Be a Better Butter Burner!

January seems to be synonymous with weight loss, or more specifically, fat loss. For most folks, the activity of choice will be some type of slow, steady, aerobic exercise such as walking, jogging, stationary cycling, swimming, or using an elliptical machine. Although these are all wonderful activities, if done in the typical long, slow, low-intensity manner, their effectiveness toward fat loss will be limited.

Go ahead and stay with this format a couple days per week, but substitute high intensity interval training (HIIT) at least two times during the week. Here's how it works: warm up for 3-5 minutes, then go really hard for one minute followed by 1-2 minutes of light to moderate intensity exercise. Repeat for a total of 5-8 intervals before cooling down for 3-5 minutes. In 20-25 minutes you've done a complete interval training workout!

Here's the cool part: You've cut your cardio training time in half, you've pushed your aerobic capacity to a higher level, and most importantly, you're going to burn more fat! You see, when you push your body to higher metabolic workloads, you increase your post exercise oxygen consumption. This means that your body will continue to burn calories at an elevated rate for hours after the workout is over!

Insert 2-3 HIIT workouts a week into your 2009 routine and start becoming a better butter burner!