The most common excuse for not exercising is “I just don’t have time.” Well sorry but I’m going to put that one to rest in this post.

I spend a total of 1.5 hours doing cardio a week, and maintain a sub 12% body fat percentage most of the year (Christmas cookies get me). Here’s how I burn 300-400 calories in 25 minutes.

HIIT- high intensity interval training

A team at McMaster University in Canada have been researching HIIT workouts for several years. Their 2010 study on students uses 3 minutes for warming up, then 60 seconds of intense exercise followed by 75 seconds of rest, repeated 8–12 times. Students using HIIT workouts 3 times per week obtained similar results to those performing 45 minutes of steady state cardio 5 times a week.

I do my HIIT training on a stationary bike.

Here’s the breakdown:

-3 minutes of warm up cycling.

-60 second burst of cycling as hard as I can, at a resistance that is challenging but not so hard your legs can’t handle it for the 60 seconds. (I like using the spin class bikes as it’s easy to change the resistance)

– Follow your intense cycling with 60 seconds at lower intensity, and lower resistance.

-Repeat this 10x, and finish off with a couple minutes of low intensity cool down.

That’s it! It’s not easy. You have to be willing to push yourself, but it is simple. You can expect to burn 200-400 calories in 20 minutes doing this form of cardio.

I encourage you to try this out especially if you’ve been telling yourself you don’t have time.

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