The Secret of the Fat Burning Zone

     The "fat burning zone" is a half truth. In fact, everything you've ever learned about burning fat may be all wrong.

Truth is, if you've read anything about fitness over the past 20 years, or have talked to any fitness "professional", you've probably run across the term "fat-burning zone".

If you dug a little deeper, you were probably told that exercising in this zone - around 50% of your maximum heart rate - was the only way to burn fat from your body.

If you were like me, you bought into this concept. You fell for it hook, line and sinker and wasted countless hours torturing yourself on cardio machines doing low intensity workouts to get rid of the unwanted flab. Hey, we've been told for years that it was the "only way."

The problem with this "fat-burning" zone is that it doesn't take into account the intensity of the exercise. It doesn't use the fact that higher intensity exercise burns more total calories, and therefore more total fat.

For example: (these numbers hypothetical for simple calculations)

Let's say a low intensity workout in the "fat-burning zone" gets 50% of the energy from fat and burns 100 total calories, it would use 50 calories worth of fat.

On the other hand, a high intensity workout might only get 25% of the energy from fat but burn 400 total calories. Do the math. That's 100 calories worth of fat burned. And the high intensity workout would have taken much less total time to complete.

So, if you are like me, you longed for something different. A way to exercise that was not only effective in reducing fat, but also that took the drudgery out of your workouts.

There is such an exercise and it can give you better results, faster than anything you have tried before.

I'm talking about running sprints. And more specifically, running hill sprints.

Take a look at why hill sprints are the closest thing to a perfect exercise for trimming excess blubber from your body.

Why Building Muscle Tissue Is Essential To Fat Loss

First off, running hill sprints will work all of the muscles in your body at the same time. It is a true full body workout. Workouts like this have been shown to increase the amount of muscle tissue that you have. Strong, lean, functional muscle.

So, what does more muscle have to do with burning flab?

It turns out that muscle tissue is like a calorie burning furnace. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism and the more calories you will burn - even when you're just sitting in front of your computer... even when you're sleeping.

Muscle also helps regulate your blood sugar. Muscle uses sugar for energy when it contracts. When it uses up that sugar, it needs to absorb more from your blood. Dropping your blood sugar levels may prevent the onset of diabetes and all of its health-related problems.

Get Hollywood's "Fountain of Youth" For Free

The second advantage of hill sprints over traditional cardio exercise is that this kind of high intensity exercise prompts your body to release higher levels of human growth hormone (HGH) - naturally. Low intensity cardio does not have this same effect.

Human growth hormone in adolescence is essential for just that - proper growth. In adulthood, HGH, which is released from the pituitary gland, is key in kicking up your metabolism and shifting fat burning into high gear.

Funny thing is, your body has plenty of HGH stored inside the pituitary. It just releases less and less as you get to age 30 and above.

However, this doesn't happen naturally in your body. It is a "couch potato" lifestyle that shuts down the levels of HGH in you system. Change the lifestyle, release more hormone, reap the benefits.

Hollywood stars and professional athletes, eager to look and feel young forever, are paying big bucks for synthetic injections of this substance. If they only knew how to get it for free...

Why You Need To Cut The Fat

So, what's the big deal about a little extra padding anyway?

Getting rid of excess fat has a number of other health benefits.

Being obese - or even moderately overweight - has been linked to health risks from heart attack and stroke to arthritis and diabetes.

And fat around your middle has been shown to be the worst kind.

But, a recent announcement from the American Diabetic Association stated that high intensity exercise, like hill sprinting, is the best way to reduce that stubborn belly fat.

What Else Hill Sprints Do For You

In addition to being an incredible fat-burning exercise, hill sprints have a number of other advantages over traditional cardio workouts.

Hill sprint workouts take less time.

Hill sprint workouts make you run faster

Hill sprint workouts improve your athletic performance in any sport

Hill sprint workouts are fun

Hill sprint workouts improve lung capacity

Hill sprint workouts increase heart's reserve capacity

Adding hill sprints to your workout routine can quickly bring about positive changes in your health. You can drop the extra flab in just a few weeks and feel like you're young again.

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