High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a type of intense workout popular among athletes. The goal of HIIT is to exert all of your energy through intense exercise, pushing your body until you are exhausted.
In his book “The Feel Good Plan: Happier, Healthier, and Slimmer in 15 Minutes a Day,” Dalton Wong says, “True HIIT is like sprinting, and it should make you feel like your gas tank is completely empty.” To put it simply, if you still have energy after HIIT, you’ve done it wrong. This extreme level of intensity is part of what makes HIIT such a popular workout.
In order to reap the health benefits of HIIT, you need to reach that high level of intensity for the entire duration of the interval training. But it’s also important to know that HIIT is not a workout that you’re meant to do daily. Doing HIIT every day increases your chances of injuring yourself by overworking your body and muscles. You can also burn out if you overdue HIIT.
At Burn Studios in Brookhaven, we know that, when done correctly, there are many health benefits of HIIT. Check out our reasons and enroll in one of our high-intensity workout classes to try a high-intensity workout for yourself.
Burn Calories
During HIIT, you are exerting your entire body for an extended period of time. The intensity of this short workout will burn more calories than traditional workouts because you are pushing your entire body to the limit.
Gain Muscle, Lose Weight
The challenge of a HIIT workout builds your muscles while burning fat. Unlike a diet, using HIIT to lose weight will allow you to keep your muscles toned while losing any extra fat.
HIIT training can help to balance the hormones in your body that are responsible for weight gain. When you form a consistent HIIT regime, your body will begin to shed any extra body fat.
Save Time
HIIT training is not something you do for the length of a normal workout. Instead, HIIT is a fast-paced, high-intensity workout that lasts anywhere from 60 seconds to 20 minutes. The goal is to push yourself to your personal limit in a short amount of time to get the most effects from HIIT.
If you only have a little bit of time for your workout, HIIT will give you the same benefits of longer, less-intense workout classes — but in a short amount of time.
Versatile Workout
Along with saving time, HIIT doesn’t require any equipment. Moves like running, high knees, and fast feet increase your heart rate and give you the same level of intensity as biking or jumping rope give you.
When you want a fast workout that you don’t have to go to the gym for, HIIT is a good option.
Improve Overall Health
During HIIT training, a lot happens inside your body. The intensity of your workout can increase blood circulation in your body and reduce heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar.
HIIT increases the pressure on your blood vessels, giving them a workout of their own. The result makes your heart stronger and healthier. HIIT can also reduce blood sugar, helping diabetics improve their insulin resistance.
Challenge Yourself
HIIT involves pushing yourself for a short period of time to get maximum effects. If you’re looking to increase your endurance, take on the challenge of HIIT. Every time you complete a workout, you’ve pushed yourself to your absolute personal limit. But as your body experiences more of these intense training sessions, you will notice an increase in your endurance. This allows you to push yourself harder each time.
Just remember, everyone handles a different level of HIIT. Before you start, make sure you know what your body can handle and set your own personal limits. Pushing yourself too hard will diminish these health benefits and put you at higher risk of injury.
At Burn Studios in Brookhaven, we offer high-intensity workouts, like our cycling class and other workout classes. Sign up for one of our workout classes today and see how you do!