What is High Intensity Interval Training?
5 reasons to try HIIT
by Sarah Ramras
Goals of this Article
- Understand what high intensity interval training is, and why it works.
- Think about how you can incorperate HIIT into your workout repertoire.
There are loads of different ways to exercise, and all claim to provide you with amazing results. Whether it’s the fancy new piece of equipment or the expensive DVD set, your body is bound to become satiated at one point or another. High intensity interval training, or HIIT, is a way of exercising that doesn’t require any special equipment or a pricey class at the gym. By definition, HIIT is any type of workout that alternates between periods of intense bursts of energy and periods of less-intense activity/rest. Here are 6 great benefits of this type of workout:
- Time efficient — For those of you with busy schedules (basically all of us), there’s just not always enough time to jog on the treadmill for an hour. 15 minutes of interval training will totally do the trick in no time at all.
- Burn that fat — HIIT workouts help you burn more fat and calories for hours after you exercise. What makes HIIT training so effective as a fat burner is that it produces excess post-oxygen consumption (EPOC).
- Heart health — HIIT helps you to reach that anaerobic zone, which keeps your heart healthy!
- You’re losing weight, not muscle — Steady state cardio usually encourages muscle loss, whereas weight training and HIIT allows you to lose fat instead of that hard earned muscle!
- Increased metabolism — HIIT encourages production of your human growth hormone during the 24 hours after your workout. HGH increases your caloric burn and even slows down the aging process!
- Challenging and never boring — This short workout will force you to work your hardest the entire time, therefore you won’t have any time to get bored! There are tons of different HIIT workouts that keep things fresh. You can turn any activity into HIIT. For example, instead of running 3 miles at a steady pace. Try sprinting as fast as you can for 20 seconds, then walk for 10 then repeat 8 times.
Here’s an example of a HIIT workout. Perform these exercises as close to 100% of your ability with 20 seconds of rest in between each one. Your heart rate should rise, then drop, then rise again and so on.
1. 30 jumping jacks
2. 50 sit-ups
3. 40 jump squats
4. 20 push-ups
5. 20 jumping lunges
6. 15 triceps dips
7. 30 seconds of burpees
8. 60 seconds of plank
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