This is a common problem that a lot of people have. Is it the concept of time? That is really what we’re talking about is the big problem is time. We just don’t have enough of it. There are only so many hours in a day and it comes back to the old saying, what’s more valuable time or money? Money, you spend it, you make more of it. That’s why they call it cashflow. It comes and goes.
But time, time is the only thing that each and every one of us only have a finite amount of it and we don’t know how much we have. It could end tomorrow; it could end 80 years from now. We don’t know how much time we have. That is our most valuable resource and so many clients, even myself, struggle with finding the time to exercise. When I first started trying to lose weight, I really didn’t know how to go about it. I’d been a wrestler in high school and then I’d spent time in the military, where I learned and knew I needed to exercise.
I had a recumbent bike in my basement, and I would get on that thing and go for 45 to 60 minutes. I would do that four to five times a week. I started losing a little bit of weight, but I hit my wall and I couldn’t lose any more weight, so I just started ramping up the time. And next thing I know it was doing it every single day, either waking up early in the morning or trying to fit it in on the weekends and it wasn’t working. It took so much of my time and to be honest with you, I hated it. It was boring. I would watch Netflix or something, but it was just incredibly boring.
I had discovered the importance of diet at that time and really started focusing on that. I just kind of forgot about this exercise thing and put that by the wayside. I quickly realized you have to have balance. To have true weight loss, that is sustainable you need balance. None of us want to lose 20,30, 40, 50 pounds for a few months or a year and then put the weight back on. You want it to be sustainable. So what you do to lose the weight has got to be something that you can do for the rest of your life. That was my problem, I was unbalanced. In a previous post I talked about the weight loss vehicle. Remember, think of it like the car that you’re driving down the highway, the weight loss highway. The wheels on your vehicle have got to be balanced so you have a nice smooth ride.
My weight loss car and wheels were imbalanced when I was all focused on diet. I didn’t do enough exercise. I had been burned out on exercise. I was tired of doing these long aerobic workouts. I felt like it just wasn’t working for me. I didn’t want to go to the gym all the time. But then I focused solely on diet, which also didn’t work. I was tired and cranky all the time. I had completely ignored the mindset and the spiritual side of things. It was a really bumpy ride. But through my journey I’ve been able to put these things together and understand that there’s this whole picture.
Whenever you choose a workout program the exercise is just as important as the diet. But it does need to meet some requirements. One is it has to be efficient and effective. No one wants to workout and end up with little to no results to show for it! The workout program must be productive, and it has to be proven, meaning that there is science behind it. The biggest things for me, efficiency, effectiveness, productivity and scientific proof. It’s got to meet those. If we can check those boxes, then I have a program that can be extremely effective. I have said for years, I wasted so much time and energy on aerobic programs, treadmills, and stationary bikes. I know other people like to go out and run, which is a great form of exercise. But quite honestly it is not the best way to lose weight. It really isn’t.
Through my struggles I discovered, the concept of the high intensity interval training. Of course, this isn’t really new, as it has been around for a while, but I realized how effective it could be for weight loss and started to adopt it and work it into my program. A high intensity interval training program allows you to burn more calories in less time and it boosts your metabolism. So, you continue to burn calories for hours after the exercise. You can’t ask for anything better than that.
But what exactly is a high intensity interval training program? What is a HIIT program? By definition it is a workout program that uses intervals or bursts of a super high intensity exercise for a period of time followed by a lower intensity interval. Then you cycle through this. What we found is that when you do this, your ability to burn fat, burn calories, get in shape and, and even get lean, is increased and you can do it in a much shorter period. The HIIT programs, can be done in as little as 20 minutes. Some sources even say you could do it in 15, but I’d say 15 to 20 minutes, two to three times a week and you can have better weight loss ability, fat burning, calorie burning, then you can doing the traditional 45 to 60 minutes stationary bike, struggling on a stair-step, or running.
The key to a high intensity interval training is it needs to be intense. When you’re doing that the high intensity portion, you have got to push yourself. If you’re not pushing yourself, you’re not going to get the full benefit out of it. That’s why you have that period of low intensity afterwards so your body can recover, which is really, really important. The other important thing to remember with this is it works really well if you’re using body weight and full body weight movements. So, if you’re moving your arms, you’re moving your legs, you’re moving your power muscles, your quads, your hamstrings, your glutes, your pecs, your deltoids, your lats, all of those at one time it is so much more effective.
Space and equipment are common issues that people have when it comes to working out. With a high intensity interval training program you can do it in your own bedroom. You could do it in a small living room. We’re in a room right now that’s a about 10 by 12 and you could do a hit program in here, full body movements, things like jumping jacks, pushups, burpees, mountain climbers, all of those movements they are extremely effective and they work really well. They don’t require any kind of space or equipment. You can safely do them on your own.
The next requirement is that this needs to be proven. In 2012, there was a study by the National Institute of Health, and it showed that the HIIT programs actually did a better job burning fat faster than traditional exercise. There was another study in 2015 and it also showed that the high intensity interval training burned more calories in less time than traditional aerobic exercise. A study done in 2014 showed that the HIIT programs are a time efficient exercise strategy. That’s why I’ve included HIIT exercises in the four-week weight loss system for busy moms and dads. We’re finalizing some of the videos. The girls in the clinic are putting them together and putting the final touches on them. It has been really cool to see this thing come together.
This program meets all requirements of being efficient, being effective, being productive, having space equipment and time, next thing you know, bam, you’re losing weight and it doesn’t get any better than that and you’re doing it in a short period of time. That’s really what we all want. We all want to get rid of that weight fast, get there as fast as we can and keep it off. Until next time, stay healthy and keep moving forward.
Links-
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3375095/ 2012 Study Shows that HIIT does a better job in burning fat faster in less time than traditional exercise.
https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2015/03000/Caloric_Expenditure_of_Aerobic,_Resistance,_or.28.aspx 2015 study shows that HIIT burns more calories in less time than traditional aerobic exercise.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24552392- 2014 Study shows that HIIT is a time efficient exercise strategy.
