Interval Training and The Biggest Loser

Each week I watch the show The Biggest Loser. For those who do not know what that is, it is a reality program where they have a group of obese people. These people are trained by personal trainers and also have to compete in various events. Like other reality shows, someone gets voted off the show each week until there are 3 or 4 left. On this show, the two lowest weight losses for the week go up for elimination. The rest of the group votes on who gets eliminated.

This season they are competing as couples. A few weeks ago, something on the show happened that they never explained. What really perplexed me was that the trainers acted like they didn't know what was going on. Let me explain what happened.

There is one couple where the wife worked really hard in her workouts. She never stopped and she always pushed herself. The husband, on the other hand, would stop and take a lot of rests. The trainer would yell at him to continue and he would run on the treadmill for three or four more steps and then stop. The trainer and other contestants would be upset with him. They considered him a slacker. As a side note, the wife stated that she didn't think he took any more breaks than anyone else. It sure didn't look that way to anyone else.

When it came to weigh in you would think that he wouldn't have as much weight loss as everyone else. That is where everyone was wrong. The wife lost 1 pound while he lost 8 pounds! About half the group lost less weight then him. Everyone was amazed and shocked. They couldn't understand how he did less work but lost more weight.

The answer is interval training. By him stopping or slowing down to catch his breath and then trying to get back to a high intensity he actually ended up burning energy more efficiently. There have been numerous studies showing the benefits of interval training. There are many ways to perform effective interval training. Granted, the way this guy performed benefited him that time but I would bet that he would not show the same gains for very long.

Try this interval training on a treadmill, elliptical or bike for one week and see if you show good results. Warm up at a slow to moderate pace for 5 minutes. Work out at a high intensity for 2 minutes then cut the intensity in half for 3 minutes. Go back to a high intensity for 2 minutes then half intensity for 3 minutes. Do this for a total of 4 times then cool down at a low to moderate intensity for 5 minutes. This is a 30 minute workout that will burn a lot of calories. Perform this rourine for 3 to 5 days and check the results. As long as you haven't changed your eating habits you should lose weight.

Depending on the person, I would make recommendations to either continue this program or I would change it to challenge the body some more. With proper interval training you could lose significant amounts of weight in a reasonable amount of time. Interval is only one piece of a proper and complete training program to better your health.

As a final note, I watch the Biggest Loser because I really enjoy seeing people improve themselves. I really like seeing the transformations at the end. If you haven't seen this show, check it out on Tuesday nights on NBC. They also give some trainer tips and you can see some of the exercises they perform to get them into shape.

Try the interval training above and comment back on how it worked out for you.