This is the first in a series of posts on the best things baby boomer women (actually women of ALL ages!) can do to improve their fat loss efforts. In our efforts to get and stay fit, we often do some things that may be counter-productive. Today’s tip for accelerated weight loss is……

Switch your “steady state” and low level cardio to INTERVAL TRAINING
Interval training is a superior form of exercise for fat loss for many reasons. Before I get into these reasons, let’s first define interval training: Interval training can take many forms, but it is usually described as a method of exercise that alternates periods of very hard effort with periods of easy to moderate effort. When I refer to “steady state” exercise, I’m referring to a cardio workout where you get your heart rate up to a moderate level, and keep it there. An example of this would be running on a track or on a treadmill at the same speed for your entire workout.

Examples of interval training:
-Segments of fast walking interspersed with segments of moderate walking
-Segments of running (hard effort) interspersed with segments of slower running (moderate effort).

Interval training can be done with walking, running, biking or swimming programs as well as on cardiovascular machines such as treadmills and stair climbers.

The benefits of interval training for women who want to shed body fat are tremendous! Here are just a few:
-Greater improvements in fitness
-More calories burned per session
-Greater fat loss
-Higher metabolic “afterburn” (you’re still burning calories after the exercise is over!)

Research hasn’t given us the ideal hard work/moderate work ratio yet. I suggest you mix it up. One day you might do 30 seconds hard/90 seconds moderate, and another day, you might just do an interval based on distance (for instance, on a track you might go really fast on the straight parts and recover on the curved parts). With interval training, the sky is the limit! You could have a different workout each and every time. This really challenges your body, which is another way to keep stimulating it to improve. If we always do the same thing when we work out, our body adapts. Interval training provides a wonderful change and really fires up our metabolism.

Interval training can be difficult, so it’s best to start it slowly. A great way to start an interval training program is to exchange an interval workout for just one “steady state” cardio workout a week, and then work up from there. Start with just 4 or 5 intervals the first time you try this and work up slowly to 8-10 intervals per workout.

Another great thing about interval training is that you can do a much shorter workout and still get wonderful benefits from it. This is one of the greatest features of interval training for busy women like us, as far as I’m concerned!

If I could only give one tip to a boomer women on how to spur on fat loss, interval training would be it. I encourage you to give it a try!

Stay tuned for my next fat loss tip for boomer women.

Becky

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