At the gym the majority of people I see who are looking to lose weight spend most of their time doing steady state aerobic exercise on the elliptical trainer or treadmill and focusing on the calories they are burning in each workout session.

However, this is a very time inefficient way of looking to lose fat, because as soon as you step off the elliptical trainer or treadmill the calorie burn of your workout stops.

With my personal training clients I focus on training methods that aid in continuing their calorie burn long after the workout is over, which can be done through anaerobic interval training. Studies show that anaerobic interval training is more effective at burning fat, and maintaining and building muscle mass than long lower intensity aerobic workouts.

At its simplest level, interval training refers to a period of work followed by a period of rest. The key to anaerobic interval training is intensity - a period of HARD work followed by a period of rest.

Below are some examples of anaerobic interval training using gym-based cardio equipment:

Elliptical trainer

• Warm up with 2 minutes at a steady pace.
• Perform 8 x 20 second sprints (or going as fast as you can) with 40 seconds recovery.
• Cool down with 3 minutes at a steady pace.

Rowing machine

• Warm up with 2 minutes at a steady pace.
• Perform 6 x 30 second sprints (or going as fast as you can) with 30 seconds recovery.
• Cool down with 2 minutes at a steady pace.

So if you're looking to get into shape and tone up, give some anaerobic interval training a go! And keep an eye out on my blog over the coming weeks where I will delve more deeply into the area of fat loss and the best ways of achieving it!

NOTE: anaerobic interval training is hard work, and if you have any cardiovascular problems or other health concerns, anaerobic interval training will not be suitable.