Have you ever watched a marathon race? When you see the runners who cross the finish line first, what do they look like? Then after all of the elite runners cross first, and you wait long enough (almost until traffic has been allowed again, and it’s been at least 7 or 8 hours) what kind of runners do you see cross the finish line?

They seem to get heavier, and certainly most of them don’t even look like they could have been mistaken for a runner or even in shape for that matter. They aren’t lean, they don’t look fit. So, what’s my point? It certainly isn’t to make fun of people who run marathons, quite the contrary. I’ve run a marathon and a half-marathon, and I certainly admire, the strength, dedication and focus it takes to conquer such a feat–which is why I’ve only done one of each.

I certainly also realize that it may not be the goal of everyone who takes on such a challenge to become fat-burning machines (although it couldn’t hurt), but to enjoy the challenge and the ride that comes with it.

My point is this: once your body has adapted to a certain exercise, especially at a certain mode (same speed, same route etc) your body adapts to it quickly. After this has happened, you’ve virtually eliminated it as a fat loss tool. This is why running at a steady state becomes useless as a fat loss tool. You burn fewer and fewer calories every time you go out to do something your body has become a sufficient “expert” at.

The key here is sufficiency. You don’t want your body to become sufficient at anything. Here is a week’s worth of ideas that I’ve taken from a week’s worth of my own cardiovascular exercise program:

Monday: Stair exercises:Running up 6 flights hitting every step, walking up 6 flights hitting every other step, jumping rope in between flight, step wide onto each step, walking up steps with a 12lb medicine ball overhead, turn to the side and walk up (laterally), double feet hops up the step, every other step doing double-foot hops with medicine ball.
Tuesday: Treadmill 15% incline @ 3.5mph for 40 meters, and alternate with sprints @ 5 – 7.5mph
Wednesday: Sprints outside on a neighborhood track: alternate between sprinting 100 meters and skipping 100 meters- alternate each for 1 mile, alternate backward running lunges with buttkickers 100 meters each for one mile
Thursday: Rowing machine as fast as your body will allow for 1 minute, then slow your row, for 30 seconds, and speed it up again. (this was fun, but hard as hell, I don’t know how those olympic rowers do it!)
Friday: I just go for a brisk 40 minute walk (this is a challenge for me because I hate walking, I’d prefer to run, but my body has become too accustomed to it, so I look for variations in my running such as on Wednesday’s workout).

So do you get the gist of it? You are only limited by your imagination. You can change the intensity of anything by speeding it up, adding resistance, or weight (just don’t add ankle weights for running or walking-it can mess up your knees, it is okay for leg lifts when you are lying down). For instance, I could go back to Wednesday’s workout and put on a weighted vest and do, not the same workout, but some variation.

Do I look like an idiot doing some of these things? Absolutely! However it gets me where I want to go.

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