For Fat Burning and Cardio
What Is HIIT Workout? High-Intensity Interval Training is a style of exercising that mixes short intervals of low effort with slightly longer interval of high intensity moves. During these high intensity intervals, your body is forced to give it all it’s got and is pushed to its metabolic limit. Then, during the low-intensity intervals, you get the chance to rest and recover. HIIT has been proven to improve cardiovascular fitness and endurance, increase fat loss and build muscle mass.
It’s important to be aware that this training regimen requires hard work the whole time, but the good thing is there won’t be any room for boredom in your exercise routine. In addition, those who are impatient and want to feel the change, then rest assured because with HIIT, you will definitely see results quickly!
In the Journal of Obesity, a study showed that after 8 weeks of HIIT, there was a significant reduction in body fat and an improvement in muscle mass and aerobic power, all without any drastic modifications in diet.
Benefits of HIIT Workouts – There are other types of interval training exercises out there, but what makes HIIT so special and unique is its ability to make you push yourself as hard as you can go while increasing your heart rate.
Quick Bursts Of Maximum Effort – It is these quick bursts of maximum effort followed by a short recovery time, which condition your aerobic and anaerobic energy systems, during the workout and rest intervals. The latter is known for promoting power, speed and strength to build muscle mass.
Disruption Of Metabolic Rate – Another secret to this style of training is that it causes a disruption in your body’s metabolic rate. This results in an increased burning rate of your fat and calories, which lasts up to 48 – 72 hours later, even more so than leisurely morning jogs, or running on the treadmill.
Efficient Workout In Less Time – Instead of working out for two hours, three to five times a week, you can squeeze in an efficient heart-pumping workout that has it all, strength training, and cardio, in just 30 minutes.
It enhances your cardiovascular fitness level because it gets your heart rate up quickly for a short amount of time. This means there is also a direct effect on the levels of blood sugar, blood pressure, and LDL, which are significantly reduced with this training style.
Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) – HIIT increases the need for oxygen during the periods of work, which creates
an oxygen shortage that causes the body to require more oxygen during the intervals of rest.
This after burn effect is called EPOC or Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption and is the main reason that HIIT burns more fat than steady state cardio or other aerobic exercise programs. EPOC also extends to the post workout environment, by allowing you to burn fat after the workout is over.
11 More Benefits Of HIIT:
- Increases your metabolism.
- Burns more calories and fat in a shorter amount of time than slow steady cardio, while maintaining muscle mass.
- Challenges the body and keeps it guessing for better results in fitness and fat burning.
- Burns calories and fat for up to 72 hours after your workout.
- Suppresses your hunger-stimulating hormone (ghrelin) so you eat less.
- Builds endurance.
- Allows you to mix and match your own workouts to kill boredom and make it more challenging.
- Increases elasticity of arteries and veins so it’s optimal for maintaining a healthy, vigorous cardiovascular system.
- It can be done anywhere.
- You don’t need equipment.
- Takes minutes to get done, for a fast and super-efficient work out.
How Often Should You Do HIIT Workout? If you are just starting out, try HIIT just once per week until you get used to the intensity of these types of workouts. You should also monitor your heart rate carefully, and take a break whenever you need to.
Also, don’t push yourself when doing plyometrics (jumping exercises) which require the muscles to extend and contract in a rapid, explosive way for increasing power and speed. Most importantly, don’t be too hard on yourself. Listen to what your body is telling you, and as long as you keep at it, your level will improve at its own rate.
If you have tried it before or are accustomed to strength and cardio training, you can do HIIT three to five times a week.
Few Tips To Help You Get Maximum Benefit From Your HIIT Workouts:
- Check with your physician before trying out any rigorous exercise style.
- Remember to warm up and cool down for no less than 3-5 minutes.
- Give your body time to recover from HIIT workouts by making two days or more HIIT-free days during the week.
- Build up your cardiovascular fitness level gradually.
- If you’re sore, give your body a chance to recover. Normal post-workout pain is expected but if you feel significant pain during or after your workout, this may indicate injury or over training.
- If there are difficult movements, modify them to suit your abilities.
- If you ever feel any chest pain or have a hard time breathing, stop the workout routine and start your cool down routine.
HIIT Workouts Can Burn 10 Calories Per Minute – Doing HIIT boost your metabolism far after you have finished your workout. So 
on average, when doing HIIT workouts, you will probably be burning about 10 calories per minute.
It might seem like an unbelievable number but studies have shown that the number of calories burned during HIIT increases substantially. In addition, you will burn off fat and build muscle – who can say no to that? Don’t forget the EPOC, the previously mentioned after-burn effect that helps burn more fat and calories than regular aerobic and steady state cardio workouts after the workout session is over.
HIIT Types, What’s The Best HIIT Workout? – You can create your own personalized type of HIIT by changing the intervals of working out and resting. There are, however, types of HIIT that have been already established using a set proportional ratio of intense work vs. rest interval, with Tabata being the most prominent.
Few Examples of HIIT Workouts In Chronological Order:
Peter Coe Regimen: First applied in the 1970s by Peter Coe, a London-born athletics coach, to train his son; sessions consisted of quickly repeating 200 meter runs followed by 30-second rest intervals.
Tabata: First introduced in 1996 by Professor Izumi Tabata; it divides the high intensity workouts into 8 sets. This means that for the duration of 4 highly intense minutes, you work out for 20 seconds, and then rest for 10 seconds. You can incorporate different types of exercises during those 4 minutes, such as running, jump rope, riding a bike, plyometric, and strength training – use your imagination. The one factor that does not change is the time intervals and the number of sets.
Gibala Regimen: Canadian Professor Martin Gibala and his team first carried out their HIIT study in2009 on college students; it uses 3 minutes of warm up, 60 seconds of intense workout, 60 seconds of rest, repeat for 8 – 12 sets, then finish it off with a 5 minute cool down.
Zuniga Regimen: 30 seconds of maximum power followed by 30-second intervals of rest.
Timmons Regimen: Jamie Timmons’ HIIT routine was first applied in 2012; it consists of 3 sets of 2-minute gentle exercise, such as bicycling, then 20 seconds of pedaling at maximum power.
HIIT Treadmill Workouts (Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced) – This treadmill HIIT workout will take about 10 minutes. 
Always begin with a warm up and end with a cool down.
- Beginner Session – 20 Seconds of intense walking or jogging and then 40 seconds of rest or slower pace x 10.
- Intermediate Session – 30 Seconds of intense walking or jogging and then 30 seconds at a slower pace x 10.
- Advanced Session – 40 Seconds of intense walking or jogging and then 20 seconds at a slower pace x 10.
Advance to the next level when the previous becomes too easy. Once the advanced level becomes too easy, add incline to further challenge the body. This same routine can be done on a spin or stationary cycle, while biking outdoors or even an elliptical trainer.
20 Minute at Home HIIT Workouts
