longer, high intensity intervals also allow glycogen levels in the muscles to be depleted which causes the body to turn to stored fat for its energy supply.
The length of your recovery period is also important in an HIIT workout. This is the walking or jogging portion of the workout that allows your muscles time to recover. You spend a certain amount of recovery time relative to the amount of sprint time. If your ratio is at 1:1, for example, if you sprint for 30 seconds and then recover for 30 seconds. Sprinting for 15 seconds and recovering for 45 provides a ratio of 3:1.
The more time you give your body to recover compared to your sprint intervals (a ratio of 2 or 3:1) the more effort you will be able to give in the next sprint. Increasing your effort will produce higher HGH levels. And giving yourself a longer recovery interval will reduce the risk of over-training your muscles.
Using a shorter ratio of sprint to recovery results in glycogen depletion, lactic acid buildup and a more efficient after-burn effect or EPOC. However, this can lead to a greater risk of overtraining.
In my opinion, the best cardio for weight loss combines these HIIT workout routines resulting in a strong HGH release, release of fatty acids, glycogen depletion, and calorie burning. Your workout should start with the short sprint to long recover ratio part of the HIIT routine. Sprint or run for 15 seconds and follow with a jog or brisk walk for 45 seconds. This releases fatty acids and increases HGH levels. Combine 8 sets of these moves with a warm up that lasts 2 minutes so that your total workout time is approximately 10 minutes.
Add half an hour of steady cardio activity at a moderate pace. This allows your muscles to remain active, and still have a recovery period. Additionally, steady state cardio helps burn the fatty acids that short interval HIIT released into the bloodstream.
The final phase is performing long interval HIIT with short recovery periods. This will keep your glycogen levels low and prompt your body to burn fat for fuel long after completing your workout. I combine 1 minute of sprinting intervals with 1 minute of jogging or walking. Your muscles should feel tired by the activity but not overtired and painful. It’s best to keep this final phase to around 10 minutes as well.
Performing all the phases will result in a 45 minute HIIT workout that is the best cardio for weight loss. This routine should allow you to burn belly fat fast no matter how close or far you are from your ideal weight.
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