In Part One, we took a look at the lower impact cardio exercises that are great for a warm-up, cool down or in between the ass-kicking ones that will be covered in this article.
It’s time to turn up the intensity if you want to get peeled…get in the type of condition that will make your skin paper thin and get those veins to finally pop off your muscles. Because for that to happen, you need to burn off that layer of fat that has been covering those garden hoses all winter long.
These anaerobic activities will have you sucking wind and on your balls during and especially afterwards. Since there is not even oxygen being taken in to use as energy for an anaerobic activity, the glycogen stored in your body is used as fuel. And your body becomes a calorie burning machine, even hours after you complete your workout. (This is a huge added benefit with anaerobics.)
You will primarily be using your fast twitch muscle fibers with anaerobic activity and in the below section, we will show you how you will be using a combination of both fast and slow twitch varieties.
H.I.I.T. IT HARD
By implementing High Intensity Interval Training into your cardio, you are combining the best of both worlds – aerobic and anaerobic. And this can be performed with any exercise you choose. Just what the hell is H.I.I.T., you may ask? It is a short burst of high intense exercise (75-to-90 percent of your maximal ability) followed by a longer period of moderate (50 percent) movement. Here are a few examples:
*SPRINTS
Start out with a 20-yard sprint and do a slow jog back to the starting point for an active “rest” period. Keep this progression going for a period of 10-to-15 minutes and you will be totally gassed.
Sprinting is the single most effective exercise to shed fat and get in shape. You can perform steady state cardio for twice as long and it still wouldn’t even come close. The most basic of H.I.I.T. exercises is also the best.
*TREADMILL
Using a similar strategy, you can replicate the effect of outdoor sprints inside the gym (or your home) on a treadmill. Start off with a one-minute brisk walk or slow jog and then up the speed for an all-out sprint for 30 seconds. Then slow it down again for a two-minute jog only to speed up and sprint for one minute.
Depending on your fitness level, you may be able to do these increments for longer periods of time. But the important part is that you are bringing H.I.I.T. into the equation.
*ELIPTICAL
Use the same suggestion as with the treadmill but with one caveat – do not use the movable handles. While the elliptical is viewed as a machine that works both the upper and lower body simultaneously, people have a tendency to tire sooner in their legs and over compensate by pulling the handles harder to help move the foot pedals. This is obviously counter productive to what you’re trying to do and it is also difficult to keep up the higher speed interval with the handles.
S.M.I.T. IT HARDER
Did you really think that pushing yourself to 90 percent at the most was the end-all-to-be-all? H.I.I.T. is very effective but if you are able to take it to the next level, give S.M.I.T. (Supramaximal Interval Training) a go. The difference between the two training philosophies is that S.M.I.T. means you are going at 110 percent for a very short period of time (30-to-60 seconds is the usual high water mark) and then do a complete rest period with no activity anywhere from five to eight times the work amount.
For instance, if you do an all-out sprint as fast and hard as you possibly can for 30 seconds, you should take a rest period for a minimum of two and a half minutes. You should push yourself so hard that you will need this long of a rest to catch your breath and recover.
You can duplicate a S.M.I.T. workout on the treadmill, but need to be a little fleet a foot and careful if you decide to it this way. Since you are going to bust it and then take a full rest, playing around with the level control will become a workout in itself. So what you can do is keep it a certain speed and then straddle the sides while holding on to the side handles when it comes time to rest in between. Then you have to be extra careful and keep holding on until you have caught up with the speed when it’s time to go back on.
BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES
Getting away from your traditional cardio machines, you can also do a number of bodyweight movements in an anaerobic manner. Exercises such as burpees can be as intense as any weight training movement and will build muscle and burn fat simultaneously.
Walking push ups, box jumps and step ups are also very effective. The bottom line is that you are turning up the intensity and speed to make what is already a difficult exercise even harder.