Hi everybody.. I've been going to the gym a few times a week for the past couple months and I'm noticing that all is well with my muscles getting stronger through weight lifting. I'm also doing 30-40 minutes of cardio (either treadmill, elliptical machine or swimming) everytime as well because I would like a lower body fat percentage. But for the past 3 months, I have been stuck at a plateau for my body fat and so I discovered this thing called High Intensity Interval Cardio Training (HIIT). I tried it yesterday for the first time and the whole thing takes 15 minutes and it is extremely powerful, I can feel its effects right now.

Here's the deal, choose a cardio exercise such as cycling or the elliptical machine or whatever you love..
Do a 5 minute warm up.
Ramp up the intensity of your efforts to 80-95% of your max possibility for 30 seconds.
Switch to a normal pace for 30 seconds.
Repeat this process about 7 times (That would mean 7 minutes of this crazy routine)
Do a 5 minute cool down.
Don't do this the next day.. something like 3 times a week is all that's needed.
After a week of HIIT, you can raise the process from 7 to 10 times and do that for at least a couple weeks. And then raise it again if you'd like but do it gradually as it really kicks your butt.

If it is too difficult to do this (it will be if you haven't been doing cardio at all lately), then at least try mixing up the intensity of your exercise every minute or two at whatever works for you. As long as you keep tricking your body so that it can never supply a steady supply of energy.

All in all what it does is it skyrockets your metabolism for the next 24 hours. You can find more information about exactly what is happening and why this works better onthis article here , it's written pretty well.

In all these years of going to the gym I have *just* discovered this so I thought I should share it since it must not be well known. So anyway, that's how I'm am now striving to fight the plateau i have reached for fat loss. Because you know.. summer's coming! haha

Hi Anto,
Good on you, bro! I've seen other versions of this. Keep us posted on how it's working for you. Are incorporating 4x4 breathing and sweeping during the normal pace 30 seconds?

Take care and have fun!
Blessings,
Alfred

Hmm, i'm not doing the sweeping while I do my cardio, although I try it once in a while and it does help center myself everytime. I find it really beneficial during weight-lifting though. In about 4-6 weeks I'll let you guys know how my progress is with the fat-loss.