ashleypoptodorova
Hi Aria 🙂
I love this question! So here is the deal, you do not have to have a gym membership to get in great cardio, my best suggestion to optimally burn fat is to do a brisk power walk for 45 minutes to an hour. I actually love incorporating HIIT training into my own routine but not as the ‘main’ course if that makes sense.
I personally always try to aim for atleast 3 steady state cardio sessions with one or two HIIT sessions (I love walking/sprinting or doing a great agility session)
Keep this in mind, the main thing for fat burning is getting off of processed sugars, grains and carbohydrates to fully maximize your efforts in the gym and with cardio.
Also, as long as you are being ACTIVE and moving, do what you most enjoy! Hiking is a great workout but not one I would consider as substitution for your fat burning cardio, so do it (because you love it!) but build it in properly.
So to answer your question simple, yes, HIIT is great, I would suggest short bursts of sprints in between your power walking OR incorporating this into your agility training. I would hold off on the jogging right now as we really are aiming to preserve muscle and tap into fat storage as energy, if not done properly, running can inhibit this.
Make sure you also check out the training tips I posted on the thread yesterday. 🙂 Hugs!!