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DO YOU KNOW HOW TO BURN MORE CALORIES IN LESS TIME?

Kevin Kohan • Apr 12, 2017

The Myth Of the Fat Burning Zone

More Bang For Your Buck

If you’re like most people who are balancing a hectic schedule, you probably don’t have a ton of time to spend in the gym. Or maybe you are looking to get more bang for your buck because you’ve hit a weight loss plateau in with your usual cardio routine. That is why we created our GREAT 8 CHALLENGE aka PERSONALIZED SMALL GROUP TRAINING because it is possible – and can even be ideal – to achieve these results by cutting your workouts to 45 or even 30 minutes if you bump up the intensity.

The Fat-Burning Zone is a Misunderstood Concept

How many times have you heard that in order to really burn fat, you’ve got to work in the heart rate range of 50-70% of your maximum for at least 30 minutes? There’s even convenient charts posted on nearly every piece of cardio equipment in all the traditional gyms you go to (if you’re cheating on us here at HIT Fitness), so it must be true. Fortunately for us, it’s not.

Yes, it is true that fat makes up the bulk of your body’s fuel for most of your daily activities and in low-intensity aerobic exercise where you’re either working for long periods of time or not breathing exceptionally hard. This fact is where the idea comes from that you must be in a certain sub-maximal heart rate range to maximally burn fat. The problem is that this is a misunderstood point.

A Higher Intensity of Exercise Yields More Results

If I only have 30 minutes to workout and use it to work at a slow and steady pace on the stairmaster while I watch TV, I might burn, say, 100 calories, approximately 50% of which are from fat. Now, if I do a more intense session, like a PERSONALIZED SMALL GROUP session instead then I am at a much higher heart rate (and therefore intensity level) and I could burn about 300 calories, of which maybe only 30% are fat, with glucose and glycogen making up the bulk of the rest (a small amount of protein gets burned as well). “See, you burn more fat at an easier pace!” the exercise magazines will tell you. But anyone with some basic math skills can see that more total fat was burned in the high-intensity workout (90 calories vs. 50) than the lower one, and the first workout merely had a greater percentage of calories burned from fat.

Why Higher Intensity Works: The Afterburn Effect

To understand this, we need to address the concept of excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC. Oxygen consumption serves as an approximation of your metabolic rate, and therefore how many calories you are burning in a given period of time. EPOC, then, is the effect seen following exercise in which the body is burning more oxygen (and more calories) for a period of time anywhere from a few minutes to more than a day. This results in an elevated metabolism and creates what Alwyn Cosgrove calls an ‘afterburn.’ A study performed in 2002 at Ohio University found that following heavy resistance training circuits, EPOC was significantly elevated over baseline for 38 hours.

Doing the Math on EPOC

Using this data, let’s go back to that treadmill example. Suppose the machine tells you that you burned 300 calories in your hour spent on the treadmill. EPOC occurs as a result of aerobic training as well, but the magnitude and duration of the increase is less than that seen with resistance or interval training.

Now let’s say that at the same time you were on the hamster wheel, your friend did the aforementioned heavy lifting followed by a few minutes of short intervals on the Assault Bike. It’s likely that he didn’t burn as many calories as you in his exercise session, but let’s now look at the whole picture, i.e. all of the time following the workout. If your friend worked hard enough to bump his EPOC up to where he’s burning a paltry eight additional calories per hour, 38 hours later when his oxygen consumption returns to normal, he’s burned more calories than you, and he accomplished it in a much shorter workout.

And then think of how it would affect him if he went and worked out the next day too! Would EPOC go even higher? It is not certain whether EPOC is cumulative, but even without an additive affect, the benefits are easy to see.

Would You Rather?

Would you rather be burning more calories in the 23 hours a day you’re not at HIT Fitness Warehouse , or just burning the same old amount as usual in the 22 hours you’re not at a traditional gym (not to mention that you’d only be running and not developing your strength, flexibility, accuracy, so its taking you at least 2 hours before you leave...)?

If you have a weight loss goal, don’t resist your strength work. Stick to the program and talk to your coaches about making minor modifications to your fitness and nutrition programs to help you achieve your results most efficiently.

