Going long and slow…
LSD, that’s what so many of us are addicted to right?
Long Slow Distance, LSD, is the term used to describe the intensity and duration of, say, a 1hour run, a several hour bike ride or a long swim.
It is the pace that can be maintained for ages. It is what a coach would call endurance pace, and it is not the most effective for weight loss, or fitness goals.
Welcome to part 3 of 6: The worst things to do if you want to improve your health, performance and body composition.
Does this sound familiar?:
You start your fitness quest jogging 15 minutes 3-4x per week.
You begin to see results but then they stop coming, so you bump up your run length.
You now run 30 minutes, 3x per week, but still no change.
So you add even more volume onto your run! Any change?
No, sadly you can run longer, but you still find it a struggle, you aren’t shifting body fat and you certainly cant go faster. In fact, from all the added volume your shins and knees are beginning to hurt. Oh, how frustrating! It makes no sense that you’ve added all this exercise but still not losing weight.
Lets take a look at the start line of the London marathon, or any marathon. Have you ever noticed how so many of the runners are fat, and that even the thin ones are generaly soft and ‘squigy’ under their running vests.
In contrast a track runner, training for 100m sprint will have a lean and defined body composition, and its all because of the hormones the long low intensity sessions elicit.
Don’t get me wrong, cardiovascular training is excellent method of exercise for losing weight, but only if done correctly.
If you want to get serious fitness results and fat loss, you need to perform high intensity intervals. The reason is simple – EPOC, which means your body uses more oxygen after a HIIT session than an LSD session. And that means fat burning after your workout!
Not only this, but HIIT sessions increase your fitness significantly more than an LSD session will. HIIT, or high intensity interval training is the key, and if you ever wondered how to get toned or how to get ripped by doing cardio exercise, then HIIT is the answer – the key to your dream results.
Not only that, but HIIT is far more effective at getting you sports fitness too compared to LSD. So kick your LSD habit and take up high intensity interval training. Get significantly fitter in half the time! Sound good? Get 28% fitter in just 4 minutes.
I’d love to know how you get on with your HIIT sessions, so comment below and let me know!
Happy training,
Nico.
Discover The Rest Of This 6 Part Series
Jump To Part 1
Jump To Part 2
Jump To Part 3
Jump To Part 4
Jump To Part 5
Jump To Part 6
Further Resources
You might also like to read this ultimate weight loss guide. This is an in depth guide on what makes great nutrition and the elements that we need to focus on in our lives that will result in better health, performance and body composition. The guide includes actionable steps that you can implement into your life easily. As a supplement to the guide comes the weight loss cheat sheet which is a great start to improved eating habits. You can access it below this article.
In addition to these free resources I offer online personal training services. If you feel ready to take the next step towards consistently exercising well, and would like the confidence to know that you’re following a professionally designed and well considered training plan then online personal training is a great next step.
If your’re struggling with consistently eating well and you feel that this is really holding back your progress, then online nutrition coaching may be your next step. You can learn more about online weight loss coaching and how it can help you to build a better relationship with food and achieve better health, lose weight and perform at your best.