Looking out at Egg Rock Lighthouse and Frenchman's Bay from the summit of Champlain Mtn, Acadia National Park, ME.
I have been telling you for some time now that there are three ways to lose fat:
1. By improving the quality of the foods you eat and eating them in proper quantities.
2. By participating in a resistance training regime.
3. By completing high intensity interval training.
For optimal results you do all three in conjunction with one another. Today, however, I have a story about the latter.
This past July Scott and I took our second annual trip to Acadia National Park, ME. We love Acadia and after exploring the island twice we appear to have covered almost every inch of the place. We have paddled Eagle Lake, biked the carriage trails that surround Cadillac Mtn, Eagle Lake and the Jordan Pond area, hiked the ocean path and ventured into some of the nooks and crannies of the beaches and Otter Cliffs. But my favorite excursion was our hike up Champlain Mtn.
At only 1,058 ft, Champlain Mtn is not the tallest rock on the island but it is very well positioned. Overlooking Egg Rock Lighthouse and Frenchman’s Bay, it has a 360 degree view from the top. The first two thirds of the way up consists of rocky trail with plenty of switchbacks, only of moderate challenge for a fit hiker. Once you start to approach the summit, however, you start to work a little harder to get up the steeper rock face.
As we were moving along, I began to notice a certain method to our climbing madness. A certain rhythm. We were driving forward pretty hard and then taking a few seconds to catch our breath. Another strenuous drive, another short break. We did this until we reached the top, at which point I declared hiking mountains to be the best cardio workout ever!
High intensity interval training will produce quicker fat loss results than jogging a 5K at a snail’s pace. Yes, long, slow cardio can promote good health and if you flat out enjoy the time you spend doing it, by all means, have at it.
But if you are like the rest of us and have little extra time to spend running around the ‘hood then high intensity interval training is for you. If you have a family, a job, and a social life, all of which prevent you from wasting several hours each week at the gym, then hop on the interval band wagon.
You could head to your nearest mountain and start climbing. I do, and I love it. But when time is an issue and you only have 15-20 minutes to get your cardio in, try this workout for ultimate fat loss:
Warm up: jog 5 minutes and stretch
Intervals: run hard 20 seconds then walk 10 seconds
Repeat intervals up to 8 x
Active cool down and stretching 10 min
Have fun and let me know how high you can climb!
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