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This is a follow-up post to my article, So You Want To Start Running?
Running isn’t for everybody.
Maybe you’re just not ready to run yet. You like the idea of running in the future, but don’t feel in the right kind of shape now. Maybe you feel too heavy, or you’re embarrassed to be seen running. Maybe the weather is too awful. Maybe you’ve just paid a fortune for that gym membership and want to make sure you get the best return on your investment.
Or maybe you just don’t like to run, period.
Between December 2007 and March 2008 I entered a fitness program where I lost 41 pounds of weight over a 13-week period. My bodyweight dropped from 218 pounds (15.6 stones, 98.9 kilos) to 177 pounds (12.6 stones, 80.3 kilos).
This plan, which I originally termed “16 Weeks of Pain” - even though I got the results I desired three weeks shy of that total - was extensively documented on a blog I set-up.
There are three important things you should know about the success I had with this regime:
- I pretty much ate (and drank) what I wanted (choosing low or non-fat options when they were available), but kept my average daily calories at around the 2,200 level for the entire program. What this means is that whereas on some days I may have gone out to dinner, or attended a party or some other kind of social gathering or event (i.e., Christmas Day), my calories might have spiked to as many as 5,000 in a single day. However, when this happened I was mindful to eat less overall calories before and certainly afterwards, so over the course of that week my average remained at around the 2,200 mark. (Note: 2,200 was right for me as a man who weighed 218 pounds when the program began. Your own requirements will be different.)
- I lifted weights 3-4 days each week. (I’ll be documenting more on exactly what I did here in the weeks ahead.)
- I did cardio 4-6 days each week, but I never ran a single step. In fact, I walked all the way. And I burned a massive amount of calories doing it.
How did I manage this? It was easy as H-I-T. Hills, Intensity and a Treadmill!
Running isn’t for everybody. It is a supreme way to get into shape and in and of itself has enormous rewards for the body and mind. But for various reasons running will not always be an option for you, much like it wasn’t for me back in December last year. I was overweight. I was heavy. And I was not, in any way shape or form, fit. Certainly not fit enough to begin an immediate running program. At 218 pounds there was a reasonable chance that running at that point in my life might have had a significant impact on my knees, tendons and other joints, and I felt it wasn’t worth the risk. I needed to figure out an alternative.
So I walked, and I developed the H-I-T program. It’s unbelievably simple, but extremely effective and the benefits are significant and immediate. If you stick to it, you will lose weight - I guarantee it.
Moreover, the H-I-T program will burn more calories over the same duration of time that most people burn when they are running normally. Imagine that - the guy next to you, looking like he’s working twice as hard, is burning as many as fifty per cent less calories.
Indeed, when I moved up to hour-long H-I-T workouts, I was burning up between 900-1000 calories in each session. (Note: Again, results will vary for you. I weighed more than 200 pounds for many weeks and always worked at a very high intensity.)
(HIT also typically stands for ‘High Intensity Training’, which is more than appropriate here.)
Here’s what you need to do.
Join A Gym
Or buy an expensive treadmill, because that’s what you’ll be using. Most gyms go out of their way to have the latest technology, and any treadmill that was produced in the last five years should be more than sufficient. My gym uses Life Fitness treadmills, but the brand isn’t in any way important. All that matters is that it is durable and has the following programmable features:
- Full control over speed (I’ve never seen a treadmill that doesn’t)
- A ‘level’ setting (i.e., a measure of difficulty, usually between 1-20)
- Inclines (i.e, the treadmill can shift up or down)
- A ‘random’ option
It’s also useful if the machine has an option for you to enter your weight so that it can track your calorie expenditure as accurately as possible.
What You Will Need
We’re not running here so we don’t need to put such a premium on the quality of our apparel, but be mindful that cheap and unsuitable footwear and socks will really increase the chances of you having problems with blisters. And if you’ve ever experienced the pain of a really bad blister on your feet, you’ll know how miserable it makes any kind of fitness work.
