There are many workouts out there today to help increase the metabolism burning abilities of your body. Some are looking at the Tabata research and high intensity interval training (HIIT) programs to burn fat. These are excellent concepts and they are so successful because they push your body to such a limit that it still thinks it is working out for the 24 hours.

This article is going to tell you how you can combine these techniques to get you ready for the holidays. We all increase our caloric intakes during the holidays and pack on a few extra pounds. However, if we get our bodies ready for the calorie flow, we can get ahead of the game.

The trick is to push the heart rate. This may require getting a heart rate monitor. It is a great idea to have one anyways while you are doing cardio, because it is smart to know where you are.

When your heart rate is in the maximum zone of 90% or more, your body goes into over drive. The shock of this demands other parts to step up their game too and this calls for more fuel. Your body taps into these reserves and continues to do so for hours after you have stopped to repair and prepare.

The way to get your heart to this level is through interval running. I personally like to go off of distance instead of time, but time is the most beneficial way to reach this goal.

You want to do a nice leisurely jog for about five minutes and then you want to do a full sprint for 30 seconds and then a slow jog for the next 90 seconds. During the 90 second window you want to keep moving and focus solely on your breathing. Take deep controlled breaths in, hold it, and slowly exhale. Then it is time to sprint again for 30 more seconds. Repeat this for 10 total intervals and then another five minute cool down.

If you are going the distance route, I do a quarter mile sprint and half mile break. I do this because time does not motivate me as much as distance covered.

At the end of this, you will be exhausted and actually feel your body working overtime for the next hour or so.