8 Seconds to Weight Loss

[mtomm[$]]

"They lost three times more weight as other women who exercised at a continuous, regular pace for 40 minutes," UNSW Associate Professor Steve Boutcher said.

I've been preaching this type of cardio for a while now but here it is in black and white. It sounds easy but it is not. It will kick your butt, but apparently it will help shrink it, too. This really is the fat loss cardio of the future. You can say you read it here first.

And the weight loss was without dieting.

[drmomentum[$]]

I don't believe weight loss will stick without dieting, but I do believe that short workouts can make a huge impact.

Interval training is great for increasing your endurance in running. It worked for me, until I blew out my Achilles tendon. Biking is probably safer.

I wonder if this applies to people who are only slightly overweight.

Margo - do you have any links to more details on how to approach this type of regimen?

-JP

[MiracleMax]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing!

[mtomm[$]]

From Eric Ledin
He has become somewhat of an authority in the weight training world on losing fat and gaining muscle.

HIIT

What Is It?

•The repeated alternating of periods of high intensity effort with periods of low intensity effort.
•The basic tenets of interval training can be satisfied on a treadmill, stationary bike, elliptical machine, or outside, with the latter ‘probably’ being the most effective.
•Normally defined by a ‘work:rest’ ratio (e.g. 1:3), in which the ‘work’ component represents the high intensity/sprint component and the ‘rest’ represents the low intensity/active recovery component.
•For example, alternating 20 second fast runs with 60 second brisk walks (or jogs) until the desired time has elapsed.
•Typically shorter in duration than traditional low intensity cardio owing to the higher intensity effort.

The Benefits of Interval Training Relative to Endurance Cardio

1.Greater Energy Expenditure and Resultant Fat Loss

•With increasing exercise intensities, the proportion of energy substrate derived from fat decreases, while the proportion of carbohydrate usage increases. (3)
•However, the predominant fuel substrate used during exercise does not play a significant role in fat loss.
•Total daily energy expenditure is more important for fat loss than the major fuel used during exercise. (3)
•The most notable study comparing interval training to endurance cardio concluded that interval training is the most optimal method for fat loss. (14)

oIn this study subjects engaged in either an endurance program (4-5 times per week for 30-45 minutes) for 20 weeks or a high-low intensity program for 15 weeks.
oNeither group was placed on a diet.
oThe mean estimated energy cost of the endurance protocol was 120.4 MJ, whereas the mean estimated energy cost of the high-low intensity protocol was only 57.9 MJ. (more than double)
oHowever, the decrease in six subcutaneous skin folds was greater in the high-low intensity group than it was in the endurance group. This is despite the lower energy cost during exercise.
oAfter statistical analysis it was shown that the high-low intensity group experienced nine times the fat loss of the endurance group.
oThis same study found the high-low intensity protocol to significantly increase the activity of an enzyme which is a marker of the activity of ‘fat burning’ over endurance protocol.


•While one burns less overall calories and less fat during interval training (due to the involved energy systems) compared to endurance cardio, when the post-exercise recovery period is factored in, interval training leads to significantly greater energy expenditure and fat loss.
•This is due to the effects interval training has on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC)

oEPOC – post-exercise oxygen consumption above resting values used to restore the body to the pre-exercise condition.
oAfter exercise, oxygen uptake remains above pre-exercise levels for a period of time that varies according to the length and intensity of exercise.

•The number of calories burned following interval training is significantly enhanced due to the increased EPOC.
•There is much research to show that interval training protocols result in significantly greater post-exercise energy expenditure and fat utilization when compared to low to moderate intensity protocols. (1, 4, 7, 8, 10, 15)
•Another study showed that even with no significant difference in total work, groups that exercised at a high intensity lost significant amounts of fat, while no significant changes were found in the lower intensity group. (2)
•Another study showed that those who participated in high intensity exercise had lower skin fold measurements and waist-to-hip ratios than those who participated in lower intensity exercise. (13)
•Improved VO2max, as a result of interval training, has been associated with increased thermic effect of food (TEF) (6)

oTEF – An increase in energy expenditure due to an increase in cellular activity associated with digestion.

2.Improved Cardiovascular Conditioning & Fitness

•Interval training has been shown to increase both aerobic and anaerobic capacity whereas endurance cardio only increases aerobic capacity. (9, 11, 12, 14)
•It is well established that interval training increases aerobic capacity/VO2 max more than endurance cardio. (5, 12)

o28% increase in aerobic capacity with high-low intensity cardio vs. 14% increase in aerobic capacity with endurance cardio. (12)

•Maximal oxygen uptake, or V02max, is generally regarded as the best single measure of aerobic fitness.
•Interval training is more conducive to improving the muscle's ability to use fat. The more fit one becomes, the more likely they are to use fat as fuel for any given activity.

