High intensity interval training (HIIT) is not for the faint-hearted! It is a workout that will make you work harder than you ever have before but will get you better results than you have seen before. It is a very simple workout and most people don’t believe that short bursts of HIIT can bring them the benefits that they want, but it has been proved on many occasions that it can change your fitness and health.
Time benefits
With many people leading a busy lifestyle they simply do not have the time to spend hours in the gym trying to achieve the level of fitness that they want. HIIT means that you can get the workout that you need in a much shorter period of time. In addition, you will start to see results much more quickly.
Fat benefits
It has been proved that if you take part in a HIIT workout you will burn more calories and more fat. The effect of this is ongoing for up to 24 hours after the workout has finished so for a day your body will still be working harder than it does normally. If you are trying to lose weight then you know that if you simply diet you could be losing muscle mass alongside the fat. HIIT workouts have been shown to maintain muscle mass while working out, so that most of the weight loss is from fat.
This type of workout is also known to boost the body’s production of human growth hormone by several hundred percent during the 24 hours after a workout. HGH is needed to give your metabolic rate a boost and will also help to slow down aging!
HIIT has also been shown to lower the body’s insulin resistance much further than other types of exercise, helping to keep blood sugar levels under control much better than for those who do not do much exercise.
Heart health
HIIT will take you into a zone known as the anaerobic zone. This is where you feel as though you cannot breathe and your heart is trying to leave your body! The results are worth it though. A study has shown that those who do this type of workout for 8 weeks will have increased stamina and can maintain a better pace than they could before. A study has also shown that those who have suffered from cardiovascular conditions such as high blood pressure, coronary heart disease and heart failure can benefit from double the rate of cardiorespiratory fitness than those who have tried other exercise regimes.
While the thought of starting a high intensity interval training regime may be daunting, it is easy to see that the benefits are more than worth the effort. Better heart health, metabolism and improved fitness are all something that people should aspire too and when we are able to have those things with short bursts of exercise there is no reason not to try!