If you're involved in the fitness industry, you've undoubtedly heard of HIIT or high-intensity interval training. It has grown in popularity over the years as a result of how quick and effective it is.
If you haven't heard of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), this article will teach you everything you need to know about it and why you should consider implementing it into your workout routine.
What Is HIIT?
HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is a type of exercise in which you give it your best for short bursts of intense exercise followed by short, sometimes active rest periods. A HIIT workout raises the body's oxygen demand during the exertion and causes an oxygen shortfall, forcing your body to request additional oxygen during recovery.
Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) is the cause of the afterburn effect, which is why vigorous exercise burns more fat and calories than ordinary aerobic and steady-state or moderate-intensity exercise.
Benefits of HIIT Workouts
1) It Increases Your Endurance
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High-intensity exercise is based on the adaptation principle, which states that the body adapts to the stress it is put in order to strengthen its ability to cope. The heart, lungs, and muscles will learn to adapt to the challenge by pushing the body into the anaerobic zone when the heart is working at 80-90 percent of its maximal rate.
Not only will the workouts grow easier, but a person's body will be able to maintain speed and exertion during other forms of strenuous activity.
2) Your Body Burns Calories Even After Your Workout
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Anaerobic interval training taps into the body's energy reserves, and after a workout, the metabolism remains raised and calories are burned for hours afterward during your post-exercise recovery period. The EPOC effect (increased post-exercise oxygen consumption) is to blame for this.
HIIT training burns calories not just during the workout, but also afterward when your body restores energy and fixes muscle proteins that were damaged during the enhanced activity. HIIT workouts help your body increase total caloric expenditure.
3) HIIT Is Good for Your Heart
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Most individuals aren't used to going below the anaerobic threshold. However, because there is little time for rest, HIIT training requires you to reach this anaerobic zone frequently.
Because there isn't enough time for oxygen to help build extra ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is your body's major energy source, your muscles must burn glucose (energy) anaerobically during short bursts or sprints of labor.
In addition, HIIT exercise improves your heart's and body's anaerobic threshold (or the highest exercise intensity that you can sustain for a prolonged period without running out of ATP).
4) It Boosts Your Strength
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Anaerobic exercise causes a person to lose muscle mass as well as fat. HIIT, on the other hand, has been demonstrated to aid muscle strength maintenance by instructing muscles to recover and rebuild during short times of rest.
This aids in the rapid development of strength, which can be readily maintained by just continuing with the HIIT routine. During the recovery process, your body produces the human growth hormone which leads to muscle growth.
5) It Is Helpful if You Have Type 2 Diabetes
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HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, has been demonstrated in studies to improve blood flow and blood vessel dilatation. The effects were most noticeable in people with type 2 diabetes, who saw improvements in blood flow after an hour or two of exercising. Researchers discovered that people who practice HIIT training had superior glucose control than those who don't and even those who do regular steady-state workouts.
High-intensity workouts cause you to receive numerous health benefits. It helps to control blood pressure and blood sugar. It also reduces rigidness and is beneficial for people that have Parkinson's.
6) Reach Your Goals in a Shorter Amount of Time
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In a shorter amount of time, you'll be able to achieve your weight loss goals with HIIT workouts. This knowledge is being used by many health clubs and workout studios to produce group fitness programs that include HIIT workouts in 30-minute or fewer formats.
These formats allow you to get more work done while also receiving a variety of health benefits in less time. A HIIT session burns more calories in a short amount of time than your low-intensity or moderate-intensity activity. HIIT workouts train various muscle groups.
7) There Is No Need for Any Special Equipment
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Running, jump roping, and rowing are all excellent HIIT exercises, but you don't need any special equipment to accomplish them. High knees, jumping jacks, or anything plyometric like jump lunges can get your heart rate up quickly and provide you with the benefits of high-intensity interval training.
8) It's Difficult
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HIIT workouts aren't something you can do while reading a magazine or conversing with a buddy, which is part of the approach. You'll be working hard the entire time because it's so short.
The trade-off is that this format provides seasoned exercisers with a fresh challenge and inexperienced exercisers with a quick opportunity to see results, which is an advantage of high-intensity interval training that other workouts lack. You may be out of breath from HIIT, but you will not be bored.
Workout Tips
1) During Your “Work” Intervals, Push Yourself
Your HIIT workout will not be the calorie-burning tool that you want it to be if you just give 50 percent effort when you should be giving 80. Don't be scared to push yourself during those work intervals - but not to the point of exhaustion. You want to keep a fast speed while maintaining proper form. Make an effort. Try to get one more rep than you did the previous round. Allow the prospect of a rest period to encourage you to perform your best. You'll be able to do it because help is on the way.
2) Make Full-Body Motions Your Priority
HIIT workouts may be done with almost any exercise. Try full-body workouts like burpees, squats, pushups, and jumping jacks if you want to target all of your muscle groups. When you're ready, seek workouts that allow you to use weights such as dumbbells, medicine balls, or kettlebells. This will aid in the development of lean muscle mass. Because HIIT workouts are designed to test endurance rather than strength, it's ideal to use lower weights.
3) Don’t Go Overboard
Aim for two to three HIIT sessions each week, and alternate with other types of exercise such as endurance (imagine a long walk) or strength (think a weight-lifting session) on other days of the week.
What Does a Typical HIIT Training Entail?
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A typical HIIT workout would begin with a 5-10 minute warm-up, after which the intensity rapidly increases to the point where talking comfortably becomes difficult. It's time to get to work once you're breathing heavily and breaking out in a sweat.
The goal of a workout is to work as hard as possible for each work interval and use the recovery periods to catch your breath and prepare for the challenge of the session of high-intensity work.
Summary
Extremely high-intensity exercise help to burn calories and have several health benefits such as lowering blood pressure and blood sugar. The intense exercise involves working out at a high intensity in repetitions and having short recovery intervals before your next high-intensity bout. It will help you lose weight and your metabolism stays elevated. It focuses on different muscle groups and gets rid of those stubborn fat stores.
In order to get the most out of HIIT, make sure to add weight training, endurance training, and strength training to your workouts. If you find it difficult to feature HIIT workouts into your regime, develop group fitness programs to keep you motivated.
