When it comes to health and fitness, everyone wants to know the FASTEST and BEST way to get fit. They want to know what supplements to take, what workouts to do, how much to eat etc. But, what most people don’t realize, is that less can sometimes be more when it comes to the exercise portion! Haley Perry, CEO of Endorphitness, Discusses a few advanced HIIT workouts below:
As a trainer in the industry for several years, I can tell you that you do NOT need to workout for 60 minutes, 7 days a week to see results. In fact, that might actually cause you to move backwards because you are not allowing for proper recovery, but that is a whole different topic. When it comes to exercise, there are two different ways you can do it. You can spend a longer duration of time in the gym, and work at a lower intensity. Or you can spend less time in the gym, and work at a higher intensity. I don’t know about you, but I would rather get in and out of the gym in a short amount of time.
This is where HIIT workouts come into play. HIIT stands for high intensity interval training, meaning a bout of high intensity exercise followed by a period of rest. These types of workouts are designed to burn fat because of the quick rise and fall of the heart rate. The harder your body has to work to keep blood flowing, the more calories you burn. By moving at a quick rate we are burning through our stored carb sources and into fat, which allows us to see body composition changes! Now, if we are doing low intensity, we do it for a longer period of time because it takes longer to burn through our carb storage to get the same effects as a HIIT workout.
HIIT workouts are also beneficial in that they increase your EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) meaning all day your body is working extra hard to recover from your high intensity workout completed. That is why these workouts are best done in the morning, when you have all day to recover and refuel, whereas when you complete them in the morning your body is trying to do several different things at night while you are sleeping!
So if you ask me, HIIT workouts are the way to go. You get a 20 minute, high intensity workout in, and you burn calories all day! Now, this doesn’t mean your workout HAS to be in the gym, you can do a great workout at home, too! So next time you only have 20 minutes and think you don’t have enough time to get a full workout in, try a High intensity interval (HIIT) workout and see the results they create! View Source