High-Intensity Training Cuts Fat Best
Train hard if you want to lose weight quickly. Conventional wisdom states that low-intensity, prolonged exercise burns fat best. This makes sense because the body uses fat as fuel at exercise intensities below 65 percent of maximum effort. However, high-intensity exercise revs up your metabolism so that you burn more calories for the rest of the day and night.Australian researchers found that people who followed a highintensity, intermittent exercise program (HIE) for 15 weeks lost more weight and fat than people doing a high-volume, low-intensity training program. HIE involved exercising on a stationary bicycle in which they did repeated bouts of sprinting for 8 seconds and turning the pedals slowly for 12 seconds. The total exercise time was 20 minutes, three times per week. The study showed that 15 weeks of high-intensity intermittent exercise reduced total body fat, surface fat in the legs and abdomen and improved blood sugar regulation. (International Journal of Obesity, in press; published online January 15, 2008)
