You may have heard about HIIT workouts, or high intensity interval training. You may have even tried a few out. They are proven strategies for burning fat, improving endurance and health and increasing lean muscle. It is a training technique that provides bursts of high levels of exercise followed by short recovery periods. Typically the short work intervals are at a 70-90 percent max heart rate, while the recovery periods are at a 60-65 percent max heart rate. “A high-intensity workout increases the body’s need for oxygen during the effort and creates an oxygen shortage, causing your body to ask for more oxygen during recovery,” says Eric Salvador, NASM, NSCA, head instructor at The Fhitting Room in New York City. “This afterburn effect is referred to as Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) and is the reason why intense exercise will help burn more fat and calories than regular aerobic and steady-state workouts."
There are many benefits of a HIIT workout. Besides, the shorter workout, which leaves time for other obligations, the health benefits are many. There has even been some research that has even suggested that HIIT can actually help reverse the signs of certain diseases such as Type II diabetes. According to an article on Daily Burn here are 3 more major reasons to start incorporating a HIIT workout into your routine...
1. Increases Your Metabolism
Combing high intensity with interval training results in EPOC, which speeds your metabolic rate and “translates into a metabolism boost for up to 48 hours after a complete HIIT routine,” says Salvador. This means you’ll still be burning fat even after you’ve left the gym.
2. Quick and Convenient
Long gone are the days of not having enough time for exercise. HIIT workouts is can be done anywhere: at home, in a hotel room, in a park, at a gym, etc. And most are 30 minutes or less! Who can’t spare that?
3. No Equipment Necessary
No dumbbells? No problem! HIIT workouts generally use only your body weight, since the focus is on getting your heart rate up and keeping it there. These workouts result in “optimal muscle building and muscle retention couples with fat loss and increased calorie burn,” says Salvador.
Before beginning a HIIT workout, you should meet with a trainer to set some personal metrics. According to an article by Precor,
Effective and safe HIIT with a heart rate monitor is based on the very personal metric of heart rate rather than a cookie cutter metric of volume loads, time or sets.
Using a heart rate monitor correctly, you can turn any workout routine into a HIIT session, from a treadmill workout to strength training with free weights.
Many interval trainers put their clients through a series of predetermined drills or numbered sets. This can work great for some advanced exercisers, but for a beginner or even a long-time exerciser unused to HIIT such a routine may actually be harmful. Driving the heart rate too high and keeping it there too long can spike the production of stress hormones, tax the immune system, and increase the chance of injury.
Rather than building the cardiovascular system, overdoing these workouts can be detrimental to heart health and a tax on the endocrine system.
If you are a gym owner and interested in offering a HIIT set up to your clients, Marathon Fitness can provide you with the products that you need! We are proud to partner with Escape Fitness to offer equipment for any size space no matter how small or how large. Contact us today to for an appointment! We look forward to serving yours and your customers needs!
