Get twice the result in half the time

Do you feel as if 24hour in a day are not enough? Work, family, social commitments are already taking a lot of time and you keep putting fitness aside? Or you do spend a good amount of time in the gym but feel the results are no proportional to the effort/time you’re putting in?

Nothing against who goes to the gym and read magazines while on a cardiovascular machine (cycle, running, cross trainer, etc.) as I believe still A LOT BETTER than  doing nothing. But if you want to change your body you need to work a little harder but different from what most people think you should be spending a little less time in the gym.

Yes, you don’t need to stay hours in the gym to get results.

I could even quote some researches:

“Recent research shows that the cardiovascular adaptations that occur with HIIT are similar, and in some cases superior, to those that occur with continuous endurance training (Helgerud et al. 2007; Wisløff, Ellingsen & Kemi 2009). Helgerud et al. showed that 4 repetitions of 4-minute runs at 90%–95% of heart rate maximum (HRmax) followed by 3 minutes of active recovery at 70% HRmax performed 3 days per week for 8 weeks resulted in a 10% greater improvement in stroke volume than did long, slow distance training 3 days per week for 8 weeks (total oxygen consumption was similar in both protocols).”

or (really don’t need to read everything, skip the citation if you get bored):

“Another study (Slørdahl et al. 2004) demonstrated that high-intensity aerobic training at 90%–95% of maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) increased left-ventricle heart mass by 12% and cardiac contractility by 13%—improvements comparable to those observed with continuous aerobic exercise.”

There was even a documentary on BBC 2 a while ago about it on a series called Horizon – The Truth About Exercise.

But cutting the bla, bla, bla, all you need to do is to work in short high intensity bursts using exercises which work with the most amount of muscle groups as possible (compound exercises as you might hear from a fitness professional) in the safe way.

If you can do the same workout for more than 30 minutes (up 60 minutes in some cases) you are not working hard enough after 20 or 30 minutes or you didn’t workout hard enough at all.

If you did work hard and are staying longer there is a change of you getting bored or feel the results don’t correspond to the amount of time you’re putting in.

If you are not working hard enough you are probably just maintaining your fitness and body you have at the moment. Which is not bad if you’re already fit and happy with it.

So if you want to change something you need to step up a little bit more in terms of intensity (up to the right limit) and your workout don’t need to be restricted to aerobic exercises (walking, running, cycling…). You can have a high intensity workout which will reshape your body and get you even fitter using dumbbells, kettlebells, medicine balls, suspension straps, elastic bands or even you just your body weight.

You can do a workout like this adapting the workout you’re already doing or asking a personal trainer to plan it for you. Then it’s just the case of doing it. 🙂