Amazing Benefits Of Burst Training Workouts

If you’re someone over the age of thirty-five looking to build lean muscle and lose unwanted body fat, burst training is the most effective type of workout you can do. What is burst training? It’s high intensity-short duration resistance training that works to stimulate hormonal responses that speed up fat loss.

The biggest benefit of burst training is the impact it has on increasing powerful fat burning hormones and there’s scientific evidence to prove it.

Hormones like adrenaline and growth hormone stimulate fat breakdown. They work by triggering hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), an enzyme the helps release fat from the cells. Traditional low-moderate intensity resistance training or cardio does little to create this hormonal response. Burst training on the other hand fires up your central nervous system which ignites your metabolism.

A University of Colorado study found that the hormonal and central nervous system responses were lower in people exercising at low-moderate intensities. Increasing growth hormone and adrenaline release is the secret to reducing body fat. The best way to do this is with short-duration, high-intensity weight training, and cardio interval training.

Burst training includes high intensity weight training, bodyweight movements, and explosive exercises. You can use a wide variety of exercises but the key element is working the large muscle groups with an overload stimulus. Traditional free weight exercises like the ones listed below work extremely well.

• Barbell Bench Press
• Barbell Bent-Over Rows
• Barbell Squats
• Barbell Shrugs
• Barbell Overhead Shoulder Press
• Barbell Hang Cleans
• Barbell Power-Cleans
• Barbell Dead-Lifts
• Barbell Upright Rows
Barbell Lunges

Of course many of the above exercises could be completed with dumbbells as well. Examples of the bodyweight exercises commonly used in burst training include:

• Push-Up’s
• Pull-Up’s
• Mountain Climbers
• Mountain Jumpers
• Bear Crawls
• Plyo-box jumps
• Jump Rope
• Jump Squats
• Core/Abdominal exercises

There are endless ways you can put together a burst training workout. The whole idea is working the muscles with high-intensity, explosive movements, then rest briefly and repeat.

At Shaping Concepts we specialize in burst training workouts to help our clients create amazing body transformations. The results of our clients who use this workout method speak for the overall effectiveness. We’ve simply found no better way to develop total body fitness, health, and human performance.

People often question the effectiveness of a thirty minute fitness routine but one time through a burst training workout and you’ll be a believer. Please understand that if you’re new to exercise there will be a period of progression with functional exercise before you go “all out” with burst training. You must be able to work with your own bodyweight as resistance before progressing to weight training for example.

It’s also important to build what’s called an “aerobic base” with low-moderate intensity cardio routines before progressing to the cardio equivalent of burst training called interval training.

The progression of healthy individuals to burst training for resistance training and interval training for cardio is the one-two punch for maximum fat burning and lean muscle development. The progression we use with at Shaping Concepts goes like this:

Level One: Starting A Fitness Program

Resistance Workouts: Bodyweight and functional movements (medicine ball, resistance band, stability ball, etc).

Cardio Workouts: Low-moderate intensity aerobic cardio routines (50-75% max heart rate).

Level Two: Progression to Burst Training

Resistance Workouts: Introducing free weight exercises and establishing proper form and technique. Continue to increase intensity for improvements in muscle strength, development, and endurance.

Cardio Workouts: Moderate intensity cardio routines (80-85% max heart rate).

Level Three: Burst Training

Resistance Workouts: High-intensity, short duration, explosive workouts using all exercise modalities.

Cardio Workouts: Combination of aerobic exercise on days of resistance workouts and high-intensity interval training on off days (95-100% max heart rate).