Much like in the advice I gave in my article on starting running, I would recommend buying a half-decent pair of appropriate running or cross-training sneakers. Somewhere in the region of £40 ($80). If you only wear them to the gym (or when you run) they will last at least six months and it’s a solid investment.
These are your feet. You use them every day. Take care of them!
Aside from that you’ll also need a pair of comfortable shorts (be mindful that they aren’t too baggy, otherwise they will rub and this is again a source of major discomfort) and a t-shirt that is neither too loose or too tight.
Bring a towel. You will sweat.
You will also need a water bottle. At least a litre. Tap water is fine.
Buy An MP3 Player
An optional extra is an iPod, or other MP3 player. Working on a treadmill can be very dull. Many modern pieces of equipment have built-in televisions and radios but I’ve always found that if I’m watching those, I can also see the timer that is tracking my workout. What this means, of course, is that the brain drifts into the ‘watched pot’ state - you’re always glancing over at the clock and as a result it drags on forever. And ever. And ever.
What I like to do when I’m at the gym is to take my towel and use it to cover up the entire display. I then switch off as much as I possibly can, completely avoiding looking at the clock. I find an MP3 player works wonders here in helping me to focus.
Also, there’s a clear correlation between listening to music and feeling that time is passing. You know the average song is approximately 3-4 minutes in length, so when a song finishes, you know that 3-4 minutes must have passed. When five songs have played, that means 15-20 minutes. After ten, 30-40. What I do is tell myself that I won’t look at the timer until, say, eight songs have passed (depending on the length of the workout) - and then when I lift up the towel, I know a minimum of 24 minutes will have passed (very few songs are less than three minutes in length), and possibly as many as 32. It’s a system that really works.
I will suggest that you are mindful about what kind of music you listen to while working out. Every song needs to be upbeat and motivational. Avoid depressing or ‘navel-gazing’ music, long songs (i.e., more than five minutes) or anything that will make time feel like it is slowing down.
(I’ll be writing an article on creating the best ‘Workout Mixtape’ soon.)
Stretching
As I said here, I never stretch before a workout. I walk a lot on a daily basis and a combination of this and ensuring I keep a reasonable amount of salt in my diet (albeit of the low-sodium variety) has, I am sure, contributed to the fact that I have never had any kind of cramp in my entire life. I’ve also never had a Charley horse or anything like that. I have no idea how these things feel, but I understand they’re pretty painful. So, if you’re somebody who routinely suffers from cramp or other kinds of joint and muscle stiffness, do stretch before every workout. Ask your trainer for advice.
Just H-I-T It!
When I was immersed in my “16 Weeks of Pain” program, I used to do cardio in some capacity six days each week. Typically, I would do 15-20 minutes at the end of each strength-training workout, and then 30-60 minutes every other day (i.e., on my ‘day off’ from lifting weights). If you are beginning this program for the first time, and certainly if you’re not used to extensive cardio work, I would recommend starting off with 15 minutes, 3-4 days per week. Each week, or when you are ready (certainly no more than two weeks), raise this by five minutes. So in week two you’ll be doing 20 minutes, in week three 25, then 30, and so on.
An hour is more than enough. I wouldn’t suggest you ever need to go above this. Also be mindful that some gyms have a very strict policy on the total time you are allowed to use a piece of equipment. (If this becomes an issue, there’s another great reason to cover the display with your towel.)
You’ll need to program your treadmill - if you’re unsure how to do this, ask a trainer.
Avoid the ‘Quick Start’ option, selecting ‘Manual’ instead (your machine may term this in a different way).
The following options may appear in a different order depending on the brand of your equipment. Just ensure you enter each detail correctly when it arrives.
The five areas we’ll be programming are:
- The duration of the workout
- Your weight
- The workout type
- Intensity
- Speed
Duration - Enter the time of your workout. As an absolute beginning you should enter 15 minutes. If you are a fairly seasoned athlete, or somebody who is already reasonably fit or has some experience in cardio, you will probably want to experiment with a 30 minute workout, or possibly more. As said, try to add five minutes each week, building up to a total of one hour.
