Prevention is better than cure. This also applies to the kilos that each of us, more or less, will put on during the Christmas holidays. Period particularly at risk for our physical shape, as confirmed by the latest ISTAT data, according to which the weight of Italians will increase by an average of three kilos compared to the pre-holiday period.
But the fear of gaining weight and throwing away months of sacrifices and work in the gym shouldn’t lead us to excessive sacrifices, counting the calories in every single bite and not enjoying Christmas lunch. In fact, it is possible to sit at the table with the awareness that even a sgarro is not an attack on our line. How? We have to play in advance, and learn, through specific workouts, to speed up our metabolism.
The workouts to speed up the metabolism
“Suitable for both beginners and experts, High Intensity Interval Training, in addition to providing an excellent response in terms of muscle quality, gives the body a metabolic boost that significantly helps burn fat faster – he explains Marco Colciaghi, Personal Trainer and instructor of Fitness and Body Building studio TTCAGE – High Intensity Interval Training consists of the alternation of short, very vigorous efforts, with a large anaerobic component, followed by periods of recovery of little intensity, until reaching the muscular and/or metabolic exhaustion. There is no precise duration, however it is advisable not to go beyond 30 minutes of training, with times that can vary according to the personal level of physical activity. In this case, High Intensity Interval Training favors the improvement of glucose metabolism and increases training efficiency, both in terms of physical conditioning (muscular and metabolic), and of intra and post-exercise calorie consumption.
There is a first warm-up phase of about 5 minutes, and after a minute we start with the HIIT circuit, where each exercise must be performed for 40 seconds, interspersed with 20 seconds of walking or jumping on the spot. All non-stop, repeated 4 or 6 times, depending on the level of training. “High Intensity Interval Training allows you to maximize training in the event of time limits – explains Marco Colciaghi – in fact, more often than not, the time factor itself represents an obstacle, real or taken as an excuse, to carrying out physical activity. Yet, in addition to High Intensity Interval Training, there is also another method, particularly suitable for the laziest, which helps to keep fit, without necessarily having to spend too much time in the gym. This is ElectroMyoStimulation. EMS, or Electro Muscle Stimulation, thanks to the use of electronic equipment, allows a selective intensification of natural electrical stimuli, recruiting the deeper layers of the muscle, which would otherwise be difficult to reach through traditional training alone . That is, it is a complete workout of the whole body”.
Until recently, Electro Muscle Stimulation was almost exclusively the preserve of professional sportsmen and health experts. Today that is no longer the case. Indeed, it is particularly suitable for people who cannot devote much time to training. Electrostimulation can be used to complete the activity, or to promote daily well-being, such as relaxing the muscles after a stressful day or counteracting the feeling of heaviness in the legs. “The training we use applies EMS to a voluntary muscle contraction activated during a dynamic training course – concludes Colciaghi – in fact, while performing a series of functional, isometric and isotonic exercises, the muscles are further stimulated through the electrodes positioned inside the wireless suit, arranged one for each muscle group. Thus all the main muscle groups of the body are involved simultaneously and not just a specific district. However, each muscle group can also be stimulated separately, based on specific goals and needs. The system offers us a choice of more than 20 preset but all customizable programs, in this way, according to personal needs, everyone will have a tailor-made workout using the most specific program with the EMS. This is more effective than a normal gym session because the use of electronic equipment allows you to work on the body in a different way compared to traditional training, obtaining highly effective results in a shorter period of time than traditional training. The effect of 20 minutes of EMS training is in fact comparable to several hours of traditional training”.
Last Updated: Tuesday 20 December 2022, 11:24
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