Discover the Secrets of a 4 Minute Fat Burn Cardio Workout

If someone told you could turn you body into a fat burning machine by doing a 4 minute workout you would probably laugh at them. If I told you that person was a doctor and his name was Tabata you should probably stop laughing and listen up.

Izumi Tabata, Ph.D, was formerly a researcher for the Japanese National of Fitness and Sport. Back in 1996 Izuma Tabata performed research into an interval training routine that had been developed by the head coach of the Japanese Speed Skating Team. His findings were staggering.

What is the Tabata Protocol?

The Tabata Protocol is a timed workout that is only 4 minutes long. It consists of 20 seconds of hard (intense) exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, and then you repeat this 8 times. Sounds easy doesn't it?

What Did The Study Involve?

The study examined the effect of the Tabata Protocol vs. traditional 60 minutes aerobic workout. The 4 minute exercise group had to ride a stationary bike at 90 RPMs at 170% of VO2max. For those that don't know much about vo2max, let's just say 170% is working extremely intensely.

At the end of the 6 week study the aerobic and anaerobic fitness of the participants was tested. The 4 minute exercise group had improved both their aerobic and anaerobic markers of fitness - only exercising 4 minutes a day. The 60 minute aerobic group improved their aerobic fitness (not as much as the 4 minute group) and saw no change in their anaerobic fitness.

So How Does A 4 Minute Fat Burn Cardio Workout Burn Fat?

This form of short high intensity interval training improves your body's metabolic conditioning, through the use of a combination of strength and anaerobic conditioning drills. The goal is to work as intensely as possible staying around your anaerobic threshold.

Basically speaking the 4 minutes of exercise will boost your metabolic rate and will have your body burning calories for hours after the workout is completed. You will actually burn more calories after the workout, than you do during the workout.

The other massive bonus to this style of workout, is that the research showed that whilst it is extremely effective at burning fat it will not result in muscle tissue being compromised.

What Exercises Can Be Used During The 4 Minute Fat Burn Cardio Workout?

As you can see from the study, the participants worked extremely intensely for the 4 minutes. As such you need to select exercises that are challenging, there is little point in selecting an easy exercise, such as sit-ups. The choices of challenging exercises are pretty much endless and can change from workout to workout.

You can select body weight exercises such as burpees, jump squats, push-ups or even chin-ups. You can chose resistance based exercises such as squats, thrusters, push-press, kettle bell swings. Or you can even use cardio equipment as they did in the study, my only advice is when choosing cardio equipment, pick a piece of equipment, that will allow you to get to your maximum capacity quickly.

This Routine Can Even Be Sports Specific

You can even select your exercise to suit your sport. As a footballer, you could chose to do sprints for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds rest, a fighter could punch and kick a bag for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of rest, or a rower could get on a rowing machine and row intensely for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds rest.

How To Fit The 4 Minute Fat Burn Cardio Workout Into Your Training

Personally I use the 4 minute fat burn cardio workout as a finisher to my weight training sessions. What that entails is at the end of my session I complete a 4 minute workout to finish my training. I chose to do it at the end of my session as I want to be at my freshest when I am lifting weights.

With respect to which exercise I chose, it all depends on what body parts I have trained during the session. I usually try and choose an exercise that utilises muscle groups that I haven't totally exhausted during my session.

As an example I won't choose to complete push-ups during my 4 minute fat burn cardio workout if I had just completed bench press during my weights session. My reasoning is I simply could not get through the Tabata session as my chest would already have been pre-fatigued. Instead I would choose something like jump squats as it in no way relies on my upper body to complete the movement.

What To Do When You Are Only Starting To Get In Shape

As you can probably see, you need to be in reasonable shape to complete the Tabata Protocol. But that doesn't mean you can't do it if you are a bit out of shape. All you need to do is simply work your way up to the full 20 seconds on/10 seconds off protocol by varying the times within the 4 minute workout.
10 seconds on, 20 seconds off x 815 seconds on, 15 seconds off x 820 seconds on, 10 seconds off x 8

Good luck with your training and if you need any help with exercise selection or have any advice for people that are new to the Tabata Protocol, drop a comment at my site!

Get my COMPLIMENTARY REPORT on how to LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT DIETING. A no bars hold process to show you how you can easily lose weight without dieting, not starving yourself and eating the right foods. Download it now from http://www.noexcusefitness.com.au/lose-weight-without-dieting-ebook/

Niko is a 34 year-old happily married, shift working, father of a two young boys. Niko's site http://www.noexcusefitness.com.au/ shares his fitness knowledge and helps regular, time-poor people stay in shape and achieve their goals.

