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High Intensity Interval Training is a HIIT for fat loss

Run faster to burn fat quicker

You want to burn fat more quickly, like in a faster way. Here’s a somewhat truism. Actual fat loss is leaps and bounds more important than just weight loss. Should you do what it takes to get that lean/healthy muscle tone?

I know, that's why I want to burn fat today!!

I know, that’s why I want to burn fat today!!

Fat loss is a byproduct of healthy nutrition and effective training

If you are doing this for health reasons, then fat loss should not necessarily be the primary goal in itself. The primary goal is the action and digestion of consuming our plant-strong diet with lean proteins and healthy omega-3s. In this case, fat loss is merely a byproduct of superior nutrition habits.

Methods for fat burning

Look at the picture and notice the differences in body composition between these two runners. Keep in mind that these are both extremes.

Runners, explosiveness/strength vs endurance/distance

explosive/strength vs endurance/distance

  • Even though the body fat % may be about equal, the female sprinter has more impressive form and physique
  • The sprinter appears to have leaner muscle for the obvious reason that there is in fact more lean muscle
  • Notice Hip:Waist ratio significant difference. Sprinter butts can be out of this world (not said for an Olympic marathoner)

How much does your time matter? The Sprinter trains her body for a FRACTION of the time that a marathoner. While the marathoner is out there hitting the cement and losing muscle for long hours, the sprinter has much shorter bouts of effort. High intensity rules the fitness world currently.

It should be making sense by now

It should be making sense by now

You just get way more bang for the buck by focusing on strength, power, speed, explosiveness, and conditioning to experience your fat loss effects.

Train your cardiovascular system with sprints

In this workout, my trainer was Kyle Anderson of Seattle, WA (Orangetheory Fitness Capitol Hill) and he motivated me through the challenging sprint intervals. Check out my heart rate report

A heart rate graph through challenging strength and conditioning workout

A heart rate graph through challenging strength and conditioning workout

The data on the heart rate graph shows that I did work within 84% or higher of my max heart rate through intervals. Training the cardiovascular system in this method also improves muscle tone due to the muscular and metabolic demands of sprinting.

Three steps to running faster

latissimus dorsi: One of the most powerful sprinting muscle. Learn the power of arm drive for sprinting success.

latissimus dorsi: One of the most powerful sprinting muscle. Utilize the power of elbow drive for sprinting success.

1. You should feel that you are propelling yourself forward during sprints. Too many people land on the ground and waste energy on the reactive force of landing. Instead of running on the ground, run over the ground.

 

2. Use the hips to run forward. The human gait (natural movement of body through space) expresses hip:waist ratio in important ways. Larger, more developed glutes and tapering to a lean waist will typically be strong indicator of fitness (and perhaps even fertility).

 

3. Drive your upper body muscles in sync with the hips. The latissimuss dorsi as a totally undervalued muscle when it comes to sprinting (and that hourglass shape). The more powerful a muscle contraction (arm drive) helps you produce force with the legs.

Go all out

At some point during your intervals, when you are all out generating force and power, you should attempt to go a little faster than the last workout you recovered from. By making progress, you will get results faster. That is the nature of fitness — we must choose our own path. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Progression should be the number 1 consistency in our training.

fastrunner

Keep working at it. Sometimes you will need more rest before you can go faster… and other times you just need to go faster.

 

Orangetheory Seattle Sports & Athletics
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Why I love Training

Training is about progression

Training is not always about raw strength.

Squatdeep

For example, even though my Squat strength has not skyrocketed in my previous years of training, technique has improved, range of motion increased, I recover faster, and the practice of squatting has become a catalyst for other healthy behaviors within the body and in my life.

Training supports clarity and rest

Sometimes I have so many thoughts in my head it’s challenging to write about a specific subject for the blog, but after exercise I feel the gears in my head running smoothly like a calm mechanical serenity of sorts.

Can you imagine what it is like to transform stress into something else? I can’t say that exercise always brings happiness, even though it can help you ask yourself the questions that ultimately lead to a happier state. In what ways will I guide myself into a healthier being? If I could do one thing right now to improve my well-being, even if it was something tiny, would would it be?

