Only Have An Hour A Week To Burn Fat?

Many of us lead very busy lives. It may be that your kids fill your free time. Maybe your job is currently your life. Maybe exercise just isn't a priority. There are many reasons why your time is soaked up throughout your week. If you are a busy person hopefully some of the information in this post will ease the pressure on your sense of time and in the same moment start eating away all that unwanted fat.

The Why

Almost 10% of adults you and I know won't have walked continuously for more than 5 minutes in the last four weeks. In a world where most health professionals will tell you to complete at least 90 minutes of exercise, 60 minutes of which should be "vigorous", the above statistic highlights a huge gap in the activity levels of our most sedentary people and our minimum medical guidelines.

The How

One hour of exercise (more specially 2 lots of 30 minutes) is enough to make a difference, at least to start. There is very little point throwing the 90 minute number at someone who does very little exercise, without context. First of all it's daunting: 1 and a half hours in one day is a lot, not to mention sub-optimal, as too much intense exercise in one session can limit your progress. (See our blog on "Are You Recovering Effectively From Your Workout: Anabolism & Catabolism"). Second of all it has no chance of becoming habit if it's infrequent and makes people miserable.

The What

The process we recommend you using to achieve fat loss, if you are limited for time, is short, sharp, compact interval training or sprint modalities. These can be done in multiple ways using different continuous cardiovascular techniques such as cycling, running or a circuit of full body, large compound exercises such as squats and dead-lifts.

To keep it simple we shall use cycling as our example.

You can use a stationary bike like you'll find in your gym,

a spinner/wattbike like you might have at home or a road/off road bike like you might find in your garage.

The Method

Warm up no more than 5 minutes on the bike (time is of the essence).

Workout structure: 1:9 ratio. Simply put for every 1 second maximal work you get 9 seconds rest.

The set: A 10 second sprint as quick as possible (adjust the resistance/gear for increased effort) followed by a 90 second recovery pedal, then a 10 second sprint into a slow 90 second recovery pedal and so on until either 20 minutes is up or fatigue hits you.

Finish with a 5 minute cool down on the bike.

Complete twice a week for 2 weeks then bring the ratio down to 1:7 and go again for 1-2 weeks and so on.

(For more in depth professional programming and progressive fitness plans visit SFitnessPlans.com and email the team).

No Excuses Just Accountability

Even if you don't have a bike you can complete these workouts with just a road and some shoes by walking or running.

Because of its progressive nature, week by week you will be improving.

All you have to do is find 1 hour in your week.

Disclaimer: We are not doctors, so please consult one before participating in any of the exercises in this article. The purpose of this blog is to share our considerable experience in fitness. When it comes to your health and fitness, make sure you do your research. Visit sfitnessplans.com for more information specifically our "terms and conditions".