The 5 Best Fat Busting Interval Fitness Workouts That You Can Do

My opinion is that doing those long and slow cardio is NOT the fastest way to burn body fat. Recent research backs me up by concluding the short interval fitness workouts burn your belly fat a lot faster.

Back in the late 1990s, I was one of the first trainers to question the convention thinking of doing long slow cardio for fat loss. IN fact... I still believe that traditional cardio is a losing proposition for fat loss.

My belief is interval training or even interval cardio workouts are much superior alternative to fat loss. Additionally, you can burn more belly fat in a much shorter time.

I arrived at this conclusion back in the year 2000. I was a wet behind the ear grad student in 1998-1999... and I was studying the effects of androstenedione (unfortunately, that was the exact supplement that Mark McGwire made famous in his homerun quest in '98).

And in this study which by the way was published in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology... and yeah... only science nuts like myself read this magazine. But anyway... we had test subjects use the supplement and go through a couple of muscle training workouts.

By February of 1999, I was stuck in the lab for long periods of time... analyzing the blood samples of these athletes using some fancy radio-active isotopes.

And when I say stuck... I meant STUCK! I would be there from 7am in the morning and finish my work at 11pm at night. That's right... 16 hours of mad science... and if I wasn't getting dirty in the lab... I could be found downstairs in the medical library... reading the scientific papers on testosterone and training.

Now... I was always athletic... and I wasn't happy with this new sedentary lifestyle of mine. I had no choice and of course... no time for any fitness workouts... or so I thought!

I had a fifty minute window of "downtime" while waiting for the results of the lab's gamma-counter analysis of the blood samples.

So I tried to make the best use of my spare time to get myself to the nearby gym... about five minute walk across the campus. And get a good fitness workout in the remaining 40 minutes or less that I had. And I had to try to get the maximum workout in a short time each day.

That was the trick...

Now as a former bodybuilder in high school... I wanted to stay fit while avoiding the fat gains that would surely come from a sedentary environment.

And at the time... the low protein diet and long cardio workouts was the rage for fat loss.

But since I didn't have the time... I had to draw upon my own laboratory conclusions and my experience of working with athletes as the school's strength and conditioning coach. I KNEW that doing sprint intervals workouts was much, much more effective than the slow cardio.

So I thought... AHA! Since I have seen from first hand, the incredible results of sprint intervals... that interval fitness workouts would be the next step past the cardio workouts.

So back to me at the gym... since I only had 40 minutes to train myself for fat loss before getting back to my lab studies... I split that in half... 15-20 minutes were devoted to interval training. The other half was for strength training.

And it works out so well... that later on I wrote the Turbulence Training program for anyone who wanted to lose body fat without having to spend hours of cardio.

And I completely understand that interval training sounds awfully intimidating for a lot of people... so let me elaborate how a typical interval workout goes...

After all... ANYONE can do this for maximum fat burning... even beginners! It is easy. Let's just set out a program for beginners... instead of doing the cardio for 30 minutes at 3.5 mph on the treadmill. Make it a interval treadmill workout instead. Go 3.8 mph for one minute... then recover for two minutes at 3.0 mph. That's it! Now do it six more times.

And for those who are at more advanced fitness levels... you can make your workouts more intense.

Keep in mind that interval training doesn't mean you have to sprint all get out. It simply means that you will work harder than normal and just go along from there.

I'll tell you that many folks absolutely hate cardio and welcomed doing interval training as a effective replacement to lose belly fat.

Here is my list of preferred ways to do your interval workouts, ranked in order from best to worst... based on my own experience.

1) Sprinting outdoors (Hill sprinting might be the absolute best method)
2) Kettlebell exercises
3) Bodyweight interval circuits
4) Treadmill running
5) Stationary cycle (upright cycling preferred over recumbant bike)

Conclusion of the Interval Fitness Workouts...

With those 5 Turbulence Training interval training methods, you'll burn fat fast and never have to do cardio again!

About the Author:

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week.

For more information on Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, please visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com.

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