Maybe you’ve heard of visceral fat?
In a nutshell, it’s the fat that surrounds your organs. It acts differently than subcutaneous fat – the ‘pinch an inch’ fat under the skin. It puts you at risk for cardiovascular disease and creates inflammation in the body.
So what can you do to reduce it?
Well, it responds to a calorie deficit as subcutaneous fat does, but it also is very responsive to higher intensity cardiovascular work.
Which sounds time consuming and like no fun at all…
Cardio is getting a bad rap, but heart disease is the leading cause of death for women.
So, don’t toss out ‘cardio’ completely.
Even if you hear cardio jacks up your cortisol levels (it won’t), this protocol will even help reduce visceral fat!
Here’s an easy & SAFE way to fit in some ‘sprint’ training on your walking pad (or you can do it on your daily walk).
Start walking at a brisk pace (where you can still hold a conversation).
Walk for 2 min, then:
Hop off your walking pad & do any of the following movements as hard as you can for 30 seconds:
-march
-skip hop
-high knees
-skaters
-jacks
-burpees
–ANYTHING that makes you huff & puff
Return to the walking pad for 2 min at the brisk pace.
Repeat this pattern for 12-15 minutes.
The pattern looks like this:
🚶♀️0-2 brisk walk
🥵2-2:30 sprint
🚶♀️2:30-4:30 brisk walk
🥵4:30-5 sprint
🚶♀️5-7 brisk walk
🥵7-7:30 sprint
🚶♀️7:30-9:30 brisk walk
🥵9:30-10 sprint
🚶♀️10-12 brisk walk
The beauty of this strategy is that it’s SHORT, doesn’t matter your fitness level & if you don’t have a walking pad or treadmill, you can do it anywhere on a walking path outside.
Consider doing this type of sprint training twice a week along with resistance training 2-3 times a week to maintain & improve cardio fitness, muscle & bone density.
*As a reminder, visceral fat responds best to this sort of training too!
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