NEWS: SOLID STATE CARDIO IS DEAD!

They say that solid state cardio is DEAD for fat loss.

And I couldn’t agree more.

You want to run a marathon, no worries; solid state cardio is going to get you there. Conditioning your body for a marathon is different to building strength and leads to a different shape for the body and muscle units involved. But a lot of people get it in their heads when they start the fat loss mission that running for long periods of time will lose the weight.

Wrong! It will for a little while, but then slowly but surely the body WILL catch up and beat you at this game. Your half hour treadmill drone jogs will slowly become less efficient at burning the calories because your body is your worst enemy and will figure out your plan.

Solution? You HAVE TO KEEP CHALLENGING YOURSELF!

One way to do this is by resistance training; here you can always up the ante by adding more weights, staggering the repetitions, trying different moves etc. Then while your body is at rest you are STILL burning fat as your body recovers and stays in a anabolic state for longer than what cardio can provide.

Another way to lose the pounds is by utilizing the latest buzz word HIIT (high intensity interval training). Now you can do this in a few ways, many gyms now run one of the biggest HIIT training programs in the world, Les Mills Grit. This is a half hour of HELL on earth that will test your medal and have you burning up the calorie monster where it stands. Again the principle of using weighted bars means that you can be forever increasing your challenge weight, and with new launches constantly varying the routines you will be forever in a state of challenge any way.

Les Mills RPM and other spin classes are another great HIIT inspired class that gives you less of an upper body workout and more cardio and legs. But with the ability to always challenge your last personal best by altering the gear or resistance on the bikes wheel you will never get ahead of yourself. Best thing is, these HIIT classes are normally only around half an hour long and are super effective for those who are time poor and looking for fitness that will ACTUALLY work.

You can also create your own HIIT if you don’t fancy the classes by hitting the footpath, treadmill or bikes and cranking up some loud tunes. Simply increase your speed or resistance in an alternating fashion, listen to the music for the cues of when to start a sprint or when to leave the seat and STOMP up a make believe hill. Don’t spend too long on the exercise; 30 to 40 minutes would be ample. Then wait for the weight to fall off (along with great nutrition OBVIOUSLY).

Don’t let your stale routine of half an hour on the treadmill catch you and your body out! Beat your body and keep challenging yourself.