Yes, the workout strategy that no doubt every athlete or trainer sighs at when hearing the name. HIIT workouts are designed to work your body at high levels of pace and strength. They aren’t the kind to leave you without working up a bucket of sweat. While it may be irritating getting through something like this, no doubt you will leave feeling far more accomplished. So we will be telling you all about the HIIT ideology and why it is so effective--especially for your heart's health.
The harder you work, the more your heart pushes, which overall benefits YOU!
As we know, the heart is a crucial organ that we humans need to live our daily lives. It creates the circulation of blood pumping through our bodies so we are able to complete actions.
Due to this, we have to remember that we need to improve the health of our hearts and we can do that by eating well, and exercising. Any form of exercise is good for you but others have been proven to be most effective-- like HIIT.
HIIT is a combination of high-intensity workouts that are repeated and then continued with few breaks in between. You are hitting so many parts of the body such as muscle, fat, and overall strength.
To go back to the heart comment, electrical impulses referred to as “potentials” are received in the heart every time it beats. Calcium will flow through channels in the cell membrane and into the cell. Furthermore, the calcium will then contract the muscles in the heart. This is the action of a healthy heart versus when this process cannot be completed, which you would commonly see in someone who has heart failure.
Any form of exercise strengthens your heart. So pick a hard one for a change!
Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption
Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption is in short a very cool thing. In summary, EPOC is “the amount of oxygen required to restore your body to its normal, resting level of metabolic function.”
This happens when an exercise that demands more energy than the usual will further increase your need for oxygen.
The more oxygen you need working out correlates to the more calories you burn. One liter of oxygen burns five energy calories. So you count all the physical calories you will see on something like a treadmill, then add a few from your breathing!
The ATP in your body which stimulates your metabolism is produced most efficiently through these HIIT workouts. ATP can be created faster during these high-intensity workouts.
Don’t get it twisted, the duration of your workout isn’t nearly as important as the intensity at which you are performing them. If you wish to experience EPOC, focus more on how hard you are working.
The fat in your body will be used as fuel and even energy after the workout.
Be sure to also use some recovering strategies after workouts like these.
Some include:
- Eating after a workout- repair the tissue in your body by consuming protein after a workout. This will help to strengthen muscles.
- Using heat or cooling treatments- another way of repairing the tissue in your body. Heat increases circulation, and cool treatments lower the body's temperature.
- Having a regular schedule- keeping a schedule and increasing the work each time will be of value to you. It will routine your body when the time comes to work.
- Sleep- without sleep, continuous exercise can lead to injuries. It is important to allow the tissue to repair overnight.
Repetition Will Make Every Other Workout Simpler
The first few times you complete a HIIT workout you may feel drained and exhausted. Well good! Then you’re doing what you are supposed to be. You should never leave the gym looking perfect or intact because that means you didn’t put that work in.
Take the time to continue doing HIIT workouts and watch how your body will eventually change. The more you do them the more tolerant your body will become towards it.
Similar to how you move up in weights when you have bested them in the gym, your body will grow in strength to cope with the amounts of energy required to finish these workouts.
Encourage yourself with the corny phrase, “practice makes perfect,” and continue to strengthen your body by accomplishing what originally felt impossible. Growth is inevitable.
Unless you’re benching hundreds of pounds, other workouts will probably feel like a breeze after doing a handful of HIIT training.
HIIT Workouts are Not Super Long or Need to be Completed Often
You may hear someone say that they train for one to two hours at the gym every day. While that is not something to be frowned upon it can be an unrealistic expectation for those who may not be able to make time for such commitments. Life can be tricky from time to time.
A solution to this is of course, HIIT workouts. These can be done two to three times a week and for four to fifteen minutes. It is NOT recommended to be done for more than thirty minutes to protect your body from complete exhaustion.
The time may seem very attractive to those who cannot afford to go longer but you still must manage the intensity aspect of the workout considering that is the most important.
It can be a convenient way to strengthen muscle and lose calories rapidly. Do not forget as well that there are little to no breaks in between these so be sure not to give in unless you absolutely need to.
On a scale from one to ten an eight should be encouraged to be performed for HIIT, for a period of around thirty seconds or so. Allow time of five to seven minutes to prepare for your workout and around four to six to cool down once you have finished.
Just Like Weights or Machines at the Gym, HIIT Can Also focus on different parts of the body
There are plenty of resources that will give you HIIT workouts that will target different parts of the body such as upper body, lower body, cardio, full body, etc.
Do what you feel comfortable doing just like if you were at the gym and had leg or arm day. You can complete these at home or at your gym wherever you feel comfortable really.
Certain HIIT has even been proven to be more efficient in creating EPOC as we mentioned before than your typical run on the treadmill or run on a trail. “...One study found that when aerobic cycling (40 minutes at 80% Max HR), circuit weight training (4 sets/8 exercises/ 15 reps at 50% 1-RM) and a heavy resistance exercise (3 sets/8 exercises at 80-90% 1-RM to exhaustion) were compared, heavy resistance exercise produced the biggest EPOC.”
Some Examples of HIIT Training
Sprinting, jump roping, stationary bike, fast squats. All of these are examples of fast-paced HIIT workouts that you can do for a short amount of time to achieve the workout that you desire. Take all of the tips we provided above into consideration.
Be sure to include reps and timing each set that you do to focus on different parts of your body so you can get into a cycle.
Many resources are available that give you pictures and descriptions, you can even look on Youtube and follow someone while they complete their workout.
You are not stuck to one kind of workout with these so have as much fun as you can!
Now get up and move
Now that we have given you some information of why HIIT workouts are valuable and effective among many others, go put it to use! See how great you will feel after working so hard on yourself. There is a reason not everyone does it so imagine how accomplished you will feel.
