Have you always believed that the only way to lose weight was to perform gruelling, tedious, long duration cardio. "Just start running", "Go for a walk". Does this sound familiar? Traditional, long duration cardio is NOT your friend when it comes to weight loss!

The longer your cardio session is, the less effective it becomes at burning fat - especially tummy fat!

Not only does long drawn-out cardio sessions sabotage your fat burning ability but they also increase your appetite - leading to eating more calories! And, it also leads to loss of lean muscle, which is what makes our bodies so lean, sleek and sexy!

Why is cardio the devil?

Because we're tricked into believing that long, time wasting, boring exercise is going to give us our dream body - but it doesn't!!

All it does is waste our time, energy and motivation - no dream body....

So, if no cardio, then what......?

INTERVALS!!

The shorter and more intense your workout is, the more calories you will burn overall and you will preserve your muscle too - which is exactly what we are wanting to achieve!!

What are Intervals?

Intervals are simply short, high intensity periods of exercise alternated with active recovery periods where you slow down just long enough to catch your breath before you repeat this circuit again.

Let's look at an example:

30 secs - Jump rope (This is referred to as 30 secs "work")

30 secs - walking on the spot (This is referred to as 30 secs "rest")

Repeat this 10 times.

Done!

Ideally, you want your interval session to last between 10-15 minutes. During the "work" phase you want to be working as hard and as fast as you can, to the point where you are huffing and puffing and sweating. During the "rest" phase you want to be moving but in a relaxed state - ie walking/marching on the spot. This brings your heart rate back down so you can perform the next "work" phase at a high intensity again.

Your goal is to really push yourself during the "work" phase so that by the end of the 10-15 minutes you feel like you have had one hell of a workout! If you feel that you could easily go on for another 10 minutes then you didn't work nearly hard enough during the "work" phases.

There are so many combinations of "work" and "rest" periods that you are really on limited by your imagination.

The best part is that you don't need any fancy equipment. In fact, the most effective way to do intervals is by performing exercises using your own body weight! This way, you ensure that you are using all the muscles in your body, giving you a really well rounded workout.

And, what's even more of a bonus is - you can do them right at home - in your lounge room, bedroom, backyard, wherever! It takes up very little space.

You could even do them in a hotel room while you are on holidays!

Speaking from my own personal experience, I am an absolute convert to interval training. I used to be one of those people who believed that long, boring cardio was the way to fat loss. I would run/jog for kilometre after kilometre after kilometre and the main thing I got out of that was bad knees, weak muscles and exhaustion for the rest of the day. I also found when it came round to the yearly basketball tournament I play in, I was constantly getting injured and struggled with catching my breath from the short sharp sprints.

These days, due to performing intervals and resistance training throughout the year, I find:

I no longer get injured

I feel strong

I am fit

I don't pull up sore the next day after a hard match

AND let's not forget the wonderful fat loss benefit!

But, you know the main reason why I love intervals, along with thousands of other Mums out there?

They are short!!

10-15 minutes and you are done! Yay!

We don't have time to spend an hour every day stuck on a treadmill week after week. If you can get in your cardio workout in a matter of minutes AND feel awesome at the end of it - YOU WILL STICK TO IT! This solves the 'I just can't stick to it" excuse.

Once you start challenging your body and building your lean muscle with a combination of interval training and resistance training, all you need to do is create a caloric deficit (ie. eat less calories than you expend).

By switching to a more effective workout style you will make it life so much easier for yourself and you will be able to spend more time doing the things you enjoy most - like spending time with your family!