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Recent research indicates that we benefit more when we work out harder, not longer.

Exercising at very high intensity interspersed with periods of moderate rest, a program known as high-intensity interval training (HIIT), is simply one of the best ways to get in shape, in part because it produces a tremendous boost in human growth hormone (HGH), aka the “fitness and youth hormone.” One of the best parts is that the workouts are considerably shorter than you’re probably used to and involve as little as four minutes of intense activity combined with rest for a total workout of only around 20 minutes.

An amazing benefit of these burst workouts is that it burns fat fast and aids in maintaining good insulin sensitivity which means it will help diabetics tremendously. Dr. Michael Mosley, author of Fast Exercise: The Simple Secret of High-Intensity Training was able to improve his insulin sensitivity by 24 percent by putting in a mere 12 minutes of intense exercise per week for four weeks. Such an effect is truly amazing, and indeed important, as improving and maintaining good insulin sensitivity is perhaps one of the most important aspects of optimal health.

Here are the core principles of the metabolic burst exercise:

• Warm up for three minutes
• Exercise as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. You should be gasping for breath and feel like you couldn’t possibly go on another few seconds. It is better to use lower resistance and higher repetitions to increase your heart rate
• Recover for 90 seconds, still moving, but at slower pace and decreased resistance
• Repeat the high-intensity exercise and recovery 7 more times. (When you’re first starting out, depending on your level of fitness, you may only be able to do two or three repetitions of the high-intensity intervals. As you get fitter, just keep adding repetitions until you’re doing eight during your 20-minute session)
• Cool down for a few minutes afterward by cutting down your intensity by 50-80 percent. This intense program should only be done two to three times a week to allow your body plenty of time for recovery.

You can do this with any exercise machine but our machine of choice is body weight. The impact of gravity on your bodyweight exercises  are often more beneficial generally. The routine in  the video below is a sample metabolic burst workout to follow. This type of exercise also creates a bigger metabolic afterburn than regular aerobic training, while also increasing fat-free muscle, bone density and metabolism. In simplest terms, the “afterburn effect” is essentially the calories you continue to burnafter exercising.

Do this at least 3 times a week:

Now you’ve got the info, go sweat in style!

Be inspired…

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Resources:

fitness.mercola.com

draxe.com