Jes Reynolds…Your Fitness Coach

Note: This is an old post from the archives that I felt was worth reminding people about…learn & enjoy!

Not long ago, one of my friends told me about guerrilla cardio as his favorite fat burning cardio workout. Have you heard of it? It’s an ultra-intense cardiovascular workout based on a study done by Dr. Izumi Tabata, Ph.D..

Dr. Tabata, a researcher at the institute of Health & Nutrition in Tokyo, Japan, conducted a study compairing cardiovascular endurance training vs. high intensity cardiovascular training. In Tabata’s study, one group did a full 60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise 5 days per week. Group two also trained 5 days a week, but performed up to eight 20-second sprints of high-intensity cycling with a 10-second rest (pedaling at a slower rate) in between [1]. They performed these sprints between warm-up and cool-down periods.

Tabata found that group 2 athletes (on the high-intensity program), got fitter faster than group 1 athletes who focused on endurance training despite the large difference in time spent working out (each day group 1 did 60 minutes & group 2 did 4 minutes). After this study was released, Muscle Media magazine published an article in October 2001 entitled: Guerrilla Cardio, which suggested a cardio program based on these findings.

Guerrilla Cardio

Minutes 1-4: Warm-up 50% perceived exertion

Minutes 5-8: Sprint- for 20 seconds; Rest- 10 seconds; Repeat

Minutes 9-12: Cool-down at 50% perceived exertion

Are you wondering how 4 minutes of exercise can burn more than 60 minutes? At first glance it doesn’t make any sense at all! But remember, the true benefit of high intensity interval training (HIIT) comes from the calories burned after the workout is complete. Intense exercise boosts oxygen consumption (called excess post-exercise consumption, or EPOC for short) and calorie expenditure after exercise to a greater extent than moderate-intensity activity.

Guerrilla cardio is an extremely challenging cardiovascular program that will burn fat & if you really go all out, you will be exhausted at the end of this workout.

This protocol does have some limitations when it comes to incorporating it into a fitness routine. The cardio session really only contains 4 minutes of actual challenging exercise and EPOC is tied to both exercise intensity (how hard you work) and exercise duration (how long you work for) [2]. If you are only exercising for 4 minutes, no matter how instense, there is a limit to the number of calories (and therefore fat) you can burn in that short period of time.

Remember that losing body fat comes down to burning more calories than you consume, period. You have the option of doing that in a variety of ways, some more effective and more efficient than others.

Your ultimate goal should be to adopt habits that enable you to maintain a fitness as a lifestyle, and that may or may not include HIIT or guerrilla cardio. Maintaining a long term program ultimately depends on what style of workout enjoy, what challenges you, and how much time you have.

If you are running short on time at the gym, the guerrilla cardio program will give you a kick butt workout in no time flat. A total of 35 minutes to spent at the gym could include 12 minutes of guerrilla cardio and 23 minutes of focused resistance training. You’ll have burned calories, maximized your time, and you will also be reassured that you’re getting the benefit of post workout calories burned (via EPOC, recovery, and subsequent muscle tissue growth).

My advice is to add guerrilla cardio to your repertoire of training methods. Use it as another fat burning tool, especially when you are short on time. If you would like to learn how to incorporate the guerrilla technique as well as others into your cardio training plan, let me know by emailing jes@jesreynolds.com and we can set up a training session or get you started with a training calendar. Good Luck!

References

1. Tabata I, Nishimura K, Kouzaki M, Hirai Y, Ogita F, Miyachi M, Yamamoto K (1996). Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 28, 1327-1330

2. Bahr, R., Gronnerod, O., & Sejersted, O.M. (1992). Effect of supramaximal exercise on excess postexercise O2 consumption. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 24, 66-71

In my last post, I talked about the different factors that should go into a well planned and progressive cardio training plan.  By manipulating things such as duration, intensity, and variance (cardio type) you can develop a plan that is not only effective but also mentally stimulating and motivating.

In this post, I would like to demonstrate how I took my client Stacia (an athletic girl in her 20’s) from having difficulty walking up hill for three minutes on the treadmill to completing her first marathon.  Before getting started with what I have to say, I asked Stacia to write a few words detailing her experience training with me over the last year and a half:

“Ten years ago, I bought Jeff Galloway’s book Marathon: You Can Do It, and for ten years that book followed me from Corvallis to Portland to Baltimore to Ann Arbor.   And despite it’s well read and worn appearance, I had not made one serious attempt at a marathon.  Cause I wasn’t a runner.  I quit basketball because I hated to run.  Cause I ran two miles, and felt like I might die.  I had lots of reasons why I couldn’t do it, but for whatever masochistic reason I really wanted to do it, and it wasn’t until I started working with Jes that I finally believed it was possible.

Jes is tough.  She pushes you hard.  You think you’re at your max and then she kicks it up a few more notches, but I love it, because you finish and you realize you can do more than you ever thought you could.  That’s her greatest gift.  She will move you past your mental walls.  The proof, on December 4th, 2010, I finished my first marathon.  Whooop!  Thank you, Jes!”

What exactly did it take for Stacia to achieve her goal?

