There are two mechanisms that are needed in any program for results: stimulation and recovery. After stimulating the body, everyone must recover so they can work out again and make progress. It’s really that simple. One without the other never works and too much of either is not good.
Imagine these two situations: working out for an hour a day but not very hard and working out for twenty minutes a day, but very intensely. Neither situation is good. The first type of workout is low intensity, high volume. The workouts themselves are not very stimulating to the body so your body won’t change. The second workout is high intensity, but done too often so that there is not enough recovery for continued progress. The best scenario involves balancing the intensity of the workout with proper recovery time to avoid burnout and make consistent progress.
With High Intensity Fitness, we will balance the intensity of the workouts with your recovery time. The body will never get accustomed to the workouts and overtraining or burning yourself out is not an option.
Increasing the intensity of a workout can come in different forms. Slowing down the speed in which one lift weights will create more tension on the muscle, thereby increasing the intensity of the workout. Working a set to the point where one can’t do another rep is more intense than just doing a predetermined number of reps. Running 100 yards as fast as one can is more intense than running a slow mile.
From home workouts to gym workouts. From cardio workouts to abdominal workouts. It’s all here. There will be workout techniques that you may not have heard of to increase your intensity, like holding a weight motionless (static exercise) or lowering a weight but not lifting it (negative only exercise). How to arrange these techniques within the workout, get the most from your cardio workouts, and coordinate your schedule will also be laid out for you.
- Less Time
Who has time these days? I know I don’t.
Let me explain it to you the same way I explain it to my clients when they come in for a workout with me. What if I was your money manager and you gave me your life savings to invest for you? A year goes by and I give you my annual report and you have exactly the same amount of money as you did last year (minus my commission, of course). What would you do? I imagine you would fire me and throw me out of your house! This is what your low intensity, high volume workout is doing for you—nothing, zilch, nada. Be honest, did you lose a lot of weight in the past year with your workout program?
Any at all? Did your strength increase? If the answer is no, then you have to increase your intensity and be more scientific about your workouts and diet. High Intensity Fitness will yield results each week in a fraction of the time. The net result will be a better fitness portfolio in less time.
- Actual Results
With High Intensity Fitness, you can see tangible results each week. It’s very important to know that increases in strength and endurance always precede a change in the body. So you’ll notice that the numbers on your workout chart will go up for a few weeks before you see a physical change in the mirror. Please be patient … it will happen. Research shows that an increase in strength and muscle helps the body burn more fat throughout the day at a higher success rate than hours on the treadmill, elliptical, or spin class … and we all want to spend less time getting what we want.
- Very Interesting
How difficult is it to get on the treadmill or elliptical for an hour each day knowing that the only thing you get when you’re finished is more laundry to do? It must be exhausting. That’s why there is a new fad each year to keep you interested. How are we going to make these people come in and sweat for an hour and charge them money and NOT improve their strength and health? This is what the big gyms are banging their heads about each year … how to suck you in. First it was step class, then it was kickboxing, then it was some sort of boot camp…. My favorite is when they dig up something from 200 years ago that didn’t work and try to sell it to you again (see kettlebells). Don’t get me wrong. I am not against activities outside of your High Intensity workouts. I tell my clients to go for a hike, climb a rock wall, or do your Lance Armstrong impersonation if you need to get out and release some tension. But don’t confuse these activities with result-producing exercise. High Intensity Fitness is based on scientific principles that will stimulate your body as well as your mind.
- Based On Science
Haven’t you ever asked yourself “Why?” As in,
“Why do we need to walk on the treadmill for an hour?”
“Why not 46 minutes?”
“Why do we have to do three sets of 12-15 on everything?”
“Why not four sets or 37 reps per set?”
Well, I asked these questions years ago and wanted answers. Fortunately for me, there was someone who was blazing the High Intensity Fitness trail when I was looking for help. His name was Arthur Jones, who is the inventor of Nautilus. Arthur was an in-your-face kind of guy that wanted answers to all the strength training and exercise question … and got them. You only need to do one set of an exercise if performed properly-not three or five. Only the simple-minded spent hours in the gym when 20 minutes would do. Yes, Arthur paved the way. So instead of mindlessly going to the gym and doing “whatever,” we now know that results come from a carefully planned High Intensity session … and it didn’t stop there. More articles and research are surfacing each month. A recent article from the New York Times informed readers about research performed at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, that showed a 30-second High Intensity workout was more productive than a 30-minute moderate intensity workout! I have read many articles like this over the last few years as more and more information has come to light. Hey, there was a time when we had to rub two sticks together to make fire. Now you just “flick your Bic,” and voilà!
We have come a long way in the fitness industry. The “do as much as possible in hopes that something will work” method is outdated. The more specific and scientific methods are in. In my first book, The 90-Second Fitness Solution, I cited many studies to prove the effectiveness of High Intensity workouts. With this book however, I promise not to bore you with too much explanation of why it works, and instead just get you right to the workouts as quickly as possible.
- Get in the Best Shape of Your Life
Hey guys, we make more testosterone than girls do. Yes, they make as much money, endure more pain, and are definitely the more attractive of the species, but WE make more testosterone … so there! Why should you care? Because it’s the high levels of testosterone in your body that make for bigger muscles. That’s why some people (both men and women) take steroids. High Intensity Fitness has a different effect on our bodies than that of our feminine counterparts. When the girls do High Intensity workouts, they get smaller, tighter, and stronger. When we do them, we gain mass. Wait, it gets better. High Intensity workouts promote an increase in testosterone, which is just the opposite of long, low intensity workouts. Hit it hard, be brief, and get the body you’ve always wanted!
- Get Strong, Get Ripped
The stronger you get, the leaner you get. Think of your body as an engine. A weak engine will not be able to gobble up and use much gas. With a car, the excess gas just sits in the tank; but with humans, the excess gas (or calories) are stored as fat. Really ugly, never where you want it, always trying to hide it, FAT! A stronger body burns more calories than a weaker one. High Intensity workouts strengthen and tone the body where low intensity, high volume workouts do not.
- Increased Metabolism
Check this out: muscle burns 25 percent more calories than fat. So guess which one you want more of? That means you can burn more calories by lying on a beach chair while your buddy is doing hours of cardio. Burning calories while doing nothing beats exercising any day of the week!
- Stronger Bones
Research shows that strength training can increase bone density up to 13 percent in only six months. High Intensity Strength Training does an even better job. My recommendation for avoiding osteoporosis and standing up straight all your life is to hit the weights the High Intensity way. Yes, even men suffer from osteoporosis. (While 44 million Americans suffer from osteoporosis, more than 14 million of those are men.)
- Prevent Arthritis
There is nothing wrong with building muscle and changing the shape of your body, but your High Intensity Fitness workouts will also strengthen your connective tissues, which will in turn increase future joint stability. Having stable joints not only helps prevent injuries, but also helps those that suffer from arthritis. It’s all about quality of life. With your stronger body, everyday activities become easier, and makes life more enjoyable.
And the number one reason that short workouts are better than long ones …
- The Gun Show
Look guys, workout on the treadmill and elliptical all you want. Lift your baby weights and endure all the gimmicky stuff you see on TV, but only a High Intensity workout will give you the guns worthy of a “Gun Show.” The kind of guns that will make the girls look and the guys jealous … and the workouts take less than 15 minutes!
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