If you walk into any gym between 5 PM and 7 PM I can almost guarantee that the majority of the cardio equipment will be in use. People will slave for an hour or more with the hopes of losing a little bit of weight and looking better. When you go to a pet store and look at the mice, hamsters, gerbils, or any other rodent, isn’t it amusing to watch them run endlessly on their little wheel? I know I watch and laugh as they scurry with who knows what goal in mind. If you think about it, people running on treadmills at a gym is no different and I feel the same way about people as a do about the furry little animals in the cage. Why are you wasting so much time and energy going nowhere? This may seem shocking to some people. I’m not supposed to spend hours running on a treadmill to look good? I think it’s an utter waste of time. Now I’m not saying don’t do cardio at all, just make it much more time efficient.

Americans get increasingly busier everyday, but unfortunately the days never get any longer. The time people have to relax and enjoy themselves is getting less and less. Peoples stress levels keep going up and productivity at work and in life is going down. There are a lot of bigger issues than just cardio, so why waste time unnecessarily? A lot of people make the excuse not to exercise because they don’t have the time. That’s probably true if you think it takes an hour or more to do your cardio. I will guarantee that you can get great results by doing cardio two to three days a week for no more than 30 minutes.How is this possible you may ask? Right now you are spending an hour a day and still not getting the results you desire. Well, unfortunately, for the most part you aren’t working out effectively. You aren’t maximizing your time and effort. The quickest and easiest way to get the most benefit in the shortest amount of time is doing interval training. Interval training is alternating bouts of high intensity work followed by moderate to easy intensity work. Basically you would run at a comfortable pace for a minute or two and then start to sprint for 30 seconds to one minute, again followed by a moderate run. This is a very generic form of interval training but it will get results.

The reason that it is beneficial is the varying intensities maximize calorie burn while maintaining a high percentage of energy coming from body fat. These days there are a lot of advocates for training within your Fat Burning Zone. Sure, it may work if you adhere to it word for word, but then again you are stuck spending hours to get the results because the intensity for your fat burning zone is so low. Why not incorporate the fat burning intensity with a little bit of high intensity work to maximize your results? It is the perfect formula for great results.

I think the idea of a heart rate monitor has some great applications. I have one myself and suggest that all of my clients get one. Instead of having them stay within their fat burning zone, I’ll calculate the high end intensity that they can handle and then figure out the low end for their heart rate range. Then I will have them run for a duration at the low end of the range, followed by a fast run that gets the heart rate near the high end of their range. Once the heart rate reaches the high end, I have them maintain this for a short period of time, at which point they lower the intensity to lower their heart rate.

Interval training isn’t that complicated of a concept but it provides tremendous results. I guarantee that 30 minutes of interval style training will feel much more difficult than an hour of moderate paced running, if you even last 30 minutes. The key to interval training is ensuring you workout intensely enough. Again that’s where are a heart rate monitor can be beneficial. Trying to guess how hard you are working isn’t very accurate. Most people tend to be a lot easier on themselves than they need to be. But when you have a heart rate monitor you are provided with exact feedback of how hard you are working out.

By know means is this an advertisement for heart rate monitors. I just think, paired with interval training, it will help you achieve the results you have always dreamed of. No longer should you waste your extremely precious time slaving on the motorized torture devices at your local gym. Maximize your time by incorporating interval training into your workout. If I haven’t made it clear enough, START DOING INTERVAL TRAINING, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I hope you are able to apply this information and break through the ruts that have developed. Start achieving the results that you always desired. Learn to push yourself harder than you thought possible. Good luck, always expect more out of yourself, you are capable of more than you would ever know.

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