The Wild Diet summary

There’s one key maxim when it comes to taking on new challenges: quality over quantity. And this is definitely the case when it comes to working out. Your success depends not on how long you exercise, but on how hard you push yourself. In other words, intensity trumps endurance every time.

Compare the physique of a marathon runner to that of a sprinter and ask yourself which athlete has the type of body you want. Chances are, it’s the latter. While endurance athletes tend to be thin and wiry, sprinters are tough, toned and powerful.

There’s a biological explanation for this. Research shows that exercising in rapid, explosive bursts triggers the release of growth hormones and testosterone that burn fat and build muscle, while simultaneously inhibiting the release of stress hormones.

Along with sprinting, high-intensity exercises include pull-ups and squats. Squats are a great example of what’s called a compound full-body exercise. This means that they make muscles in several parts of your body work hard, from your legs and buttocks to your arms, shoulders and core. Sit-ups and bicep curls are examples of isolated exercises which, by contrast, only train muscles in a certain area, burning fewer calories as a result.

Structuring workout sessions around high-intensity, full-body exercises allows you to work out for a short time but still burn an impressive amount of calories. And when we say short, we mean it. The author’s “seven-minute wild workout” barely takes any time out of your day but is a real challenge for your body.

The workout begins with a one-minute warm-up – jumping rope or a boxer’s shuffle are good options here. This is followed by a set of 20-second sprints, with a ten second pause between each interval, for five minutes – that’s ten sets altogether. The workout concludes with a one-minute cooldown, which can be something like jumping rope or jogging at a more relaxed pace.

Once you’ve got the hang of the seven-minute wild workout, you can customize it to your heart’s content. Try doing your sprints up a hill to raise the intensity, or push your body in a different way by applying it to swimming. Whatever you do, be sure to exercise to the max during your 20-second sets. This is what will trigger the release of the hormones needed to burn fat.