According to a study conducted at Laval University in Québec, Canada, it’s now possible to spend less time in the gym and burn more fat. Scientists have discovered just 15 minutes of something called High Intensity Interval Training burns more fat than a whole hour of steadily pounding the treadmill. We’ve teamed up with Myprotein.com to discover why.

So what exactly is High Intensity Interval Training (or H.I.I.T for short)? It’s basically where you perform periods of low/ moderate intensity followed by periods of high intensity and it can be performed on any machine or in any form of exercise you want from swimming, to cycling to using a treadmill. So for example if you wanted to perform your H.I.I.T on a treadmill, you’d set the treadmill at a steady speed (just more than a walking speed) working about 65% of your maximum heart rate (this is a pace that you are breathing heavy but can still hold a conversation) for about 60 seconds. Then you’d increase the speed of the treadmill so you were working at about 85%-90% of your maximum heart rate for 30 seconds whilst at the end bringing the speed back down to 65% for a steady jog. You’d then repeat this for 10-15 minutes with a warm down and stretch at the end.

So why are scientists such as Angelo Tremblay et al (2004) concluding H.I.I.T is better for losing fat than a long steady run (‘the metabolic adaptations taking place in the skeletal muscle in response to the H.I.I.T program appear to favour the process of lipid oxidation). Well it appears with conventional steady paced cardio your body can adjust and start to conserve calories whereas with H.I.I.T this ‘steady state problem’ can be avoided as the intensity is shifted every minute or so. More specifically this means you:

-        Raise fat burning hormones such as such as epinephrine and norepinephrine

-        Suppressing insulin

-        Raising the metabolic rate more so than other methods of cardio

Perhaps more interestingly as well, a study conducted at Geneva University Hospital in France discovered that supplementing your H.I.I.T workout with green tea extract could further increase ‘thermogenesis and fat oxidation’ (Abdul G Dulloo et al, 1999). It’s believed a catechin in the green tea called Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) can increase the amount of energy your body uses and by making it easier for your body to use excess body fat. (90 capsules of Mega Green Tea Extract is £9.99 from Myprotein.com http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/mega_green_tea_extract )

So there you have it, training smarter not harder means less time in the gym, more fat burned.