Our PERSONALIZED SMALL GROUP training is something you might want to check out – we focus on developing basic strength with bodyweight movements and dumbbells with short rest intervals and lots of variety to keep up the intensity over 45-60 minute session while monitoring your Heart Rate . The Great 8 Challenge (when offered) or Personalized Small Groups are great for advanced trainees to reincorporate some of the basics and fundamentals as to build a stronger foundation fort competing. As well as something great to introduce to your friends and colleagues who are ‘too busy’ or intimidated to come into the gym or beginners, as it will teach them the basics right from the 'get-go'! C OME ON AND CHECK OUT OUR NEW PERSONALIZED SMALL GROUP TRAINING NOW TO GET YOUR FREE SUCCESS SESSION!

10 Things We Love About the 10-Day Advocare Reset

By Kevin Kohan • 15 Mar, 2023
The AdvoCare 10-Day Reset™ provides the tools you need to jumpstart healthy habits, which is a huge focus for many during the new year. If you’re curious about the Reset, but want to learn more before taking the leap, we’ve rounded up a few of the top things we love about this system. Keep on reading to learn more! https://my.advocare.com/advocare-10-day-reset/?D=120922584

8 Immune-Supporting Foods

By Kevin Kohan • 09 Nov, 2022
A strong immune system is important, especially in today’s climate. During seasons when we are more prone to illness, we often look for ways to help support immunity. Many studies show that a balanced diet combined with adequate sleep and exercise, effectively primes our body to fight infection and disease. Throughout the years, many foods have also helped contribute to living a healthy lifestyle. Incorporating some of these foods into the diet can help support our body’s immunity. So next time you’re headed to the grocery store, make a list, and power up your plate to include these nutritious foods. POWER UP YOUR PLATE

FREE Guide For a '5K 8-Week Training Plan'

By Kevin Kohan • 22 Sep, 2022
Many of us want to be able to run, jog, or walk a 5K… but the goal can often seem overwhelming and intimidating. But, what if it didn’t have to be? What if you could complete a 5K in as little as 2 Months? Well, now it IS possible! I put together a FREE 8-week Walk-Jog-Run 5K Training Plan just for you. It’s a step-by-step plan that can help almost anyone complete a 5K run in just 8 short weeks! Plus there are so many other reasons to ramp up your run/jog/walk game: Benefiting heart health Lowering your risk of disease Boosting energy Elevating your mood Improving better sleep Reducing stress Getting up off the couch and into your life! Excited to learn more? Grab your copy for FREE here >>

Biohack Like a PRO

By Kevin Kohan • 25 Aug, 2022
This month I’ve been talking a lot about next-level actions to get even better results from your fitness and health habits. You’ve probably noticed a theme: it’s all about the fundamentals. That’s because even the best ‘next-level’ actions won’t do much if you aren’t nailing your basics most of the time. But what if you ARE covering your basics and want to ramp things up even more? This is when you can turn into an exercise mad scientist to find your own “secret formula” for supercharged results. Your top tip for becoming a successful biohacker?

Most Important 'Hack' For big Health & Fitness Results

By Kevin Kohan • 10 Aug, 2022
🔥 The only hack you need for your goals I’ve got some great info for you today that I wanted to share ASAP because it can make a huge difference in your results. Every few days, someone will ask me what I think about some trendy fitness or wellness topic … things like fasting, supplements, a new fitness gadget … Basically, something (anything!) that’s designed to speed up your results. So, over the next few weeks, I’m going to focus on how to REALLY supercharge your results and break down specific actions you can take to elevate your results to the next level, fast. Because YES: it IS possible to make small changes that yield BIG results. In this email, I’ve got the #1 TIP to rocket you toward your goals. This is the absolute most important thing you should do before you get fancy with any trendy “hacks.” It’s to NAIL YOUR BASICS.

