High-intensity interval training (HIIT)
describes any workout that alternates between intense bursts of
activity and fixed periods of less-intense activity or even complete
rest.
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Read on for eight proven benefits of HIIT:
.Super-efficient HIIT is the ideal workout for a busy schedule—whether you want to squeeze in a workout during your lunch break or to get in shape for a fast-approaching event. Research shows you can achieve more progress in a mere 15 minutes of interval training (done three times a week) than the girl jogging on the treadmill for an hour. (A 10-minute fat-blasting cardio routine that burns more calories than a half hour on the treadmill!) And according to a 2011 study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, just 2 weeks of high-intensity intervals improves your aerobic capacity as much as 6 to 8 weeks of endurance training.
2. Burn More Fat:
Not only do you burn more calories during a HIIT workout, but the effect of all that intense exertion kicks your body’s repair cycle into hyperdrive. That means you burn more fat and calories in the 24 hours after a HIIT workout than you do after, say, a steady-pace run.
3. Healthier Heart:
Most people aren’t used to pushing into the anaerobic zone (that lovely place where you can’t breathe and you feel like your heart is trying to jump out of your chest). But in this case, extreme training produces extreme results. One 2006 study found that after 8 weeks of doing HIIT workouts, subjects could bicycle twice as long as they could before the study, while maintaining the same pace.
4. No Equipment Necessary:
Running, biking, jump roping, and rowing all work great for HIIT, but you don’t need any equipment to get it done. High knees, fast feet, or anything plyometric like jumping lunges work just as well to get your heart rate up fast. In fact, some equipment like dumbbells can make HIIT less effective because you want the focus to be on pushing your heart to its max, not your biceps.
5. Lose Weight, Not Muscle:
Anyone who has been on a diet knows that it’s hard to not lose muscle mass along with fat. While steady state cardio seems to encourage muscle loss, studies show that both weight training and HIIT workouts allow dieters to preserve their hard-earned muscles while ensuring most of the weight lost comes from fat stores. Win/win!
6. Increase Metabolism:
7. Do It Anywhere:.
You can do it in a boat, you can do it with a goat. You can do it here or there, you can do it anywhere! Dr. Seuss would have loved HIIT. Since it’s such a simple concept—go at maximum effort for a short period of time followed by a recovery period and repeat—you can adapt it to whatever time and space constraints you have.
8. Challenging:
This is not a workout you can do while reading a magazine or chatting with your friend. Because it’s so short, you will be working hard the whole time. The trade-off is this format offers seasoned exercisers a new challenge and new exercisers a quick way to see results. You may be in pain, you may be sucking wind, but you definitely won’t be bored!
So of course I went to YouTube to find some videos and a ton of them came up. Now, since I read that this type of workout in intense, I searched for beginner HIIT workouts. I found this video and decided to give it a try...
Honey, let me tell you this was no joke. I was like ok, it's only 20ish minutes, I can do this. Let's just say after a two week gym hiatus this was not the way to jump back in. I lasted all of ten minutes before I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest. Lol! Now simply because I didn't finish the entire video on the first round does not mean I have given up. I will work my way up to finishing this within the next couple weeks and I plan to do a HIIT workout about twice a week on days when I can't make it to the gym. Have you ever tried a HIIT workout? Do you like it?
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