Interval Training vs. Steady State Cardio

I taught my fitness class last night and I chose to do this:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Up downs

Mt. Climbers

Push ups

Squats

Bicycles

Jumping Lunge

V-Push up

Jumping Jacks

Tricep Kickbacks

Basketball Drills

I did not win any points last night with the girls. Haha. I'm pretty sure they are all going to be cursing my name when they get out of bed this morning. One lady told me that I really liked the jumpy exercises. Well, the truth is no, I don't LIKE them but I do them because they WORK. And they work FAST.

In a study conducted at the University of New South Wales and the Garvan Institute, two groups of obese women conducted aerobic exercise 3 times per week for 15 weeks. One group did interval training (20 minutes of alternating high intensity cycling and low intensity cycling) and the other group did low-intensity, steady-state cycling for 40 minutes.

The interval group who exercised for 20 minutes “lost three times more weight than other women who exercised at a continuous, regular pace for 40 minutes,” says University of New South Wales Associate and study co-author Professor Steve Boutcher.

So if you want to lean down and tone up, skip the boring steady state cardio and do some interval training for half the time!!!