Hormonal Exercise: Best Way to Burn Stubborn Fat

Yes, that’s right: Hormonal exercise is the best way to burn stubborn fat. This kind of exercise is called “hormonal” because it triggers release of human growth hormone and testosterone.

When these amazing hormones are triggered, the fat-burning process in your body is accelerated. I won’t go into the physiological details here. Just take my word for it. Exercise that releases more amounts of these “youth” hormones will result in faster weight loss, improved fitness and better sports performance.

In order for hormones to be released as a result of exercise, the activity must be very intense. There is just no way around this. It has to be pretty punishing. Here are some examples:

If you are on, for instance, the elliptical machine for a whole hour, just pedaling away at a fixed speed and fixed resistance, this is called steady-state training. You are in a steady-state, and if you vary the speed a little here and there, or vary the pedal resistance or pedal angle here and there, this is still steady state, because for all practical purposes, you are in a fixed state of exertion.

Another example of steady state is when you are jogging 5 mph on a treadmill for 30 minutes; or walking at 4 mph for 45 minutes at zero incline or 2 percent incline.

Steady state isn’t intense enough to trigger release of hormones, because the demands on your body are not sufficient to force your body into the particular fuel system that it needs for more intense exertion.

Now, suppose instead of jogging 5 mph for 30 minutes, you do something different: You walk for 3 mph for two minutes, and then set the speed up to 10 mph and run that for a minute. When you’re done, you slow the speed back down to 3 mph and walk it for two minutes. Every two minutes, you raise the speed to 10 mph and run that for a minute. You keep alternating like this for 30 minutes.

Your total time running isn’t that much, about 10 minutes total. But this is superior to 30 minutes of continuous 5 mph jogging, because one minute at 10 mph is a bear to perform for most people. The exertion required will force chemical changes in your body to take place, that will not occur at only 5 mph.

If 10 mph is not that difficult for you to run, this means you are at a higher fitness level and you should set the speed to 12 mph. If that’s not a struggle, then go faster if the machine allows it. Some machines go up to 15 mph. If your machine only goes to 10 or 12, then add an incline.

See if you can run 10 mph at 10 percent or 15 percent incline. NEVER HOLD ONTO THE MACHINE. This is cheating and you won’t get results this way.

Apply this principle to the elliptical: Choose a recovery pace of casual effort, then every two minutes, blast away as fast as you can (aim for 300 RPMs), at a higher pedal resistance, for one minute. You should choose a setting that you can barely hold out for one minute. After one minute, you should be thoroughly exhausted and breathing too heavily to speak. Go back to the casual easy pace for two minutes. Alternate like this for 30 minutes.

You can do the same thing on a stationary bike. Each high intensity interval should leave you completely drained and so out of breath you cannot carry on conversation.