A few weeks ago we watched a program called "The truth about fat" and one of the things they showed was that the best way to burn fat is to exercise hard and slow in a ratio of 2-1. Their volunteers wore a mask connected to equipment on their back and ran for 40 seconds, walked 20, and they could accurately measure how many calories were being burned. They did this for 20 minutes, and unlike running for 20 minutes the increased calorie burn rate continued for hours afterwards. Several times a week I exercise on an elliptical trainer and I tend to keep up a steady fast pace, get my heart rate up and sweat it out for 30 minutes.
So, I thought I'd try this new regime to see if I could lose some weight (I'm 6'1" and 178lbs). I downloaded an interval timer onto my phone, and set it for 1 minute / 30 seconds. My heart rate goes up and down during the workout as I sprint and relax, and I still sweat a load. No weight loss but my BP has come down by 20 points after a few days and has stayed down for several weeks now - totally unexpected, not what I was aiming for, but very satisfying. My BP has been high normal for at least 7 years, the high reading being in the 120 to 140 range, sometimes in the 140's, and I've done all the usual things in the past few years like cut out all salt, stop eating ready meals with all the salt they contain, etc. But this new exercise regime has it down below 110 just about every day and low 120's occasionally. The low reading is now usually in the 60's or 70's.
Next week we start a 6 month driving vacation where I won't be able to keep up this exercise regime so it will be interesting to see if the BP starts creeping back up. (I'll take my BP machine with me)
So, I thought I'd try this new regime to see if I could lose some weight (I'm 6'1" and 178lbs). I downloaded an interval timer onto my phone, and set it for 1 minute / 30 seconds. My heart rate goes up and down during the workout as I sprint and relax, and I still sweat a load. No weight loss but my BP has come down by 20 points after a few days and has stayed down for several weeks now - totally unexpected, not what I was aiming for, but very satisfying. My BP has been high normal for at least 7 years, the high reading being in the 120 to 140 range, sometimes in the 140's, and I've done all the usual things in the past few years like cut out all salt, stop eating ready meals with all the salt they contain, etc. But this new exercise regime has it down below 110 just about every day and low 120's occasionally. The low reading is now usually in the 60's or 70's.
Next week we start a 6 month driving vacation where I won't be able to keep up this exercise regime so it will be interesting to see if the BP starts creeping back up. (I'll take my BP machine with me)