While I’m away at the Isle of Wight Festival I have a few guest posts lined up from some great fitness bloggers…
Today we’re hearing from Keil at Voltage Sport, a blog that encourages others to live a happy, healthy and fit life.
HIIT Training
Lets start with the basics, what is HIIT? HIIT stands for high intensity interval training. Short bursts of maximum intensity followed by a short rest, repeated over a defined period of time to complete your workout. When I say maximum intensity I’m talking eyeballs out! Push your body to its absolute physical limit, go as hard or as fast as you can possibly go! If you can talk, text, watch TV etc you’re not doing it right. I love it! Here’s why:
Time Efficiency
HIIT is an incredibly time efficient and highly effective workout. You can throw away all your excuses about not having time to workout as you will be done in 15 to 20 minutes. HIIT can easily be incorporated into your busy life. You can give your body a fat burning, muscle building treat in a short period of time. Who doesn’t like the sound of a hugely effective workout which is over within 20 minutes?! Quick, effective and beneficial, yes please!
Versatility
My primary reason for loving HIIT is how versatile it is, you can do it anyway you like. You can mix up your workouts every time so you’ll never get bored. Personally I find routines difficult to keep up to if I’m doing the same thing over and over again as I can lose interest. If you are the same HIIT can become your new best friend! So what workouts can you do? The answer, anything you like! You can run, row, swim, bike, lift weights, jump, burpee, the list goes on. You can go inside or get outside, all you need is the ability to time what you’re doing and you’re away, so pick your pain and get to work.
Calorie Killer
Through researching HIIT I have read that your body continues to burn calories long after your workout is over. I’m down for burning calories while I’m inactive so HIIT ticks that box for me. HIIT is the perfect exponent of short term sacrifice for long term gain.
The Technical Bit
So how do you do HIIT? Choose your exercise and the length of your workout and get to work. 20 seconds of maximum effort followed by 40 second rest, repeated until you hit your time goal. Simple!
Here’s a few examples:
- Sprint for 20 seconds, rest for 40 seconds (you can stop, walk or jog)
- Row for 20 seconds, rest for 40 seconds (slow row or stop)
- Perform as many burpees or weighted reps as you can for 20 seconds, rest for 40 seconds.
You get the idea but remember eyeballs out, after 20 seconds you should NEED to stop! As always make sure you warm up and cool down adequately before and after your workout.
Is it for you?
HIIT training isn’t for everybody, look at a sprinters physique in comparison to a long distance runner. Both finely tuned athletes whose bodies are built for purpose, but the training regimes they undertake will be vastly different. The sprinters focus is explosive speed and power while the long distance runner aims for endurance and stamina. It’s important to choose your workouts carefully with your long term goals in mind, so decide if you would benefit from a workout like this before implementing it into your routine. HIIT training will build muscle mass while burning fat leading to a lean, mean and sculpted physique. One final point you need to know is that HIIT is designed to be done 1 to 3 times per week maximum, your body needs 36-48 hours to recover between sessions due to the high intensity of the workout so don’t overdo it, your body will soon let you know if you do!
So thats HIIT in a nutshell, now its time to give it a try. Get your workout kit on, a good soundtrack in your ears and go have some fun!
See you in the gym 🙂