•Post training, you will burn more fat. Numerous studies show that HIIT can elevate your metabolic rate significantly after the workout – with most of the calories coming from fat.
•Fat/calorie burning is elevated afterwards to restore homeostasis (i.e. body temperature, catecholamines, hemoglobin, myoglobin, etc.).And it doesn't matter if you eat carbs right away either. This will not inhibit the oxidation of fat. In fact research actually shows that getting nutrients in immediately after HIIT will actually increase EPOC, reduces muscle protein catabolism, and increases recovery, all while having the wonderful benefit of not inhbiting lipolysis.
•HIIT dramatically increases the amount of GH released into the bloodstream. This has some fat burning implications. (muscle building benefits are questionable)
•Long periods of low-intensity/steady state cardio tend to convince some fast-twitch fibers to convert to slow-twitch fibers (or at least take on some slow twitch qualities). Conventional slow, long-duration cardio workouts tend to "overtrain" the fast-twitch muscle fibers and to convert the intermediate muscle fibers to slow-twitch suitors. HIIT prevents this from occurring, preserving your muscle growth potential.
•High intensity cardiovascular exercise increases oxygen expenditure and forces the body to adapt by becoming more efficient at oxygen transport (increase in VO2 max). That means healthy benefits for the heart, lungs and other components of your cardiovascular and pulmonary systems.

And from John Berardi:

The Benefits of Training The Anaerobic Energy Systems

While training the anaerobic energy systems is clearly be of benefit for enhancing athletic performance, there are many other non-athletic benefits as well:

1) This type of training is very calorie expensive. Short, 30-minute workouts can burn in excess of 400kcal during the exercise. While carbohydrates provide much of the fuel used during the high intensity interval, fat is also burned preferentially during the low intensity aerobic recovery period between the high intensity intervals.

2) The post exercise calorie expenditure is huge with this type of exercise. In some studies the resting metabolic rate remains elevated (by 15% or more) up to 24 hours after the workout. Interestingly, after exercise the body preferentially burns fat so this elevated metabolism is burning predominantly fat.

3) This exercise leads to an up regulation of aerobic, anaerobic, and ATP-PC enzyme activity. This means that all the energy systems of the body will operate at higher levels and become efficient at burning calories and generating energy.

4) The muscles used during this type of exercise will change their composition, shifting toward an increased percentage of fast twitch fibers. This increase in power-producing fast fibers comes at the expense of the weaker slow twitch ones. The shift is desired as the fast fibers grow more easily than the slow fibers.

5) There is an increase in specific muscle cell organelles (i.e. the sarcoplasmic reticulum). This leads to a better calcium balance and contractile ability.

6) There are short-lived increases in blood testosterone (38%) and growth hormone concentrations immediately after exercise. While this is debatable, these changes may contribute to an anabolic state in the body.

The bolding is mine.

Basically HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is doing short bursts of all out, fast as you can go, sprints followed by a recovery period. You do this till you are drooling and faint and sick. Rinse. Repeat at most 3 times a week.

[hadassahchana[$]]

Thanks! This is what my trainer has had me doing, and when I actually get to the gym, I've been able to see results in just a week or two. Unbelievable!

The guy who does the rehab fitness/aqua fit classes insists that doing two minutes of hard-as-possible working (biking, running, water running, etc.) followed by two minutes of lower intensity movement, just enough to keep heart rate elevated, is what makes for a really well-conditioned athlete. I haven't ever seen actual stats on this, so thanks for posting, margo!

And btw, why aren't you a PT?

[theworm[$]]

It sounds good, but I can't get my mind around the 8 second 12 second thing. that's so rapid.
1 minute - or even 30 seconds, but 8 and 12 seems like it would be difficult to manage.

I'm just so tired - this is making it worse.

I'm going to try shorter intervals though!

[mtomm[$]]

Most of the info I've seen on it, Delia, are much longer spurts and recovery. I am currently doing 20 sec sprints with 40 seconds recovery. I'll do that for 5 minutes. I then walk on the treadmill for another 10 min for recovery. I'll add one more sprint/recovery interval each week as I get better at it. With a 5 min warm up I'm only doing 20 min on the treadmill which is long enough! It is soooo boring.

Cindy, I don't know anything I'm just trying to copy those who have had the best success with the least amount of work.

Here is a great article about doing cardio by MariAnne Anderson. She has taken all of the info above plus a ton of other research and put together a rather long and intense article about how to incorporate cardio with a weight training program. My eyes kinda glaze over at the technical language but you'll get the meat of it in the end.

How to do Cardio if you MUST!