Weight - Enter your weight. Be as accurate as possible. Nobody is looking at your screen, so don’t cheat, as you’ll only be cheating yourself. The calorie tracker on treadmills is not 100 per cent accurate but it’s a useful tool.
Workout - This may be called ‘Program’ or ‘Type’ or something similar. The setting you want is ‘random’ or ‘random hills’. What this means is that over the course of your workout the machine will gently but randomly adjust the incline of the treadmill. Don’t worry - it never suddenly leaps five per cent. It’s a fairly causal grade adjustment. This is the big secret to why this program works. You must set this hills feature. If your machine does not have a random option, simply choose ‘hills’. If you have to select the gradient yourself, you want it at a minimum of 10 per cent.
Level - The level you input into a treadmill dictates how hard your workout will be, i.e., the intensity. Because we are using the ‘random’ option, this means the machine will consider this number when determining how steep your hills will be. Set it to the absolute possible maximum. On my machine, this is level 20, but it may be a different number for you. Don’t try and guess the maximum, or choose a lower number because this is your first workout - set it as high as it will possibly go, holding down the ‘up’ arrow if you have to.
Speed - Speed is the second area where the newcomer to this program can make some adjustments to ensure that the workouts are not too difficult (the other being duration). While it is important that you are working out, and not just enjoying a casual stroll while chatting to a friend (as many people increasingly seem to be doing on treadmills at the gym), it is important to remain motivated and it’s human nature to lose interest in something that is too hard too early. When I started this program I set my treadmill speed at 6kph (about 4mph). I tried to increase this by approximately 0.2kph each week, peaking at about 7.5kph for 60 minutes. I would recommend you experiment with a starting speed of 5kph-7kph (depending on your fitness level) and progress from there. Be mindful that the machine will start flat or with a very low incline and then the ‘random’ factor will kick in (usually every couple of minutes) and what seems very easy at the beginning can be quite tough on a 15 per cent grade! You want to avoid ever having to slow down as that can have quite a negative impact on your mental approach. So be sensible in the speed you choose, but don’t make it easy on yourself.
Hit ‘go’ and enjoy! 
Sip, but don’t gulp water fairly regularly.
When your workout is over, cool/warm down for approximately 10 per cent of your total workout time (i.e., for a 20 minute workout, this would be 2 minutes) and maybe stretch a little before sitting down.
As I mentioned above, when I lost all that weight I was doing this exact method of cardio about six times a week alongside my strength-lifting regime. If you’re a beginner to this program, or certainly to cardio work, 15-30 minutes 3-4 times per week will be more than sufficient to put you on the path to great physical shape.
If you weigh more than 200 pounds - certainly if you weigh a lot more than that - you can easily burn 400-500 calories every half an hour doing the H-I-T cardio workout with high intensity. This is more than most normal runners will burn - i.e., those running on a flat treadmill at a moderate speed. You can observe the reality behind this yourself simply by glancing over at the other workout screens around you.
As I have said, my hour-long workouts using H-I-T routinely tipped above the 1000 calorie level. Using this tool (and my strength-lifting regime), I had two instances where I lost 7 pounds in one week, whilst on my way to dropping 41 pounds overall.
The benefits of an incline workout are numerous:
- Because you start off at a moderate pace and still see great results, it’s suitable for anybody
- It puts less stress on the body, including the knees
- Engages the lower back, calf and heel muscles and tendons
- The heart gets a better workout
- Because you’re not running, there’s less risk of losing your balance and falling off the treadmill (not something anyone really enjoys)
- Overall there’s less chance of sustaining any kind of injury
I can’t think of any negatives offhand.
Just remember:
- Hills
- Intensity
- Treadmill
Try it. Maybe give it a 28-day trial. The results will be worth it.
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