What is HIIT?

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HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), what does that mean? Exactly what it says, you are working out at a high intensity for an amount of time (interval). It is usually a short amount of time ranging from 20 seconds to one minute, with a 10 to 30 second break. This can be put on repeat with you rep-ing out different cardio exercises during each timed interval. There are endless possibilities of timing and ways to create a HIIT style workout!  The goal is to push yourself to your limits, giving all you got during that time. This style of training has become popular because you can decrease the amount of time you are working out, say from 1 hour down to 15-30 minutes and still get results. This style of training is not only great for athletes, but also great for anyone who is busy and can’t set aside an hour or more to work out some days. It also a great for runners.

 When performing a HIIT workout the goal is to keep your heart rate above 80% of your heart rate maximum. What is your heart rate max?

 220 - your age = Maximum Heart Rate

PROS and CONS

PROS

1.     Keeping your max heart rate up, and pushing you to your fitness threshold in short amount of time. Thus, increasing your cardiovascular health and improves endurance.

2.     Forces your body to use energy created by anaerobic energy system, this burns calories after you have stopped working out (EPOC, Excess Post Exercise Consumption).

3.     Improves insulin sensitivity.

4.     Fat loss

5.     You can perform HIIT in the comfort of your home, a hill, or a park.

6.     No equipment needed.

7. Increases the production of several neurotransmitters involved in learning/memory.

8. Causes our bodies to make new, and replace damaged mitochondria. 

CONS

1.     HIIT is an intense style of exercise because you are giving it all you got, thus can increase chances of injury.

2.     Doing HIIT every day without proper rest can actually create too much stress on the body. So, limit HIIT to 1-3 times a week and stagger the days you do them.

Though these are some great reasons to perform this style of training. Doing HIIT can be rough on the body especially for people just starting out. You want to make sure you aren’t pushing the body past its limit to the point of causing injury but still making your workout very challenging. Injuring your body can triumph over all those benefits and set you back in your fitness and health goals.

When performing HIIT make sure you are good at understanding your body. This means understanding how to push yourself while training, but not over exerting yourself to the point of injury! Understand and know your bodies limitations when training. I suggest starting with cycling because there isn’t a lot of stress on your joints so you are able to push your body to that limit and get all those benefits listed above and not worry about getting injured!