9 Benefits of HIIT
You may have heard of it before . . . HIIT. High Intensity Interval Training. We use it a lot in our bootcamps that we train because it's super effective in burning fat. It is short bursts of cardio-based exercises that push your body into using energy and burning calories from your fat stores WELL after your workout is finished! HIIT Workouts are intended to push your heart rate to 85-90% of its max. When we talk INTENSITY, we mean YOUR intensity. Those new to working out don't necessarily want to push to the rate of those that have been working out or training intensely for a longer period of time. Want to save time on your workouts? Add it to your next session and here is why . . .
9 Benefits of HIIT
1. Most HIIT Workouts are 30 minutes or less
Because HIIT is short bursts of cardio in your workout, you increase your heart rate and fat burning capacity in a shorter amount of time. Research shows that you get more out of a 15 minute HIIT workout than you do 30 minutes on the treadmill doing steady state cardio.
2. Stronger Cardiovascular System
Doing interval training puts your body into a whole new realm. It's called the anaerobic zone (think "I can't breathe" or "OMG I'm going to die") and if you have just started working out or haven't really done a lot of cardio, you may feel it BIG TIME. This anaerobic zone will help strengthen your heart and lungs and heighten your endurance. We recently had a bootcamper cut 5 minutes off of his mile time after doing our workouts.
3. No Equipment Necessary
Self explanatory. All you need is your body. You can workout at home, at the gym, in the park . . . Grab a buddy and do it!
4. You Can Do It Anywhere
See #3. Home, gym, park, garage, parking lot, Target, whatever! :)
5. Lose Body Fat, NOT Muscle
Adding HIIT to your strength training workouts allow you to add muscle while pulling from your fat stores to burn.
6. Increased Metabolism
Combing high intensity with interval training results in EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), which speeds your metabolic rate and boosts it for up to 48 hours after a complete HIIT workout. This means you’ll still be burning fat even after you’ve left the gym.
7. Improved Mood
HIIT = Exercise = Endorphins. When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain. Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body and make you happy! Grab your Endorphin Junkie shirt and get to work!
8. Increased Lactate Threshold & Development of Greater Work Capacity
Pushing your body to its limits gives you the ability to tolerate a higher level of intensity for a longer period of time. This, in turn, will help your muscles to not have that "burn" aka lactic acid as quickly.
9. It's Challenging (i.e. turns you into a badass)
HIIT can be no joke. You are pushing yourself to 85-90% of your max heart rate for short periods of time. This is not easy and will push you to your limits.
HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR MAX HEART RATE (You will find different ways to do this, but this way is the most widely used and easiest)
220-AGE= MAX HEART RATE
Mine would be: 220-38= 182 max HR If I was working to 85% of that for HIIT, my goal would be 155. Generally though, for interval training, I work around 170.
Examples of HIIT exercises: high knees, burpees, mountain climbers, plank jacks, star jumps, squat jumps, 180 jumps, surfers, ball slams
Work these exercises into your every day sessions to start seeing even more results! We work a plyometric or bodyweight exercise in between sets on many of our programs!