One of the best things about summer – which right now seems like it’s just around the corner – is being able to do your workouts outside every so often instead of at your gym or in your house.
What a great feeling: The warm sun on your face, sweaty and exhausted in the best possible way after your high intensity interval training session.
But once you’re out there, what do you do?
Well, you could do one of these bodyweight F.I.R.E. Workouts which are always fun.
Or you could grab a couple kettlebells or sandbags and add some fun variety to your fat loss workouts.
But the absolute simplest workout to set up outside is…
High-Intensity Interval Training For Fat Loss – or Sprints
When done properly, interval training sprints are great for everything from fat loss to athletic performance.
The problem is that few people actually do them properly to get the benefits they’re looking for.
For example let’s just say you’re trying to lose fat, you’re about 45 lbs overweight right now and you’ve been in lockdown in your house all winter.
Going outside and trying to do high-intensity interval training sets of 60 second sprints with 10 second rest times isn’t going to work out too well for you.
The problem with that approach is:
- You’re going to be exhausted after approximately 2 rounds and get precisely ZERO benefit from it besides burning a couple calories at best, or inuring yourself at worst.
- Even if you make it past 2-3 rounds of this, you’re not going to get the fat loss benefits you’re looking for. This is because your body is going to be working primarily in your aerobic energy system – the same energy system used when doing long, steady state cardio that we already know isn’t a great long term solution for fat loss.
When you’re just starting to implement interval training or sprint training into your program, it’s a good idea to start small and work your way up as you become better conditioned.
Interval Training For Fat Loss: 12-week Beginner Plan
For the person from our example above, I’d recommend this high-intensity interval training beginner program. Complete this 2x per week in addition to your regular strength training sessions:
| WEEK | WORK | REST | ROUNDS |
| 1-2 | 15 seconds | 60 seconds | 4-6 |
| 3-4 | 15 seconds | 45 seconds | 6-8 |
| 5-6 | 20 seconds | 30 seconds | 8-12 |
| 7-8 | 20 seconds | 25 seconds | 10-14 |
| 9-10 | 20 seconds | 20 seconds | 12-15 |
| 11-12 | 30 seconds | 30 seconds | 12-15 |
After that you’ll be ready to start playing with some negative rest intervals and that’s where it gets “fun”. Negative rest intervals are when your rest interval is less than your work interval (i.e. 30 seconds WORK and 15 seconds REST).
The key with high-intensity interval training is that you need to be working at a very high intensity during your sprint times, but allowing enough rest time to let your heart rate come back down to about 50-60% max.
PRO TIP: Wear a heart rate monitor to really fine tune your rest times. Do your sprint interval and then rest until your heart rate comes back down to 50-60%, however long that takes.
As you become more conditioned, your heart rate comes down faster so you can take less rest time between your rounds.
This is a simple method to ensure you’re staying in your anaerobic energy system, which is where the magic happens when it comes to fat loss.
One more thing to keep in mind when it comes to high-intensity interval training…
This doesn’t have to be running sprints. You can do this same type of workout on:
- a bike (ideally an actual bike or a spin bike at the gym)
- a rowing machine
- bodyweight exercises like seal jacks, bodyweight squats or drop squats
- battle ropes or kettlebell swings
Whatever you do though, make sure you keep the intensity HIGH during your sprint times. If it feels easy, you’re not pushing yourself hard enough.
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