(a: write a blog post)

Training is anti-aging

I feel that we have a destiny in this world and beyond that — I have to think that age plays an important role in the stages of our learning. Since proper training is always progressive in some way (remember it doesn’t have to be linear), you should also realize that aging is not linear either.

aging

What does that mean — Aging is not linear?

The reality is that the signs of youth, vigor, strength, beauty, etc. are more due to internal factors rather than external. To explain further, the health of the cells in your body is dynamic and strongly affected by periods of stress, disease, poor sleeping patterns, caffeine, alcohol, substance abuse, lack of nutrients, loss of nutrients, dehydration, exposure to everyday chemicals, exposure to toxins, exposure to radiation, chronic inflammation, auto-immune disorders, and even more.

Training is a beautiful stimulus.

Not only will training release a cascade of beneficial body-recomposition hormones, it will also affect the way you view the world. How we perceive our own realities will determine the decisions we make about eating for well-being (as opposed to weight loss), it will help us take care of ourselves and love ourselves.

Training can manifest the most profound mental and physical transformations you’ve ever experienced

The world is always changing. There are some things that we have no control over — however we should strive to gain self-mastery in the areas that are most important to our lives (that is– which you value the most).

A holistic approach

A holistic approach

Self-mastery from training is exhibited through perfect technique and form (because you realize that the actual weight matters less than the muscular activation), self-mastery is by resting when you need rest, eating nutrient dense foods, and self-mastery is surrendering yourself to the perseverance of defeating each limiting belief you carry — one by one.

I believe in you.

Power of the Mind
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Has group exercise been the key to fitness for all of human history?

Those who train together are stronger than the sum of each individual

Think about it — For all of human history, community physical training has always been superior for culture and social progression of a peoples. Think about ancient Greece, or consider the warriors from 300. It’s no secret that our armed forces train physical capacity together. Why not — as a community — join together for fitness.

Yea we train together -- so what?

Yea we train together — so what?

We are fighting our own war

We are all consumers, these messages are not lost on us

We are all consumers, these messages are not lost on us

Even though there are so many smart people in Seattle, they are also constantly subjected to foods which never existed for 99% of humanity. There are so many to choose from — sugary and sweet or succulent and fatty. Not to mention big brands and even local superstars promoting Skittles to the tribe.

Do these guys train physical fitness together? YA DANG RIGHT! #LOUDER

Do these guys train physical fitness together? YA DANG RIGHT! #LOUDER

Fact: The 2nd leading cause of preventable death in America is being overweight

Take it seriously folks

Take it seriously folks

I don’t even care about the beauty of the outside when I am more concerned about the beauty on the inside. And when I say inside, sure I care to be a friend to your personality, though mostly I want to promote healthy organ systems, natural enzyme processes, healthy inflammatory response, joint lubrication, bone density, healthy muscle tone, efficient cardiac rhythm and more…

Exercise is Anti-Aging

For my early years in natural health, I was skeptical about this term ‘anti-aging’ even though now I have a better appreciation for what it really means. We are less important the amount of years we have existed than the actual biological age of our cells.

People may age slower for a variety of reasons. I will list a few:

  • Genetics
  • Nutrients (pre-natal)
  • Nutrients (childhood through adolescence)
  • Nutrients (every day of your dang life)
  • Exercise
  • Less exposure to toxins and chemicals
  • Less stress or superior capacity to handle stress (healthy coping strategies)
  • Not smoking, drinking, or doing drugs
  • Consistently sleeping well
  • Orangetheory Fitness (had to add cause’ it’s totally true!)
That WaterRower is just so darn smooth and EFFECTIVE

That WaterRower is just so darn smooth and EFFECTIVE

Of course I could go on and on about anti-aging to improve longevity and quality of life (not to mention relationships). HOWEVER, this is a public article about fitness — specifically group fitness so let me stay on topic friends.

The Anti-Aging effects of Exercise

Exercise will keep you young, they say. Physical fitness improves your quality of life, I’ve heard. Working out is a sensible option for people who would be otherwise sedentary, I’m telling you now.