5 Ways To Boost Your Workout Results

By Kevin Kohan • 04 Aug, 2022
You asked for it, you’ve got it! We’ve got a list of 5 ways you can boost the results from your workouts … STARTING TODAY. By “results,” I mean noticeable changes in your stamina, strength, energy, and overall fitness. In addition to this, this will also have a super HUGE impact on your overall health & wellness because it plays into your immune system, your sleep, heart health and so much more. Before I get into the tips, I want you to remember one thing that will help drive all of those results: YOU ARE AN ATHLETE in training, no matter how young or old you are, or your current fitness or activity level. You’re an athlete who ‘Trains For Life’! You are training for your BEST LIFE. Having a fit, strong, and healthy body that can help you make the MOST of every single day is something worth fighting for!

BMI is Skyrocketing in Kids Right Now and We Have the Solution!

14 Jul, 2022
🚨 [SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS] BMI rate in kids is skyrocketing right now and here's why. According to a new CDC report, kids’ BMI has been increasing at nearly DOUBLE the rate than it did before the pandemic began. BMI (body mass index) is a measure of weight to height that’s an “easy screening method for weight category: underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and obesity.” Alarmingly, the increase was especially high in preschool and school-aged children. This is DEFINITELY something we all need to be paying attention to. There were 432,302 kids aged 2 to 19 years old in the study. They found the rate of BMI increase jumped from 0.052 (pre-pandemic) to 0.100 kg/m 2 /month during the pandemic. In more understandable terms, in August 2019, the obesity rate in the group was 19.3% (already high) … and it reached 22.4% in August 2020 and close to 25% in August 2021. We already knew that kids were gaining weight during the pandemic because of all of the changes in their daily habits …But this study shows how significant this negative impact was in just A FEW SHORT YEARS. Here’s another key finding: The CDC found that children who were already obese gained about 1 to 1.2 pounds a month, putting them on track to gain 6.1 to 7.3 pounds in 6 months. This group is gaining weight at a faster rate compared to the 2.7 pounds in those with a healthy weight. Straight from the study: “Accelerated weight gain, especially among children, can cause long-lasting metabolic changes that put children at risk for serious and costly co-occurring conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and depression.” The US already has a high level of obesity among kids, affecting more than one in six children. This is serious stuff, folks! We need to be paying attention and making sure our kids are staying ACTIVE and putting HEALTHY FOOD into their bodies. The good news is that this is ALL stuff we have control over. More good news is that if you’ve noticed this happening in your family, we’ve got a solution to help! 🤸‍♀️🏃‍♀️Let your kids explore new and exciting activities and challenges with our HIT FIT KIDS CAMP. Whether your child is a veteran with us or coming for the very first time, we know they will be enriched with new fitness experiences that will inspire them to live an active healthy lifestyle. We launched our first HIT FIT KIDS CAMP in 2021 to help offset the findings in the study above and the outcome was beyond what we expected! Our one week all-inclusive camp will: Enhance your child's cognitive skills and promote working in teams. Your child will learn different skills from different sports They will also learn about nutrition through interactive activities & They will experience how delicious healthy lunches can actually taste from our friends over at EAT PRIME MEALS who will providing the healthy lunches for your kids. REGISTER Today & DONT let them miss this camp!!! 🔸Camp starts Monday, July 18th-22nd 🔸All Inclusive Day Camp 9AM-1PM 🔸Lunch will be provided by Eat Prime Meals **Please share this with a friend or family member - we want to get this message out there to people who FEEL THEIR KIDS need this.

My Personal 'Non-Negotiable' "BASICS"

By Kevin Kohan • 07 Jul, 2022
🔥If you are serious about your goals… one of the BEST things you can do is focus on THE BASICS. Like Bodyweight Strength Training! They give you the biggest bang for your buck over the long run! Here’s what I’m talking about … One of my top personal basics – something I try to do every day – NON-NEGOTIABLE for my fitness is at least 15 minutes bodyweight strength training, 15 minutes flexibility/mobility, and 15 minutes hitting on my weak points to balance out any muscular deviations. Its all about making a plan, and working my plan.”

TIME TO TAKE CHARGE — Experience OPTIMAL Health with These 5 Pillars!

By Kevin Kohan • 22 Jun, 2022
Get healthy from the inside out. Not a patch or potion but real wellness and longevity supported by consistently healthy lifestyle choices. Something we call the 5-Pillars of Health. Plus, our New HIT FIT SUMMER SURVIVAL GUIDE just for your absolute FREE!

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