Physical activity is very essential to keep us healthy. Although most of us are already know this, it’s estimated that about 20% of people worldwide don’t get enough of it each day!
Unless you have a physically demanding job, a dedicated workout routine the best way for you to get active. However, many people feel that they don’t have enough time to exercise.
If this sounds like you, maybe you should start to try high intensity interval training (HIIT) for your workout routine! HIIT is a short period of intense exercice that can help you to get the maximal health benefit from your workout sessions in a minimal time.
In this article we will let you get through all of the things you need to know about HIIT exercise, from its amazing health benefits to tips on how to do it properly.
What is HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)?
HIIT which stands for high intensity interval training combines short bursts of intense exercise with periods of low intensity recovery.
HIIT workout typically will only take 10-30 minutes in duration. But despite how short the workout is, these workouts can produce health benefits similar or even twice as much as moderate-intensity exercise!
The actual activity being performed varies but can include sprinting, biking, jumping rope, or other bodyweight exercises.
What are the Health Benefits of HIIT?
1. Help you lose fat faster
A research from the Journal of Diabetes Research divided obese, sedentary women into two groups: those who partook in a HIIT program and those who did a moderate-intensity routine. The result shows that the former group achieved similar body composition and aerobic capacity in half the time when compared with the other group.
2. Improve your metabolic rate
A large amount of studies have demonstrated the impressive ability of HIIT to increase your metabolic rate even hours after you have done your exercise, more effectively than jogging or weight training.
3. Improve your cardio health
Several researches indicate that it can reduce heart rate and blood pressure in people with overweight and obesity, populations in which high blood pressure is common.
How To Get Started with HIIT?
Getting started with HIIT is very easy. The only key is to add high intensity intervals to your exercise routine.
All you need to do is to pick your activity, such as running, jumping rope, biking, and then experiment with different durations of exercise and recovery, or how long you’re performing intense exercise and how long you’re resting or recovering.
For example, you can begin your HIIT training with jogging to warm your body up, then sprint as fast as you can for 15 seconds. After that, switch to jog again at a slow pace for 1–2 minutes. You can repeat this pattern for 10–20 minutes.
Best HIIT Exercises
1. Mountain Climbers
Mountain climbers are quintessential HIIT moves. To do this, start in a plank, engage the core, and bring your right knee forward under your chest and back to plank. Next, bring your left knee forward and back. Keeping your plank straight as an arrow, pick up the pace.
2. Pushups
This exercise need no introduction. Just focus on keeping your back flat and your elbow trailing directly back and aim for one push-up per second.
3. Side Plank
Lie on one side with your legs stacked and fully extended. Prop your body up with your elbow and forearm, and then lift your hip off the ground and squeeze your abs so your body runs in a straight line. Switch sides.
4. Kettlebell Overhead Press
Standing with feet shoulder-width apart, pick up two kettlebells and pull them towards your shoulders. Rotate your wrists so your palms face in, resting the weights on the top of your forearms. Press the weight up above your head until your arms lock. Bring the kettlebells back slowly to your shoulders. Repeat.
5. Kettlebell Squat Jumps
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Hold the kettlebell handle with both hands. Bend your knees until your quads are parallel to the floor. Push through the ground as you leap straight up in the air, extending your arms in front of you. Land back in a squat position.
Tips to Create Your Own HIIT Routine
Here are the tips that will help you to create your own killer HIIT routine:
- Pick an exercise activity you’re familiar with at lower intensity. For example, don’t go all-out on running if you have not done any jogging lately.
- A proper warm-up is very crucial, whether you’ll be doing cardio-based HIIT or strength-based HIIT.
- If you deal with joint pain, begin with a lower impact exercise such as cycling or swimming.
- Take long enough rest periods. You can maintain sufficient intensity for HIIT only if you take rest periods equal to or longer than your work periods.
- Keep your work periods under 30 seconds. The longer the work period is, the more difficult it is to sustain at the intensity required to count as HIIT.
- Start with just a few cycles twice per week. HIIT training is very demanding, especially when doing higher impact modalities. Adequate recovery between training sessions is a must to avoid injuries.
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