[theworm[$]]

20/40 sounds do-able.
I'm going to try it.
I've been doing an hour on the treadmill or eliptical - it's boring, but I'm sticking with it.
For intervals I'll have to do the eliptical. I'm not allowed to run or jog because of my back, but I can use the eliptical at higher speeds.

I'm going to try this. I have to do an hour so even if I start with just 5 minutes of intervals I can work my way up....I hope.

[MrsNormanMaine[$]]

8 seconds to 8 pound weight loss = guillotine

MNM
(busily knitting)

[drmomentum[$]]

Thanks, Margo!

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

MrsNormanMaine said

8 seconds to 8 pound weight loss = guillotine

MNM
(busily knitting)

[hadassahchana[$]]

theworm said

20/40 sounds do-able.
I'm going to try it.
I've been doing an hour on the treadmill or eliptical - it's boring, but I'm sticking with it.
For intervals I'll have to do the eliptical. I'm not allowed to run or jog because of my back, but I can use the eliptical at higher speeds.

I'm going to try this. I have to do an hour so even if I start with just 5 minutes of intervals I can work my way up....I hope.

The trainer at the gym has people start by doing 1 minute full out, 2 resting, going to a goal of 4 on/4 resting going for 4 sets of these. He insists that his people are more fit and stay at the gym less time than those doing tradtitional cardio.

[mtomm[$]]

hadassahchana said

The trainer at the gym has people start by doing 1 minute full out, 2 resting, going to a goal of 4 on/4 resting going for 4 sets of these. He insists that his people are more fit and stay at the gym less time than those doing tradtitional cardio.

I believe that to be true.

Just work up to it, Wormie. You know when it really sucks that you are doing it right. Don't hurt yourself.

I haven't been successful doing hiit on the elliptical. I know there are quite a few folks that do it on the bike and it works quite well. I've also done it jumping rope but I'm sure that would not be good for your back either.

[theworm[$]]

I did intervals on the eliptical tonight. 20 seconds/40 seconds for a half hour. Sweat like a pig - then I did another 10 minutes of regular, 5 minutes of intervals, 15 of regular.
Thought I might die.
Afterwards I chatted with my trainer, who said that despite the hardwork and 600 calories I burned, it wasn't optimal for me because my heart-rate was way too high.

[mtomm[$]]

Maybe you could print out a few of those articles. Steady state has its place but HIIT is supposed to put your heart rate sky high.

If you could do 20/40 for half an hour then it wasn't hard enough. The most you should be able to crank out is like 10 of those intervals. You did intervals, no doubt, but not HIIT. And I mean that in the kindest way. I was pretty devasted when I was told the same thing.

Try it on the bike.

[theworm[$]]

Not devastated.
He isn't debating the success of interval training.
The issue is that my heart rate goes so high. He wants me getting my heart rate at about 70-75% of max and maintaining it for an hour (or at least 40 minutes). When I did the intervals, my heart rate was at 173, and when it leveled off it maintained for the half hour at 155-165 - at that rate he said I'm burning sugar, not fat, so until I increase my endurance, this may not be best. Of course, I don't think that my heart rate was really that high, so he's brining in a cuff so we can do some testing. Intervals are good, but I want to burn fat, not sugar.

[mtomm[$]]

Actually no. I don't understand all of the technical language in the following quotes so I have to trust those who do...

From the above article:

• HIIT activates AMPK due to acute energy needs in the cell. AMPK is an energy scavenger, so it prompts for both storage of glycogen and utilization of FFAs for energy. In other words, it signals the body to store glycogen (thus preserving muscle) and instead use body fat for energy. (5) By following HIIT with a little steady state cardio, you’ll oxidize mobilized FFAs so they don’t re-esterify into triglyceride and hang around. Cool eh?

and

• In fact, HIIT may actually curtail the propensity for fat storage:

"...it is highly probable that sprinting-evoked, systemic AMPk activation simultaneously curtails an individual's natural genetic propensity for fat-storage as well. This is because, in response to the rapid ATP-depletion prompted by those repeated, maximal-intensity bouts of anaerobic expenditure, AMPk also works to curtail Acyl-coenzyme A: diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT1) activity and glucose uptake into adipocytes.

This isn't just intervals, this is short very high intensity training. It is different and your body reacts to it differently.

I posted the original article in this thread because it was a study that confirmed what others have observed in applying in less controlled situations. HIIT works at burning fat. The subjects lost weight without dieting on short hard bursts of exercise. That is significant and contrary to what we've always thought.

[theworm[$]]

Geez - it used to be you just didn't have to eat like a pig - nowaday's you need an advanced degree to lose weight.

[hadassahchana[$]]

What Margo said. Unless my butt is made of sugar, a possibility I'm willing to consider.