The benefits of HIIT workouts

The benefits of HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training

(HIIT) workouts High rate of calories burned in a short time frame (10 to 30 mins duration)

It can improve blood sugar levels and improve insulin resistance more so then steady state cardio-based exercises.

This would be beneficial to those at risk of type 2 diabetes Doing HIIT sessions not only saves you time but can also increase your fat burning potential per workout.

Anaerobic HIIT training taps into the body’s stored energy and post workout your metabolism stays elevated and burning calories long after the workout has finished.

This is called the excess post workout oxygen consumption (EPOC) effect. So, your HIIT session will not only burn a lot of calories during the session but because of the high intensity your body will carry on burning those calories while your body repairs the muscles damaged during the workout.

So not only is your HIIT session a great feel good session it will also tap into your fat stores and metabolise them to bring your body back down to its resting state.

Your body will burn calories at a rate of 5 calories per litre of oxygen consumed.

By using exercise to increase the oxygen needed to complete the exercise your body will burn more calories and your total expenditure both during and after will be increased.

Short bursts of extremely high intensity exercise involving a lot muscle mass requires a lot of oxygen during both the work periods and the rest periods of the workouts.

HIIT training can have a number of physiological benefits such as an increased mitochondrial density (allowing you to train/compete faster and longer) and improved stroke volume (lower rest heart rate) HIIT places a large amount of metabolic stress on the muscles and as part of the repair process the body will produce elevated amounts of the human growth hormone (HGH) testosterone and the insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF1) to repair damaged muscle which then lead to muscle volume and definition (IGF1 and HGH will also increase bone density) If you want to measure your intensity for a HIIT session you can use the RPE scale like the one below.

You should be aiming for 8 and above and for no longer than 30 seconds. Work rest period will vary depending on the workout.

10: MAX EFFORT ACTIVITY Feels almost impossible to keep going. Completely out of breath, unable to talk. Cannot maintain for more than a very short time.

9: VERY HARD ACTIVITY Very difficult to maintain exercise intensity. Can barely breathe and speak only a few words.

7-8: VIGOROUS ACTIVITY Borderline uncomfortable. Short of breath, can speak a sentence.

4-6: MODERATE ACTIVITY Breathing heavily, can hold a short conversation. Still somewhat comfortable, but becoming noticeably more challenging.

2-3: LIGHT ACTIVITY Feels like you can maintain for hours. Easy to breathe and carry a conversation.

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