Elisette -
Have you actually read the book yet - most of your questions would be answered there.
As I stated before, ya gotta check out the Hussman site...he answers the rest of the questions that you may have after reading "Body-for-LIFE".
The way the BFL Cardio program is laid out, I don't think that soccer, kickboxing, or any other type of class is going to accomplish what you'll get from doing the 20 MAS/HIIT from the book. That doesn't mean you should give up playing soccer or kickboxing if you enjoy it - just do it as an added leisure activity. For example, I enjoy cycling, horseback riding, long walks, hikes, and the occasional Spinning class - but still do my 20 MAS 3 times a week. This was the toughest part for me in the beginning because I was so accustomed to doing at least an hour (usually more) of cardio 6 days a week.
When I started doing the 20 minutes and hit my first 9 and 10, I discovered I had never reached that kind of intensity before in any workout I'd ever done - and I have been experiencing MUCH faster and better results than I ever did doing those long cardio sessions! Check the BFL section of my homepage for more info on that.
Hussman has a Q&A page on his site (I recommend printing the site for later reading - it's got a lot of great info!). Here's a question and answer that you may find interesting:
Quote:
Q Hi John, We are currently doing Tae-Bo for our aerobics, but I'm worried that we won't get the results we desire as quickly as we would with other methods. We do it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, eating about 1 hour after completion. The workout has varying levels of intensity ranging from a 4 to a 10 and are about 20-25 minutes long. Do you have any suggestions?
A Thanks for your note. I'd really like to see you doing at least one, and possibly 2 of your cardio workouts using the specific intensity pattern in Bill's book. It's effective to challenge your lactate system, but in order to know that a 9 is a 9, you have to have a clear idea that you'll be doing it for 1 minute, and that when you're doing a 10, it's the highest level you can sustain for a full minute (without gasping, of course). I would think it's harder to do that if you don't know how long a given period of intensity will last. If you can manage to regulate that intensity so you are challenging yourself, feeling a burn near the end of your 9, getting "active recovery" after that 9, and having sufficient warmup and warmdown, then the Tae-Bo will be effective, but it just seems harder to get at all that if you're not totally in control of the activity. Hope that helps!
And from Pam B's training/motiviation/nutrition document at L&S (if you don't know who Pam B is, ya gotta check out her before and afters on Lean&Strong - she is just INCREDIBLE...a real champ...)
Quote:
CARDIO
I have always done my cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.
For the first 3 challenges I followed the Body for Life program to the letter except I bumped up my cardio to 30 minutes per session after a few weeks. I still made sure I hit the 9's and 10's every workout (that is SO important). I used the recumbent bike for the first 6 months and then added the treadmill and elliptical trainer to my workouts. As I got in better shape and needed more challenging cardio, I started using the stepmill (where the stair rotate like an escalator). It wasn’t until my fourth challenge when I was preparing for a bodybuilding contest that I started doing cardio 6 days per week. I found that when I was doing cardio 6 days per week, it became MUCH harder to stick to the nutrition plan. I have always done intervals with my cardio. Even when I increased my daily time to 45 minutes, I still did intervals, just not as intense. I would say I hit a level 8 on my intervals when I extended the duration past 30 minutes.
My opinion on High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) where you do one minute walking and one minute running all out: It is excellent for burning fat!!! I will only do HIIT 3 times per week for a short duration like 3 or 4 weeks. It can really burn you out fast. I did 30 minutes and hit 10 level 10 intervals per session. WHEW!!!
So...in closing...if you enjoy playing soccer, kickboxing, do that as a leisure activity, but for BFL ya gotta do the 20 MAS or HIIT.
Later!
Havent missed a workout yet and I can honestly say that there hasnt been a day that I have thought about missing one as well. 
) and then my final bottle throughout the evening. It seems to work. Now on days off thats another story but I'm working on it. I truly notice a difference when I am dehydrated. My body has reached the point of craving the stuff -- thankfully!!
