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This question has been coming up. I get emails like this: “Kate, is it better to do intervals or Accelerators in my workout?”

Well, both are awesome options for burning fat fast that can be included in your workouts and program. Let me explain.

Accelerator in Your Workout

A fat loss accelerator, particularly a barbell complex, can be used at the start of your workout, when you are feeling fresh.

The reason for this is you want prime your body for a strength session. To get the most out of a complex, it’s best to perform this when you are not fatigued as it requires a high level of skill and power.

This is a metabolic stimulus, meaning it will have a conditioning effect on your body rather than directly improve your strength. Lifting too heavy in these initial sets will blow your whole workout. Please, avoid this mistake at all costs.

Instead be conservative on your first attempt. You want to select a weight that you can lift overhead at least 10 times.

So this is how it works depending on the structure of your workout:

A)    Foam roll (focus on the tight, sore spots)

B)   Dynamic warm up

C)   Core training (stabilization and dynamic stabilization)

D)   Fat Loss Accelerator

E)   Strength training

F)    Foam roll and stretch

Think of Accelerators as your workout appetizer. You don’t need to do intervals at the end of your workout if using an Accelerator at the beginning. As I advise my clients when eating out: it’s either an appetizer or dessert – choose one.

Adding this Fat Loss Accelerator circuit into your workout gets your heart rate elevated, and acts as an appetizer for the strength training sets. It allows you to maximize your fat burning potential in the remainder of your workout through intense metabolic conditioning.

Accelerators Replace Your Intervals

Here’s where the magic happens. I love to use Accelerators to replace those boring intervals. There are two options here:

1. In Your Workout

Depending on the structure of your workout, this is how you can replace your intervals:

A)    Foam roll (focus on the tight, sore spots)

B)   Dynamic warm up

C)   Core training (stabilization and dynamic stabilization)

D)   Strength training

E)    Fat Loss Accelerator

F)    Foam roll and stretch

Keep the Accelerator shorter – like 10 minutes max. You can simply reduce the number of rounds you do. Also, start by using Bodyweight Accelerators to finish your workout strong!

2. Your Entire Workout

On the days you would normally hit the gym and bang out intervals on the dreadmill, keep walking towards the free weights, pick yourself a weight you can lift overhead for 10-12 reps. If you’re still unsure, particularly with the barbell complexes, I always suggest to start with the empty bar (Ladies, start with a 20-30lb bar). You can always add more weight. Go too heavy in the first round and you will be sorry.

Proceed to claim your space. In 15-20 minutes, doing Accelerators will elicit a physiological response similar to interval training, just with greater total body effect. Wouldn’t you like your upper body to look awesome?

Of course you do!

The good thing about Accelerators is you use the same weight for the entire circuit. Why is this so cool? Well, in a crowded gym, you don’t have to worry about walking away for a moment, only to return and find your area is gone (boy, I really hate that). In fact, it happened to me this morning and the gym was empty!

Tip: Set Up Your Program

For best results, you need to set up an accelerators/metabolic intervals program as you do for your strength. There is no benefit in doing more than four interval sessions per week. In fact, you are more likely to get hurt and burn out – which does not accelerate fat loss. This is a classic mistake I see on certain workout DVD programs. Wouldn’t you prefer to do the minimum dose of exercise necessary if it elicits the same results?

Aim for 2-3 accelerator sessions and focus on the quality of the intervals. There are no rest breaks between the exercises in fat loss accelerators for a reason. The longer rest period at the end of the circuit is very important. It gives your body a chance to recover and prepare for the next round. Skipping this rest break does not make you a hero.

Warning:  if you don’t need to take a break it means you are not going hard enough. Your intensity should be such that you need to take a rest. Also, lowering your intensity and skipping a rest break turns the whole “interval” workout into steady state cardio session, which is the one thing we’re trying to avoid.

Variety with your intervals is essential for success and your sanity. However, it must be clear that randomness is not variety. Stay the course. Once you have your accelerators planned, you should stick with these same circuits for at least four weeks. This gives you body a chance to adapt to the movement.

For example, you might plan on 3 different metabolic workouts (A, B, C) for the week. Now it’s fine to switch the days around, but keep your workouts consistent.

Fat loss accelerators are a progressive hybrid training system, so you can progress during the month, unlike random interval training programs. Instead of completely changing the movements in the circuits week to week, you can progress by decreasing the rest period or increasing the resistance.

The Final Word

Intervals are still an effective way to burn fat in short amount of time, but Accelerators provide you with an edge. Remember, Accelerators use the principles of metabolic resistance training and workout complexes, so it’s total body conditioning. Your upper body doesn’t miss out on all the fun – hooray for sexy arms!

Accelerators require 100% focus and all of your energy. Be present. Close your email, log out of Facebook and let’s hit it.

Make sure you get the simple things right, like sleeping 7-8 hours and eating a whole, unprocessed foods. This will help you maximize your fat burning capacity and improve your performance.

Bring your ‘A’ game, spend less time working out and have more fun watching the fat melt off your body. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Ready to take up the challenge and go hard with Fat Loss Accelerators? Click here to accelerate your fat loss.

Have an awesome day,

KV

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