Three GREAT Reasons to Use High Intensity Training

Unless you've been hiding under a rock as of late, you may have heard a thing or two about something called High Intensity Training. What exactly is H.I.T.? Simply it is a training program that stresses the energy system that provides short, powerful bursts of energy without the use of oxygen rather than the slow burning aerobic energy system most people are familiar with. Thanks to some of the great fitness minds of today, High Intensity Training is becoming all the rage in the fitness industry. Despite it's rising popularity, most people are in the dark about why this style of training is really great for you outside of it being an ass kicking workout. Here's three of my top benefits of H.I.T.:

1. More results in less time -  If you're doing it right, you can wipe yourself out and see some serious increases in your fitness levels in just FOUR MINUTES of legitimate H.I.T. work (Tabata et al study). While that alone is not going to melt away your beer belly or muffin tops, repeated 30 second bouts of maximal intensity work followed by rest periods of 30-90 seconds for about 15 to 20 minutes can boost your metabolism more than 60 minutes of traditional steady state cardio. Don't get me wrong, those 4, 15 or 20 minutes are going to be some of the nastiest of your life, but you'll get more overall fitness benefits than traditional training in a fraction of the time.


2. H.I.T. keeps you young, strong and lean - Repeated bouts of near maximal intensity cardio or high intensity weight training will stimulate the release of Human Growth Hormone which helps you hold onto or build muscle AND burn fat. The natural decline of HGH when people enter their 30s is one of the main reasons people lose muscle mass and their metabolism "slows down" as they age. Naturally keeping your HGH levels high with the right training program and proper diet will keep you looking younger, staying stronger and living leaner longer.

3. It enhances insulin sensitivity - Perhaps the most important reason to utilize H.I.T. is through stressing our type II muscle fibers through explosive lifts/moves, sprints or weight training you increase your insulin sensitivity. Why is this important? When your body runs out of storage space for carbohydrates in the muscles and liver, it converts excess sugars directly into saturated fats. When you wipe out glycogen stores via H.I.T. and also increase storage space with increased muscle size, you improve your body's ability to metabolize carbohydrates effectively. With insulin resistance and Type II diabetes being an epidemic that is sweeping our nation, improving carbohydrate metabolism is a key ingredient to long term health, wellness and fat loss.

9 Reasons Why I Use the TRX Daily

In one sentence: In my opinion the single most functional and useful piece of exercise equipment on the market. Hands down the TRX is the best piece of equipment I own because I can use it anywhere and work EVERYTHING. Since one of my readers asked about the TRX, I figured I'd write another article on this topic and give you nine reasons why I use the TRX daily:

1. It can be used anywhere. Whether I am at the gym, in the living room, at the park, at the beach or standing next to a light pole on the side walk, I can hook my TRX up and go to work!

2. It emphasizes functional strength. Everything you do with the TRX requires a tremendous amount of stability and balance. Even your upper body exercises which would traditionally be done on a bench or machine, require you to stabilize your entire body and engage that under-used core.

3. You can adjust resistance mid-set. Being able to adjust yourself around the anchor point allows you to make your exercise harder or easier mid set, which is valuable for building strength-endurance and raising your overall fitness levels.

4. It's a great lower body rehab tool. Although this goes more for use with my clients than myself, I love using the TRX for people who have lower body range of motion issues, knee and or hip problems. Since you can hold onto the straps and perform all your favorite squat and lunge variations, this allows the user to adjust how much weight they are actually transferring to their lower body. This is extremely helpful for reconditioning clients back from injury or just plain lack of exercise.

5. My shoulders are as stable as ever. Holding various planking positions with your feet in the straps, performing Y-T-W's, push ups and rows with the handles work all the muscles that stabilize your shoulder. The bottom line is you get work you just can't get with any other traditional exercise or equipment.

6. It's easy to jump from exercise to exercise. Really the engineering behind this whole thing is genius and allows for a pretty quick transition from exercise to exercise which keeps you moving more, resting less, thus burning more calories.

7. Unilateral work has never been so tough. I love doing single leg plyometrics, single leg agility movements and single arm push ups on this thing because the TRX allows me to do moves I couldn't necessarily do without a little help. Single leg burpees, single leg jump squats and single arm push ups are just a few of my favorite unilateral burners!

8. You won't get huge, but you'll be strong & fit as hell! As proved by my body weight project, doing body weight and TRX exercises are not going to make you the next Arnie, but they will make you functionally fit and strong as hell. This piece of equipment is ideal for the fitness conscious person who is looking to be mobile, agile and strong.

9. It's a great change of pace. Doing the same ol' gym routine gets boring. The TRX allows me to mix up traditional exercises and make them more fun and exciting, while reaping all of the other muscular and cardiovascular strength benefits.