Why Steady-State Cardio is NOT Where It's At!

The other day, a young woman I know was lamenting that she has lost weight, but can't seem to get her abs to look more toned.

She's made great changes to her life, has lost 30 pounds in a year, and exercises regularly.

What's her exercise routine?  30 minutes on an elliptical trainer, followed by lifting weights.

My first thought -- how boring!  I'm not a big fan of cardio machines.  But, worse yet, 30 minutes of moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise isn't going to help you bust through a plateau.

This is what is referred to as "steady state cardio".  Getting on a machine, doing some low-to-moderate intensity exercise for a set period of time, without breaking much of a sweat.  True, it's exercise, but it's completely ineffective at reshaping your body or helping you to lose weight, especially if you're at a plateau.

To make change, you need bursts of intensity.  Moving from exercise to exercise.  Challenging yourself.  For example, running, then doing some burpees, then push-ups, then frog-jumps, then star-jacks, then some dips, then squats...... I'm tired out just writing these exercises, let alone doing them.

For me, I have two of these types of workouts in my weekly regimen, in addition to challenging track, cycling, and swim workouts.  While you can do something like this on your own, I always find it more fun, and more challenging, to do a challenging workout like this with a group.

My favorites:

Fitamorphosis -- www.fitamorphosis.com -- Corey Enman's fat-burning inferno, voted the best bootcamp in Burbank

Barry's Boot Camp -- www.barrysbootcamp.com