When people think about getting fit they imagine marathons, running up and down stadium stairs, or carrying heavy loads through the snow like a Rocky montage.
The truth is that kind of grueling exercise isn't what we need.
We're not so concerned with burning a lot of calories in one go, which is what that kind of tough exercise does. Our goal is to burn smaller amounts of calories, but to burn them every single day. When you exercise at high intensity, sweating, gasping, with a racing heart, your body pulls out all the stops to get you through the ordeal. It floods your system with adrenaline and pushes your muscles to their limit if not beyond.
This is all well and good, but it has the side-effect of leaving you absolutely wrecked. When you do your cardio at high intensity, you'll be tired, sore, or even injured the next day. Even worse, your subconscious will have formed a huge mental barrier to your workout. The mind avoids pain at all costs. It's one of our fundamental survival mechanisms. If you know you have a crushingly difficult cardio session coming up, the excuses your brain throws up to skip it will become very persuasive. You'll be demotivated and less likely to continue your training cycle.
Our approach is to never wreck ourselves with our cardio. We'd rather have 7 light cardio days that burn 200 calories a session than 2 brutal days that burn 700. The daily jumprope or alternative cardio choices set you up to form good habits that you can continue for the rest of your life. The result is safe, sustainable cardio that you actually look forward to!
How can you tell when you're exercising at the right intensity? The easiest way is to check your breathing. You should be just short of being winded when you jump rope or do your alternative cardio. For the kind of steady daily exercise we're going for, if you have to stop and catch your breath, you're working too hard. (At first the rope may take the wind out of you, if that's the case, trust us, that stage will pass soon!)
We're going to keep it light like this for the entire duration of your program. If you just keep it up and never miss a day of rope jumping or alternative cardio, the fat will melt off quickly, without you needlessly wearing yourself out.
One thing you need to realize. This gentler cardio style is not the fastest way to lose fat. Exercising three hours a day will cut fat faster, but it's just not sustainable. Plus, after you let up on the intense exercise your body will think, "Ok, that must have been some kind of emergency, but now that it's over I better get back to storing fat in case it happens again!"
The Kenzai way is slow and steady, and it's pretty much permanent once you get the fat off.
So many people miss this most basic aspect of training. You don't want to shock your body. You don't want to go on a 3 week health kick followed by a 4 week binge. You'll always come out of those experiences mentally battered and with a higher fat percentage than before you started.
Don't just trust us on this, try our way for a 90 day program and see for yourself!
Patrick Reynolds // Kenzai Founder
