How To Start HIIT Training

Are You Ready To Start HIIT Training?

There’s a lot of buzz going around about HIIT, also known as High-Intensity Interval Training. First of all, HIIT refers to little spurts of continuous high and low-intensity cardiovascular exercises that get done for specific intervals of time. The whole training session should last for less than 20 minutes.

HIIT is a very intense exercise program and is supposed to take you out of your comfort zone. If you’re new to the fitness world, it’s not recommend to start HIIT training until you have a reasonable level of fitness or you’ve been cleared by a doctor.

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What HIIT Exercise Entails

HIIT exercise includes warming up for 3 to 4 minutes, followed by sprinting hard for 30 seconds at the very fastest level you could achieve. After that, you do 60 to 90 seconds of walking or light jogging to recover. This is what is termed the interval.

Once that is completed, you would then repeat the interval roughly 6 to 10 times, depending upon your fitness level, before completing the workout with a cool down lasting between 3 to 4 minutes.

Burn Fat Quickly

Research has shown that HIIT has benefits that last much longer than most other cardio workouts, including long-distance running. One study even found that 2.5 hours of rigorous HIIT training offers the same benefits as 10.5 hours of long-distance training. Therefore, HIIT will benefit your metabolism significantly. When compared to doing cardio at the steady pace, you will now burn more fat in lesser time.

Start HIIT Training to Improve Endurance and Stamina

You can significantly improve your endurance and stamina with a HIIT workout. Your VO2 max is the maximum amount of energy that you can take in during a session of exercise, and HIIT drastically increases your VO2 peak, which offers you the ability to perform many different types of activities for longer periods of time. If you’ve had a hard time running on the treadmill for more than 5 minutes at a time, you will now see a major improvement.

Improved Metabolic Flexibility

HIIT burns both carbohydrates and body fat. One benefit of HIIT is that over time, the body learns how to more easily switch from burning fat (before your HIIT workout and during the rest cycles) to burning carbs during your HIIT and then switch back to burning fat again once HIIT is over. This not only improves health, but also athletic performance.

HIIT is Fun!

HIIT helps to breaks the boredom of regular even-paced cardio workouts. Many people have a hard time making themselves workout regularly because truth be told, doing the same thing over and over again can get boring. With HIIT, you’ll instead be spending a lot less time exercising.

Additionally, the different intervals make things a lot more interesting. Also, you always have to push yourself just to make it through the various intervals. The workout is always over before you know it.

Why Not HIIT All The Time?

If HIIT is so great, why not just do it and scrap steady state cardio? Like all fitness routines, each have their plusses and minuses. One of the drawbacks of HIIT is that it can create a nervous “fight or flight” response that can cause anxiety, sweaty palms, difficulty sleeping and inability to sit still or to mentally focus. Steady state cardio has the opposite effect in that it is a calming type of working.

If you do too much HIIT, you run the risk of suffering from overtraining or burnout. Therefore, HIIT should not be your only form of fitness training. Experts state that HIIT should not be done over two or three times per week. If just starting out, do steady state cardio and as you get used to that mix in some aerobic interval training by varying the speed, incline or resistance on a treadmill, elliptical trainer or stationary bike.

Free Report: 6 Best Exercises for Fat Loss

HIIT will help you burn calories, lose weight and increase your fitness level.  Take time to explore different exercises and have fun with your new workouts. If you’re ready to start HIIT training, download my free report 6 of The Best Types of HITT Exercises for Fat Loss, to learn more about this powerful and effective workout method.