Good luck with your efforts and remember: 'There is no such thing as a good eXcuse'

Original article

5 Secrets for Maximum Fat Burning

Need to lose extra fat from your belly, legs and thighs? The key to weight loss can be boiled down to 5 factors. If you focus in on these five weight loss factors you will begin to see the scale move in the negative direction. You will go from really overweight to overweight, to acceptable weight to normal weight. Finally in 3 to 4 months of continued diet monitoring, you will become your ideal weight.

#1: Sleep to Burn more Fat
There are five stages of sleep. The key to weight loss is achieving the fifth level of sleep or REM sleep. How do you know that you have reached the fifth level of sleep? It is when you have dreams. The more you dream, the more your body can achieve true rest and repair itself. This will result in maximum calorie burn and maximum weight loss. During the REM phase of sleep, intense dreaming occurs and the brain becomes very active. Hormones and enzymes are secreted to stimulate organ repair and even digestion. Due to lack of sleep more and more business people are becoming obese. Business people and busy adults do not have enough sleep. Sleep allows all of your muscles to relax and recover from stress. After a good night's sleep, you might notice that you function better the next day. It is simple. The better your body functions, the more weight you are able to lose. If you want to lose weight, you need to sleep at least 7 hours a night. Try going to bed earlier. Also, the more you sleep, the less chances you will have to eat late night snacks.

#2: Supplement for Fat Loss
Foods today are empty of nutrients. If you drink milk, it does not have the naturally occurring vitamin D. Look at your label and check it out for yourself. The vitamin D in your milk has been artificially added. Lemons are chock full of Vitamin C. Check out the lemonade in your refrigerator, it will not contain any Vitamin C. This is because pasteurization removes all of the nutrients from your liquid beverages. Most people are drinking high priced sugar water. The worst part is that they pay extra for sugar water in an effort to lose weight.

To lose weight, you are going to have to change your diet and it starts with supplementing. Supplements are important because they provide minerals and vitamins that have been removed from your food. Depending on how much weight you need to lose, I recommend Bioneferin Fat Loss Pill. Both will help you lose 30 pounds to 50 pounds and skip all the garbage of many supplements. There is so much garbage in the store when it comes to weight loss. This is why I recommend weight loss supplements that are only made from natural ingredients.

#3: Drink Green Tea
The key to weight loss is keeping the body properly hydrated. Don't just go out drinking bottle after bottle of water. You need water with benefits; water that burns fat and detoxes the body. This is why I recommend drink green tea with no sugar. You can add a lemon, but do not add any sugar. No artificial sweeteners. If you want to lose weight, you are going to have to drink your tea without sugar. Sugar kills the weight loss benefits of green tea. If you start drinking at least 32 ounces of green tea a day you can expect to go down a dress size every two weeks. The secret to green tea weight loss can be found in the amount of catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechingallate (EGCG) that green tea contains. EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant and once released in your body, its helps fat burning and your body's performance. Green tea is great for weight loss and has other benefits such as inhibiting cancer and repairing damage tissue in overweight individuals.

#4: Eat More Carbs.
The body needs carbs. Eat good carbs and your body will lose more weight. So many people have become scared of carbs. I want to remove your fear. There are bad carbs and good carbs. The carbs you need for weight loss come from whole grains, green vegetables, organic fruits that are not treated with pesticides. If you stop eating carbs, your body will begin lacking many of the vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytonutrients that your body needs to build muscle and trigger fat burning. Take a Slimatrol carb blocker before eating carbs and your body will only absorb the nutrients you need and pack on extra weight. Relax and live life.

But, avoid bad carbs. Bad carbs cause you to gain weight. Often, bad carbs come from packaged foods like soda, little Debbie pastries, Dunkin Donuts, white breads, rice, and anything that has been enriched. It is a fact that bad carbs will contribute to weight gain and good carbs can help your body function properly and create weight loss.

#5: Exercise for 30 minutes 4 days a week.
When it comes to exercise, just a little will go a long way. It is not about how much you exercise, it is about the quality of your exercise. You want to be focused when you exercise so cut off the cell phone. You cannot get a good workout while talking on the phone. If you are walking, walk with intensity. Move your arms. If you are a runner, try sprinting every other block. If you go to a gym try alternating between the elliptical and the treadmill. If you do not have a gym membership and want to exercise from home, I recommend getting a workout video. There are so many to choose from, so I suggest Taebo, because it is affordable and effect. It comes with an amazing television trainer that really cares about you losing weight.

Over 12,683 people and counting have used these weight loss factors to lose pounds. I give this information out for free because no one needs to be depressed over how much they weigh. If you are going to be depressed, it needs to be about world poverty, crime, or injustice. These 5 weight loss factors will help you get over yourself and transform into a more positive, albeit thinner person.

Original article