If you’re like most people, you probably don’t love long, repetitive exercise. That is why there are some great reasons to love HIIT training workouts, and you might love them too!
Most gyms are filled with people spending hours in the gym on treadmills and workout machines. However, the vast majority of them aren’t there because they love it. They’re there because they believe it’s the most effective approach to burn fat and get lean.
HIIT Training is an Optimal Approach
Yet in most cases, their approach is not the optimum approach to achieve the best results for getting lean. Now some people just enjoy long, slow jogs on the treadmill. And if so, that’s great for them. Everyone needs to chase their passion. For most people, however, they are looking for the workout that gives them the most bang for their buck. In time spent, as well as results.
With HIIT training workouts, you’ll burn calories more effectively than you do running for a long time. So this exercise does not take as long, but it’s much more efficient and effective in burning fat, losing weight, and getting lean.
What Are HIIT Training Workouts?
So what are HIIT training workouts? HIIT is a high-intensity type of training and exercise rotating times of short, intense bursts of anaerobic exercise, followed by low intensity recovery periods.
In plain English, that means you’ll be working out very intensely for a short measure of time, resting, and then buckling down once more. As such, your entire HIIT workout typically runs its course in 10 to 20 minutes.
A Simple (and Fun) HIIT Workout
An example HIIT training workout may consist of 5 rounds of the following exercise-rest-exercise-rest rotation:
- 40 seconds exercise
- 20 seconds rest
These are the exercises that run 40 seconds:
- 5 – Burpees
- 10 – Push Ups
- 10 seconds – High Knees
- 10 seconds – Jump Rope
- 5 – Forward Lunges
- 5 – Bodyweight Squats
So you would perform these exercises in 40 seconds with no break and no rest, and then rest 20 seconds of rest, and then another exercise round.
Rotate this for 10 to 20 minutes and you’ll be spent! And then some.
The trick to HIIT? You need to workout as hard as possible during the exercises, or you will not get the outcomes you’re aiming to achieve.
Some Additional HIIT Workouts
10 Reasons You’ll Love HIIT Workouts
Efficiency of HIIT Training Workouts
HIIT is one of the most effective types of activity you can do, and it’s also shorter in duration than most other exercise. Therefore, it’s ideal for people with busy schedules who don’t have two hours a day to spend in the gym.
Click to learn more about the benefits of HIIT.
HIIT Burns More Fat
Hoping to lose some additional fat? HIIT can deal with this quicker than most other types of exercise.
The impact of all that hard work from HIIT really kicks your body’s maintenance cycle into hyperdrive mode—which means you really keep on consuming fat in the 24 hours after HIIT, not simply during your exercise. It’s called the EPOC effect, and it’s a tremendous side benefit of HIIT.
Burns More Calories
Only 10 minutes of HIIT can burn more calories than 30 minutes on the treadmill, and the EPOC effect is huge plus as well.
Makes Your Heart Stronger
The intensity of HIIT is very helpful to your heart. In one 2006 study, scientists tracked two months of doing HIIT exercises, and the study participants could bike twice as long as before the study while maintaining a similar speed. (1)
No Equipment Necessary
Probably the coolest thing about HIIT is that it requires no equipment.
Running, burpees, high knees, body squats, and more! There are numerous bodyweight opportunities for HIIT!
Lose Fat, Not Muscle with HIIT Workouts
Any person who has been on a close diet knows you don’t want to lose muscle when cutting weight, you want to lose fat.
HIIT and weight training go hand-in-hand to safeguard muscle while still losing fat.
Increase Your Metabolism
HIIT will increase your metabolism, allowing your body to burn more fat while at rest. HIIT invigorates production of your Human Growth Hormone (HGH) by up to 450 percent during the 24 hours after you finish HIIT. (2)
Adds Variation to Your Routine
Perhaps the greatest challenge of long workout sessions is they simply get boring over time.
HIIT workout routines are continually changing, and continually challenging you to workout as hard as you can. This takes boredom off the table, and forces your mind to focus on the intensity of the exercise.
HIIT is Mobile
You can adjust HIIT to whatever location you find suitable for a great workout – indoors and outdoors.
So even in a small condo, a park, your local neighborhood, or the polar ice caps of Antarctica, you’ll never have a good excuse to not do HIIT.
HIIT Workouts Push Your Limits
HIIT forces you to work more intensely than you ever have before.
It gives you the confidence that you never realized you had. Similarly, it makes you healthier and fitter than you have likely ever been.
Now you are ready to start your HIIT training, if you are interested in some more please checkout another great article about different ab routines here. (3)
HIIT Is Dangerous | Always Be Cleared By Your Doctor
HIIT is an inherently dangerous form of exercise, and puts a heavy burden on your body. Make sure to discuss HIIT with your physician before attempting to perform HIIT or any other high-intensity exercise.
Click to return to HIIT.
David Williams
A diet and fitness enthusiast, David is an ex-Army Airborne Ranger and Infantry soldier with decades of fitness and wellness experience. A West Point graduate with a degree in engineering, he focuses on technical research related to fitness, nutrition, and wellness. He loves the beach and working out, and spending time with his wife and daughters.
References
- Heart repair and stem cells – van laake – 2006 – wiley online library. (n.d.). https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/jphysiol.2006.115816
- Deemer, S. E., Castleberry, T. J., Irvine, C., Newmire, D. E., Oldham, M., King, G. A., Ben-Ezra, V., Irving, B. A., & Biggerstaff, K. D. (2018, January). Pilot study: An acute bout of high intensity interval exercise increases 12.5 H gh secretion. Physiological reports. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5789720/
23, F. D. F. (2021, February 23). Best ab workout. Fit.Digital.
https://fit.digital/best-ab-workout/
