Summer's just around the corner.Want to blast winter belly fat?
Kick up the intensity!
Simply walking the dog or plodding along on the treadmill might be good for your heart but a recent study by the University of Virginia (UV) showed that women who regularly do high intensity workouts have far less belly fat than women who work out at an easy level.
This suggests that while just being "active" may be good for your overall health, if you want more significant changes to your body composition and body fat loss you need to work at a level that makes you breathe heavily. Additionally, one of the best parts of the UV study was that it was done with women who's mean age was 51 years old. This shows that despite the natural changes that occur with age, by increasing our workout intensity we can still change our bodies regardless of how old we are.
So, how can you effectively increase your intensity? Alternate short bursts of high intensity with active rest period or lower intensity exercises. This mode of training is typically called high intensity interval training, or "HIIT".
Below is a simple "Oh, boy!" workout I like to use when I'm short on time because it gives a big bang for the buck, conditioning the muscles, revving up the cardiovascular system and burning unwanted fat without taking a long time to finish.
Oh, Boy Workout:
50 Jumping Jacks
40 Alternating Rear lunges
30 Bicycle Ab Crunches
20 Pushups
10 Burpees (see pic above)
Be sure to warm up and stretch as needed.
Go down the list 2-3 times as fast as you are able.
