Why You Need To Incorporate HIIT Into Your Workout Routine

Mar 1

If you’re anything like me, you are busy. Between work, trying to cook healthy meals, spending quality time with family and friends, volunteering, and trying to stay active….oh, and still getting 7 hours of sleep a night(or attempting to anyways), it seems like there are never enough hours in the day. Despite that you continue to work on your fitness because you know it’s important.

Eating healthy and exercising regularly help decrease risk of heart disease due to high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. Plus, if you would like to enjoy outdoor activities like jogging, pick up or rec sports, or even chasing after your kids without sucking wind after 15 seconds or being in a world of pain the next day, you need to have some measure of fitness. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that High Intensity Interval Training is a popular trend in the fitness industry. It sounds like a great idea right...all the benefits of cardio and strength training in less time. No being bored on the treadmill or spending hours at the gym. If you are wondering if all the touted benefits of HIIT training are true and whether it’s worth including this type of workout into your routine, keep reading. In the next few paragraphs I’m going to break down the benefits of HIIT based on science(not fads). We’ll talk about general fitness, fat loss, and managing problems like high blood pressure, cholesterol, and abnormal blood sugars.

HIIT is an efficient way to improve your fitness

There are multiple published studies that show High Intensity Interval Training(HIIT or HIT) is an efficient way to improve your aerobic and cardiovascular fitness compared to Moderate Intensity Continuous Training(MICT...you know trotting along on the treadmill or elliptical for 30-60 minutes). Aerobic fitness in studies is often measured as VO2max; this is the amount of oxygen taken in and utilized by the body during exercise. The higher the VO2max the better the aerobic fitness. In the various studies comparing HIT to MICT, study participants who did HIT had better improvements in aerobic fitness in less time. Depending on the study, the time requirement for HIT to achieve the same benefits as traditional cardio is anywhere from 15% to 40% less.

HIIT and body composition

In regards to fat loss and body composition. There were no significant differences between the HIT groups and MICT groups. So you are not going to lose more fat or get a thinner waist doing high intensity interval workouts instead of traditional cardio. Doing HIT is not a “get skinny quick plan.” This shouldn’t disappoint you, though. If one of your goals is to change your body composition, you can still accomplish the same goals despite your busy life schedule using HIT. The key is doing HIT correctly. Many studies define HIT training as incorporating intervals where you are working at 80% to 100% of your max heart rate(or a rate of perceived exertion of 17 to 20 on a scale of 20) interspersed with periods of rest. This is how you save time during your workouts. The high intensity part is key because when participants exercised for less time or did not spend at least the same amount of energy doing a high intensity workout as they would a traditional cardio workout, the results for more fat loss favored the MICT group.

HIIT in people with medical problems

High Intensity Interval Training also shows benefit in patients with heart disease or other problems such as metabolic syndrome which is associated with high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol and obesity. Study participants doing HIT showed similar to improved values in HDL(that’s the good cholesterol), blood pressure, and obesity measurements such as BMI and waist size.

HIIT Workouts can be modified for various fitness levels

The periods of rest mixed in with the periods of high intensity in HIT training allow you to give your all(or almost your all) when it counts. You don’t have to be a world class athlete to do this type of workout. This makes HIT a great option for many people since you can base how hard you work on your own personal heart rate or rate of perceived exertion. Even during your busiest week, if you have 15 minutes, you can squeeze in some type of HIT work out. Mixing in 1 or 2 interval workouts into your usual cardio routine is a great way to keep from getting bored and still improve your fitness and get results.

Try this tool to quickly and easily design your own quick HIT workout for home.

Stay Sporting!