The TRUTH about anti-aging, and we’ll get to that, is about what is going on inside your body. So what is really going on?

1. Hormones

Growing up, I often heard the word hormones thrown around to make sense of a person’s behavior. Mostly when we think about hormones, we think about the sex hormones — probably because the experiences can be quite powerful and make people think without their brains, so I’ve heard.

Actually, the hormonal state of our bodies relates to cycles, rhythms, vibrations, and of course cellular catalysts. We need different hormones at different times. In the morning, we have a boost of testosterone. Hopefully we can avoid the stress cortisol throughout the day. After an intense workout, we release human growth hormone which heals the inside of the body. After a yummy dinner, we release leptin the hunger-satisfying hormone. Before bed, we release melatonin so that we can get a good night of rest.

This is the coveted anabolic window when your body will MAXIMIZE any nutrient or nutrient combination whatsoever that you feed yourself. Additionally, metabolism is boosted for 24-48+ hours after a weight lifting session due to energy needs for recovery.

This is the coveted anabolic window when your body will MAXIMIZE any nutrient or nutrient combination whatsoever that you feed yourself. Additionally, metabolism is boosted for 24-48+ hours after a weight lifting session due to energy needs for recovery.

How do we go about creating these hormones, and promoting healthy cycles within the body’s interactions?

I’ll have to make a future post that goes into more details about this. The KEY point: HIGH INTENSITY EXERCISE forces the release of a cocktail of anti-aging hormones which benefit you for hours on end.

2. Connecting the self to a sense of positive community

Being lonely sucks. Being lonely is also a choice. Get out there and enjoy a dang good work-out with people who care about you, or at least care enough about themselves that they are willing to do hard work!

Regardless of personality type, making time to be a part of a positive community is one of the best investments you can make. And get this — it will even decrease your stress hormone, cortisol, since the body physiologically responds well to this need being met. I’ll leave you with this from OrangetheoryFitness.com

Get Going and Get Results

It’s all about energy. Not only do you need energy to get the results you want, but the workout will continue energizing your body and mind long after you go home. Highly qualified and motivational Personal Trainers increase the safety and effectiveness of your workout. Only the best Personal Trainers can go Orange. Get all the benefits of group personal training in order to get the best results from your sweat.

Orangetheory Seattle
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3 Thoughts on High Intensity Interval Training

HIIT is — this year — the number one fitness trend

Exposure to the concept of High Intensity Interval Training has become widespread through journals, magazines, and programs all over the place!

An example of a person who utilizes fast energy

An example of a person who utilizes fast energy

The reason is simple, and we’ll get to that…

1. Body composition

The most valuable measure of overall health and fitness relates to Body Composition. We should consider the internal elements as promoting vitality — in a way that reinforces key structures and anabolic processes for both men and women.

HIIT promotes a lean body type to support key muscular structures.

2. Value of time spent

High intensity requires fast energy.

By developing an efficient use of fast energy, the result is a cascade of beneficial hormone release throughout the system. Hormone regulation allows the body to persist in a desired state– allowing vitality and clarity of thought.

3. Seek wellness feeling

Sure, I could go on and on about the technical stuff… hormones and neural connections, nutrient interaction, process and storage…

The reality is that you need to feel well. Seek that wellness feeling. Exercise utilizing high intensity interval training gets better results.

IF you follow those steps, Fat burn becomes a brilliant process

For the more curious, learn about the hormone Adiponectin– as the amount in your body relates strongly to the oxidization of body fat.

Physical Fitness by Dre Sports & Athletics
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On Being OrangeMan in Seattle

Orangeman is highly visible on overcast Seattle days.

In the Orange Spandex Morphsuit, the wearers take on a new orange identity.

Selfshot Orange People

Selfshot Orange People

Seeing people’s reactions is always entertaining

People cannot help but notice an orange body moving around. The situation seems to blend a taste of objectification along with hero worshiping.  Real connections are made.

What does Orangeman represent?

Each Orangeman brings his or her unique talents to the crew. I believe Orangeman is a leader, has vision, and looks to respect others. Orangeman connects over fitness, the body, and that which is related to our healthy physical and emotional living.

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