• Faith in Herself
• Persistence
• Expertise-based coaching
• A Personalized Training Plan

Both Stacia and both I had a part to play in her achievements.  My role was to be her source of expertise, encouragement, and coaching.  Her role was to the discipline to do the work necessary for progress and to be open to the new possibilities of what she was able to achieve.

I started Stacia’s program by first giving her an initial evaluation to assess cardiovascular ability.  Next I used the principles I discussed in my last post to design a progressive and reasonable plan that she could sustain over the course of time.  Finally, as Stacia began to make progress, we discussed reasonable and effective methods for emphasizing fitness in her lifestyle which includes a career with occasional 12-14 hour days and a moderate amount of travel.

As time went on, we increased the duration of cardiovascular exercise Stacia could maintain, manipulated the intensity, and added variety such as step-mill, elliptical, and jump rope.  As she was able to sustain more we started setting mini-goals such as 4 and 5 mile runs, 5K races and even a ½ marathon was thrown in (for fun I guess?).

While the methods described may seem simple, trust me, we had many stops and starts along the way.  There were numerous sessions that Stacia was almost sick, we had to learn to work around the challenges of her schedule since her body responds differently when she had worked the previous night, and we had to find a good place for her to re-start upon her return from extended travel.  All this was achieved by working together and being committed to a long-term, health based and goal oriented coaching plan.  And while Stacia went through many difficult moments she has achieved a new level of faith and belief in her ability, one that she will carry with her throughout life.

Effective cardiovascular training is a crucial factor in reaching almost any type of fitness goal.  In order to effectively lose weight, be healthy, or achieve an athletic goal having an understanding of cardio training will help you design a program that leads you to your goals.

• Duration: Length of time spent for each individual cardio session
• Intensity: Level of difficulty achieved during each cardio session
• Variance: Varying the type of cardio performed each session

Remember, the purpose of each training session is to stimulate the systems of the body with a certain type of load (weights, cardio, etc.).  For example, when training for a marathon, you start by running 5 miles or so at week one and gradually increase distance runs (load) each week.  The body adapts to each distance you run and each week you have the ability to sustain more.

When it comes to cardio training for goals other than a specific sport or race, you can continually adjusting each of the three variables, place a new stimulus on your muscles and cardiovascular system and therefore elicit an adaptive response from each session.

• Adaptive response: an appropriate reaction to an environmental demand
• Adaptive response to exercise: the bodies response to the demand placed upon it during an exercise session

Duration
Obviously the length of your cardio training sessions has an impact on total calories burned, cardiovascular endurance, and cardiovascular health.  While basic recommendations from ACSM and AHA are to do moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week or do vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week, for healthy adults under the age of 65, it’s also important that your cardio training correlates with your personal fitness goals whether they be weight control, fat loss, or performance oriented.

For example, if your goal is weight loss you may want to increase your cardio from 20 minutes 3 times a week to 30 minutes 5 times a week, this would allow you to burn more total calories each week.  Or, if your goal is to become a better basketball player, you may want to train for speed 2 times per week and train for endurance 2 times per week.

Intensity
You can use different levels of intensity during cardio training sessions to add variety, make it more fun, and get different results.  Here are a few different types of cardio training workouts that you can incorporate into your routine.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT has become a very popular fat burning method.  HIIT uses intervals of time and assigns them a personal intensity level.  Normally you’ll “max out” and then recover during the next interval.  HIIT is great for breaking personal records and gives you a personal challenge during every workout.  Not only that, research suggests that HIIT causes the body to burn more energy for a longer period of time AFTER the workout is complete (fat burning while doing nothing!).  The main drawback to HIIT is for beginners in fitness.  This type of workout can be intimidating and if done incorrectly it could be overly exhausting to the point of becoming nauseating.  Whenever performing HIIT, it should ALWAYS be based on personal intensity index.  It is important to understand how hard YOU can work.

Steady State Training (SST)
SST is a constant, steady effort throughout the entire cardio session.  You’ll keep your personal intensity from 7-9 the entire session.  This type of cardio session will also cause the body to demand more energy when your workout is complete, although not as much as HIIT.

Low Intensity Cardio
Low intensity cardio is great for active lifestyle activities, beginners in fitness, those recovering from injury, and the elderly.  While you do burn mostly fat while doing cardio at a lower intensity level, you will not get the benefits of post-workout energy demand.  Because of this, LILT is an inefficient method for burning fat. You can achieve more benefits in a shorter period of time by using the various other methods suggested here.

Variance
One commonly overlooked component of cardio training is variance.  By variance I mean using different methods of cardio each time you train in order to elicit an adaptive response.  Variance is especially important if your goals include weight loss, fat loss or general fitness.  By using different types of cardio such as running, jump rope, step mill, biking, elliptical, etc…your body attempts to become efficient at each activity (as opposed to becoming efficient at just one activity).  Continually changing type of cardio you do will not only improve overall fitness level, but also will increase your total calories burned.

The points I’ve listed here are the basic principles I use when designing training programs for my clients.  You can use these principles to manipulate the duration, intensity, and type of cardio activities you perform each week and line them up with your personal fitness goals.  When you include these principles, you will get better results and have more fun with your fitness routine.  In my next cardio training post, I will show you how I used these principles to help one of my clients go from having difficulty walking up hill for three minutes on the treadmill to completing her first marathon.