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Welcome to Gotta Sport, your number one resource for strength training, a guide to losing weight, buying fitness equipment and more. I will try to update at least three times a week so you too can discover how to lose weight, gain muscle mass and lead a happy healthy life.
Disadvantages of high intensity interval training
Posted December 31st, 2007 in Cardio | No Comments »
Ok ok so you get the point: HIIT is very good! I’ve already discussed the many advantages of high interval intensity training, I’ve shown how to make a training program for HIIT… but now, I will discuss the other side of the medal: the disadvantages.
Harris Benedict formula for women and men
Posted November 9th, 2007 in Weight Loss | 1 Comment »
The Harris Benedict equation is a calorie formula using the variables of height, weight, age, and gender to calculate basal metabolic rate (BMR). This is more accurate than calculating calorie needs based on total body weight alone. The only factor it omits is lean body mass and thus the ratio of muscle-to-fat a body has.
How to perform high intensity interval training (HIIT)?
Posted November 5th, 2007 in Cardio | No Comments »
How?
1. Warm up for a few minutes.
2. Once you’ve warmed up, sprint as fast as you can for 20 seconds
3. After these 20 seconds of hell, take a 1-minute break by walking slowly.
4. Sprint another 20 seconds at full pace! Then take a 1-minute break again
5. Continue this cycle until you’ve reached 6-8 sprints.
6. Cool down by jogging for a few minutes.
7. Stretch!
After your first workout, you might feel really, really bad. Like you want to throw up, or just lie down on the road. Don’t worry, this will get better later on. Think about your first workout, I bet the day after it, you were stiff as hell too, right?
I’ve just explained high intensity interval training via running, but this can also be done by swimming, rowing, an elliptical trainer, etc.
Training program for high intensity interval training
A good scheme might look like this:
|
Week |
Number of trainings |
Number of sprints |
|
1 |
1 |
5 |
|
2 |
1 |
6 |
|
3 |
2 |
5,6 |
|
4 |
2 |
6,6 |
|
5 |
3 |
5,5,5 |
|
6 |
3 |
6,5,5 |
|
7 |
3 |
6,5,6 |
|
8 |
3 |
6,6,6 |
|
9 |
3 |
7,6,6 |
|
10 |
3 |
7,6,7 |
As you can see, the number of sprints per training steadily goes up. Obviously, the more sprints, the harder it gets!Don’t forget to add a “deload” once in a while.
For example, after week 5, which is the first week that you’ll be training 3 times a week, you could take a full week off. That’s right, no HIIT for a week, to let your body recuperate.
A few remarks about high intensity interval training (HIIT)
Posted November 2nd, 2007 in Cardio | No Comments »
Not too long ago, I wrote an article about high intensity interval training with a training program included.
I have some more remarks about the high intensity interval training program:
1. If your physical condition is already OK, then you can start week 1 with 6 sprints. If your physical condition is darn good, then consider 7 or even 8 sprints! In week 10, you will then reach 10-11 sprints, which would be incredibly good!
2. If you’re an advanced athlete, you could also increase the intervals. For example, instead of sprinting for 20 seconds, you could try sprinting for 30 seconds!
3. And lastly, you could also add an incline hill or increase the resistance on your elliptical trainer / bicycle as an interval. As long as you give yourself for a full 100% during these intervals, things should be ok.
4. if you’re already into weight lifting, powerlifting or bodybuilding, then you might want to refrain yourself from doing 3 HIIT workouts per week.
Weight training is already very demanding for your body and is the same kind of anaerobic training as HIIT. Furthermore, since HIIT will also develop hypertrophy, this will only happen if you rest well (as with normal weight training). So if you work out 4 times a week in the gym, 1-2 HIIT workouts should be plenty. Don’t forget to eat more too if you still want to gain muscle!
Importance of water explained
Posted October 31st, 2007 in Nutrition | No Comments »
Water is by far the most abundant substance in our body (over 65%!). To put it simple: without water, one would not survive long. Long live water! But why is water good? Read on!
Carbohydrates – macronutritients explained
Posted October 27th, 2007 in Nutrition, Weight Loss | No Comments »
Today I'll discuss the importance of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the body's main source of energy and therefore are very important. Read on to find out more about carbohydrates.
Carbs are the body’s main source of energy. After eating carbohydrates, your pancreas will secrete a hormone called insulin. Insulin stores the carbohydrates in the muscle or as fat. Insulin also stores the amino acids (proteins) and puts them into the muscle cell for recovery and repair.
Too much insulin in the body is caused by eating too many carbohydrates. When there is a lot of insulin, it will give a sign to your cells to start the storage of glycogen synthesis. This will eventually lead to larger fat storages.
However, the opposite is also true: eating little carbohydrates will lead to smaller insulin concentrations. Your body will have less energy and will therefore start the lipolysis, to gain energy from the degradation of fats.
Therefore it is important that we eat the right amount of carbohydrates!
There are two kinds of carbs: complex carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates (sugars). Simple carbohydrates will give you immediate energy, while complex carbohydrates give you continuous energy. This is also called a “timed release”.
Some good advice: eat mainly complex carbohydrates throughout the day except after the workout, then your body needs simple carbs, because a higher glycogen level will aid faster recuperation and rebuild of the muscle.
There are 2 kinds of complex carbohydrates:
1) fibrous carbs: found mainly in brocooli, cauliflower, mushrooms, spinach, lettuce.
2) starchy carbs: found mainly in oatmeal, (sweet) potatoes, peas, corn, pasta, bread..
Complex Carbohydrates:
Simple carbohydrates are found mainly in apples, pineapples, pears, bananas and oranges.
Advantages of high intensity interval training
Posted October 20th, 2007 in Cardio | No Comments »
So what are all the advantages of HIIT? High intensity interval training has many advantages, but can be very tough. So what are the reason that should keep you going? Read on!
Macronutrition guide: Proteins explained
Posted October 11th, 2007 in Nutrition, Weight Loss | No Comments »
Proteins are the building blocks of all kinds of tissue, like muscle tissue. They are necessary in building muscle, without proteins, this would be an impossible mission. It has other functions as well: it ensures that the carbohydrates are “time released”, so you get a constant flow of carbs per day.
Before buying a heart rate monitor
Posted October 8th, 2007 in Cardio | No Comments »
So, you have decided to buy a heart rate monitor huh? For weight loss purposes, for better performance at your sport, or just for fun? It doesn’t matter, any reason to get a heart rate monitor is a good one! However, deciding which heart rate monitor you should buy isn’t an easy choice and will be determined by the question: “what are you going to use the monitor for?”. Read the rest of this entry »
Polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats, saturated fats explained
Posted October 7th, 2007 in Nutrition, Weight Loss | No Comments »
In our "guide to understand foods" we'll start off with fats.. Hated by most and yet loved by most….because who doesn't like the forbidden fruit? Anyways, here's a great guide to help you understand what kind of fats there are, and what their purpose is.