Getting Fit Fridays: A Biggest Loser Program For Ordinary People

Nobody has time to work out five hours each day like the contestants on "The Biggest Loser" do.  But if you're looking to drastically change your fitness (and body), Robert Huizenga, M.D., and designer of the show's fitness regime, says two hours of exercise a day can produce dramatic results.

Here is his pared-down yet rigorous program:

1. Work out twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon or evening-six days a week.  You burn more calories in two separate intense sessions than you do in two consecutive hours of exercise.  He says, "And go to bed early so you can get up early. Sleep is essential to weight loss."

2.  Walk, jog or run for your morning workout.  "People naturally use a higher level of exertion-and as a result burn more calories-with jogging compared with exercising on equipment like a stationary bike or elliptical machine," he says,

3. Mix it up.  For your afternoon session, alternate circuit training with any aerobic exercise. This can be biking, swimming, rowing, skating, basketball or tennis.  The strength training builds muscle mass which will help your body burn fat, even at rest.

4.  Work out at an intensity that feels difficult. "You should find it hard to carry on a conversation for as much of the workout as you can," says Dr. Huizenga. And increase your intensity with each workout.  Low-level to moderately intense exercise won't cut it for weight loss, he warns.  An obese adult would have to walk for more than 33 hours at a moderate intensity to lose on percent of their body weight in fat; jogging would result in the same fat loss in 11 hours."

Now go and get moving!

(Article found in Runner's World, February 2011)