Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Advantages of Interval Training Over Traditional Cardio

By Max Collins

It's hard to find people who aren't interested in both losing weight and gaining muscle mass. However, there are a lot of different training systems out there and it can be difficult to tell systems which have been proven to work and those which have just been put out there to make a fast buck. You don't have to spend all of your time at the weight bench to get that body you've always wanted - and you ought not to believe everything you hear on the infomercials either.

To lose weight and gain muscle mass you should focus on training for your entire body, an approach that interval training takes. If you were running every week but not doing anything else, you would see weight loss and gains in your leg muscles, but the rest of your body would be neglected. It's best to target your entire body for maximum results.

Interval training works by gradually increasing the intensity of your workouts, instead of trying to start off running several miles at once. You can pick from different exercises that target the same major muscle groups, and even workouts that target various muscle groups all at the same time. Instead of doing the same routine over and over, you can mix it up and get even better results.

One of the best benefits that interval training has to offer is the recovery time needed after each workout. Doing cardiovascular exercises or weight training exercises for a long period of time can leave your muscles sore and weak and they can sometimes require up to a week before being able to workout again. Interval training works out the muscles in small increments, so they can recover faster and be ready for the next workout.

Interval training is unlike any other exercise program, since it is actually fun to perform. Instead of getting bored by running on a treadmill for an hour or doing the same exercise video over and over, you can try different exercises every day of the week. As long as exercises targeting the same muscle groups are performed, desirable results can be easily achieved.

By speeding up your metabolism without you having to work out for hours every time, interval training tells your body to start losing weight by exercising different muscle groups in each workout. This stimulates your metabolism, causing you to lose weight in a way which is both healthy and quick.

With interval training you also get many of the benefits that you would with a classic cardiovascular workout. The benefit is you can do it in a fraction of the time and with much more variation. Due to the nature of interval training your breathing rate and heart rate increase greatly, giving both a solid workout and improving your resting rates with both.

This system isn't some fad workout plan or a scam aimed at the wallets of those trying to lose weight - it is a method which is proven to work to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. You can build lean muscle mass while burning fat by doing low impact workouts which work on various muscle groups. You won't be exhausted and sore afterward - and you'll get better results than any "cardio" workout can offer you.

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