If you ask any fitness instructor for tips on how to lose weight you will likely find HIIT among the suggestions. But what is high intensity interval training and who should be performing it?
Today we'll teach you the various styles of this form of exercise as well as explaining the various myths which surround it.
Walk into any fitness center and you are going to notice two very different groups of people who prefer two extremely different training methods. You'll have those who are at their happiest when they are left to their own devices on a treadmill for an hour or more, then you'll have those who think that approach sounds like hell. This group like to focus much more on resistance training instead.
High intensity interval training represents a middle ground between both styles.
Who should be exercising this way? Well, to a certain degree absolutely anybody can get results with the many variations of interval training which are out there. It has been proven to burn fat at an increased rate and also to increase lean muscle tissue, so regardless of your overall fitness goal there is undoubtedly a place for this in your workout routine.
For those looking to lose fat there is one significant factor which makes high intensity interval training so appealing. This is often referred to as "The Afterburn Effect". When you finish a regular cardiovascular training session your body stops burning off calories the moment you leave the gym but with an interval workout you continue for up to 16 hours. This makes the fat loss benefits of this training method particularly great.
There are several variations on this style of training, so below we'll explain a few of the most established styles for you and you can apply the one you find fits your goals.
* Tabata Interval Training.
* The Sport Specific Method
* The Fat Loss Method
Tabata's were developed in the 1990's and involve possibly the shortest, yet hardest, interval workout of all time. This was designed with elite athletes in mind so if you are new to the gym you may want to hold off on this concept for a while.
Originating from Japan, this style of workout has been proven to increase the VO2 Max in a group of highly trained athletes by a whopping 28%.
It consists of performing an interval session which runs a total of just four minutes. Load up on a bike, set the timer for four minutes and spend twenty seconds at maximum intensity followed by ten seconds recovery. Keep repeating this cycle until the timer runs out and that's one session. Naturally, most people are not at a sufficient level of fitness to get the most out of this type of workout.
If your goal is to improve performance for a sport then there is a slight variation on the Tabata method which will work well for you. This involves performing a longer workout, between 20 and 30 minutes in total, which combines a cardiovascular activity as your high intensity work and a resistance exercise as your recovery. One good example of this would be to combine a 400 meter sprint on a rowing machine with 30 seconds of push-ups. That particular session is used by many professional rowing clubs.
Finally, there are numerous people who are looking to use this training method to lose body fat. The method which has the most scientific research to support it comes from Canada. A thirty minute session which consisted of four minutes at a moderate intensity followed by a thirty second burst of maximal intensity returned superior results to any other time split.
Furthermore, regardless of whether your goal is weight loss or building muscle, recent scientific studies show that performing high intensity interval training before your resistance training increases the body's natural ability to perform both of the goals listed above.
While HIIT is now a very popular choice among exercise enthusiasts around the world, it remains clouded in mystery thanks to the many various styles within it's category. As you can see from the three we have took you through today, it isn't rocket science. There are countless gym members out there who have been trying to figure out how to lose weight without spending endless hours on equipment they don't particularly enjoy. Thanks to this training style, now they can.
Today we'll teach you the various styles of this form of exercise as well as explaining the various myths which surround it.
Walk into any fitness center and you are going to notice two very different groups of people who prefer two extremely different training methods. You'll have those who are at their happiest when they are left to their own devices on a treadmill for an hour or more, then you'll have those who think that approach sounds like hell. This group like to focus much more on resistance training instead.
High intensity interval training represents a middle ground between both styles.
Who should be exercising this way? Well, to a certain degree absolutely anybody can get results with the many variations of interval training which are out there. It has been proven to burn fat at an increased rate and also to increase lean muscle tissue, so regardless of your overall fitness goal there is undoubtedly a place for this in your workout routine.
For those looking to lose fat there is one significant factor which makes high intensity interval training so appealing. This is often referred to as "The Afterburn Effect". When you finish a regular cardiovascular training session your body stops burning off calories the moment you leave the gym but with an interval workout you continue for up to 16 hours. This makes the fat loss benefits of this training method particularly great.
There are several variations on this style of training, so below we'll explain a few of the most established styles for you and you can apply the one you find fits your goals.
* Tabata Interval Training.
* The Sport Specific Method
* The Fat Loss Method
Tabata's were developed in the 1990's and involve possibly the shortest, yet hardest, interval workout of all time. This was designed with elite athletes in mind so if you are new to the gym you may want to hold off on this concept for a while.
Originating from Japan, this style of workout has been proven to increase the VO2 Max in a group of highly trained athletes by a whopping 28%.
It consists of performing an interval session which runs a total of just four minutes. Load up on a bike, set the timer for four minutes and spend twenty seconds at maximum intensity followed by ten seconds recovery. Keep repeating this cycle until the timer runs out and that's one session. Naturally, most people are not at a sufficient level of fitness to get the most out of this type of workout.
If your goal is to improve performance for a sport then there is a slight variation on the Tabata method which will work well for you. This involves performing a longer workout, between 20 and 30 minutes in total, which combines a cardiovascular activity as your high intensity work and a resistance exercise as your recovery. One good example of this would be to combine a 400 meter sprint on a rowing machine with 30 seconds of push-ups. That particular session is used by many professional rowing clubs.
Finally, there are numerous people who are looking to use this training method to lose body fat. The method which has the most scientific research to support it comes from Canada. A thirty minute session which consisted of four minutes at a moderate intensity followed by a thirty second burst of maximal intensity returned superior results to any other time split.
Furthermore, regardless of whether your goal is weight loss or building muscle, recent scientific studies show that performing high intensity interval training before your resistance training increases the body's natural ability to perform both of the goals listed above.
While HIIT is now a very popular choice among exercise enthusiasts around the world, it remains clouded in mystery thanks to the many various styles within it's category. As you can see from the three we have took you through today, it isn't rocket science. There are countless gym members out there who have been trying to figure out how to lose weight without spending endless hours on equipment they don't particularly enjoy. Thanks to this training style, now they can.
About the Author:
Writer: Russ Howe PTI is England's most followed fitness instructor. He reglarly teaches gym members how to lose weight , introducing many to hiit workouts on a daily basis.
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