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What is HITT?
High-intensity interval training (HIIT), also called high-intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) or sprint interval training (SIT), is a form of interval training, an exercise strategy alternating short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods. HIIT is a form of cardiovascular exercise.
If your goal is to burn fat, interval training should be part of your workout program. Interval training is a great way to hammer out a quick workout, and it's extremely effective for transforming your physique.
By incorporating intense periods of work with short recovery segments, interval training helps you give maximum intensity while still maintaining your exercise form. The magic of high intensity interval training (or HIIT, for short) is that it keeps your body burning fat even after you leave the gym. During a HIIT workout, your body can't shuttle enough oxygen to your muscles during periods of hard work. Therefore, your muscles accumulate a “debt” of oxygen that must be repaid post-workout in order to get back to normal. The result: Your metabolism is revved for hours after you leave the gym. Trainers refer to this phenomena as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC. The biggest way to use it to your advantage is to regularly work short, intense bouts of exercise into your workout regimen.
Intense circuits also stimulate muscle-building hormones like growth hormone and IGF-1. This puts your body in a perfect state to build lean mass. And in addition to the hormone response, interval training also develops the cardiovascular system. By elevating your heart rate during periods of hard work, you’ll increase your cardio ability and strengthen your heart. During the short rest intervals, you also increase your recovery capabilities—meaning you’ll be able to recover faster in future workout sessions.
7 Amazing Scientific Benefits to trying HITT!
1. It burns more calories. Since you are working harder during those high-intensity intervals, you are going to get your heart rate up higher and torch more calories. This is a great thing, especially if you are trying to lose weight.
2. It revs up your metabolism. When you perform intervals, you not only burn more calories during the workout, but you also boost your metabolism so that you continue burning more calories for a short period after your workout. That won’t happen with an even-paced workout. Keep burning more calories even after you’re done exercising? I’ll take it!
3. It can improve your endurance. Interval training can help you take that 20-minute jog to a 30-minute jog. Your ability to last longer during exercise improves when you push your body to its limits. You never know what you can do until you try. The body is an amazing thing that will surprise you if you let it.
4. It can make your heart stronger. We all know that heart disease is rampant in this country, so anything you can do to strengthen this muscle is a smart idea. I won’t get all scientific and anatomical on you, but when you push your heart to work harder, it becomes stronger and healthier. This means it is better able to take care of all of the bodily functions it needs to do to keep you healthy.
5. It takes less time. This is one of my favorite benefits of interval training. We are all strapped for time nowadays, and this is usually the number one reason why people say they don’t exercise. With interval training, you can’t use that as an excuse. You can practically cut your workout time in half when you do interval training. So instead of a straight 45 minute jog, you could alternate one-minute sprints with two minutes of jogging for a total of 25 minutes, and still get the same exercise benefits. You would probably even end up burning more calories.
6. It breaks up boredom. Sometimes a nice long jog is what you need, but when you do the same thing for too long, you tend to get bored. And when you get bored, you tend to not continue doing it. Interval training takes out the boredom. You are constantly changing up your pace or intensity, and you have to pay attention to that. Knowing you only have to do something for another minute is way more doable than keeping something up for 30 minutes straight. Busting boredom helps you stick with your workout regimen.
7. It can help you get over a weight loss plateau. If you have been working at losing weight and that has come to a halt, interval training can help ignite your weight loss again. Changing up what your body has to do is one of the best ways to jump-start your metabolism, which as I stated earlier, can help you burn more calories. This translates into more weight loss for you.
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Try this amazing HITT training!
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