If you are looking to burn body fat and turn out to be more toned, then raising your workout intensity is crucial.  A lot of people have the misunderstanding that if you exercise at a higher intensity you will not be burning fat because you will be in your “cardio zone”.  While, if you preserve your intensity low for a longer period you will burn up more fat since you will be in your “fat burning zone”.  Let me make clear this for you once and for all.  By exercising at a low intensity (<70% max) it is true that you use fat as your predominant supply of fuel.  Although exercising at a higher intensity (>75% max) your primary fuel source is carbohydrate but you will eventually burn more calories.   And because 1 pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories, the ultimate objective is to burn as many calories as achievable to generate a negative energy balance!

One of the ideal ways to obtain this intensity is through the use of full-body compound circuit training (strength training) together with interval training (on the cardio equipment).  The advantage of full body compound training is that because it utilizes more muscle in any given movement you burn more calories.  The intensity of the workout additionally means that every single exercise will become more challenging as your heart rate is sustained at a much greater level.

Here are a few of advantages to following a workout program mixing circuit training and interval training:

1. Intervals and circuits widely decrease monotony.  Conventional steady state cardio training and/or weight lifting can turn into quite boring.  Interval training and circuit exercising provide more variety and pleasure to your workouts.

2. Interval training raises post-exercise energy spending (calories burned following exercise) more than steady-state exercising, which indicates that more fat is burned. Right after intense exercise, the body needs additional calories as it works to restore muscles, substitute energy stores (i.e. carbohydrate) and recover the body to its regular state (e.g. reduce heart rate). As this can take several hours, you will keep on burning much more calories for a long time after the workout has ended. In reality, study shows that metabolic rate is increased for several hours following interval training in comparison to steady state exercise.

3. Interval training burns much more energy.  To illustrate, 30 minutes on an Elliptical machine applying a steady state system will burn roughly 292 calories, while 30 minutes of intervals will burn around 584 calories!

The following is a sample workout that will leave you huffing and puffing:

- Warm-up (bike, treadmill, elliptical, rower) -   5-10 min

- Circuit (45 seconds for each exercise, with 15 seconds rest in between exercises)   –   5-7 min

- Lunge walks with lateral raises

- Plank (on stability ball)

- Squats with medicine ball shoulder press

- Push-ups

- Side Bridges

- Reverse Pull-ups

- Burpies

- Interval Training (cardio equipment) 20 sec @ 100% : 40 sec @ 70% x 5  -  5 min

- Replicate Circuit and Interval 3 times

Overall Work out Time:  45 – 60 min

If you would like to experience what an intense exercise feels like then you should inquire about the innovative Fitter U MP3 personal training program.  For a portion of the price of normal one-on-one training, this proven MP3 program will ensure you get to your health and fitness objectives in less time.