High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is the most time-efficient ways to exercise. The training technique does not just keep you fit; it actually helps you to achieve incredible results within a short period of time. This explains why HIIT has become the most trending fitness buzzword in recent times. Not just among athletes and fitness enthusiasts but also among the general public.
In case you’re just getting to know about high-intensity interval training, or you’ve been wondering if it really works as being portrayed by fitness enthusiasts, we encourage you to read this page to the end so you can get answers to those questions on your mind. Now let’s get start from basics:
What is HIIT?
High-intensity interval training is a physically demanding kind of exercise, and with great potentials for timely results. It involves a cycle of repeated rigorous workouts as well as rest sessions at intervals. HIIT may include the use of treadmills, rowing, or jumping rope, depending on your choice of equipment.
The HIIT procedure involves a series of highly intense challenges that make you sweat fast. Each intense session is then followed by a regular resting time for a slower recovery. The interchange between the intense workouts and the rest periods continues until the entire session of the exercise is completed. Your capacity will determine the length of your work and rest periods, and these can vary from a rest period of between 6 seconds to 4 minutes after a rigorous workout of about 15-20 minutes.
How Does HIIT Really Work?
There are two key elements that do the high-intensity interval training works. These are – intensity and interval. HIIT works through the combine impacts of a series of rigorous sessions and rest periods on your body system. When you train intensely for about 15-20 minutes or 25-30 minutes, depending on your tolerance level, you’re expected to rest for about 6 seconds to 5 minutes before starting another intense training session. The rest periods between the intense sessions give you the strength to keep going on and on, making it possible for you to achieve great results within a short period of time.
HIIT can be performed indoors or outdoors, and with or without training equipment. Some of the cardio equipment often used with HIIT includes treadmills, stair-climbing machines, weight sets, and resistance bands, among others.
The good thing about HIIT is that you can adjust the sessions to your personal preferences. Here are some of the possible adjustments you can make:
- Change the intensity of your training. Your rest interval, and the duration
- Work out with or without equipment
- Adjust the number of repetitions
- Number of sets and between set rest is determined by you
- The frequency of the training schedule is adjustable
- Body weight or weight training can be adjusted
- Type of activity can be changed according to your preferences
It should be noted, that you need to be consistent with your HIIT sessions for at least three different sessions in a week. After three consecutive weeks you should see significant results in your health and physique.
What Are the Benefits of HIIT?
There are several benefits of high-intensity interval training. Anyone can enjoy these benefits in as much as size-able efforts are put into the exercise. Let’s consider a few benefits of HIIT:
1. It Burns a Lot of Calories in Fewer Times
The intense activities involve in HIIT can help you burn calories faster than any other form of exercises. In fact, studies have shown that HIIT burns 25–30% calories more than any other kind of workouts within a given period of time. Therefore, HIIT is highly recommended for anyone looking to burn excess calories in fewer times.
2. It Helps Reduce Blood Sugar
High blood sugar level can aggravate a diabetic condition in a patient as well as people who are prone, one way or the other, to the deadly disease. One of the significant benefits of HIIT is that it can help improve your insulin sensitivity as well as lower your blood glucose if practice regularly.
3. It Improves Your Physical Fitness
In case you are overweight, and you’re looking to improve your physical fitness and tolerance level to workouts, then HIIT can come handy for you. Regular training of 3 sessions per week for 3 consecutive weeks can help you gain a significant improvement in your body fitness as well as shown vast improvement in your exhaustion time and peak power output.
4. Promotes Fat Loss
A regular session of HIIT can help you burn a significant amount of body fat within a short time. Thus, HIIT is highly recommended for anyone who wants to get rid of belly fat. More also, people who are obese can also find HIIT very helpful.
5. It Has a Huge Post-Exercise Benefits
Given the high energy intensity involves in HIIT, the exercise can have a lasting metabolic benefit on your body system for several hours after your training session has ended. This is the more reason why HIIT has always shown more impact on people’s physique within a short time than any other form of workouts out there.
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Conclusion
There is no doubt that high-intensity interval training has a lot of benefits as listed above. It is, however, vital that you consult with your doctor or fitness coach before starting out, especially if you’re new to fitness training. This is very important as HIIT can lead to severe injuries if not done with proper guidance.