Bring some Intensity to your Training!!! High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT, is one of the best ways to lose weight & get in shape! It's also a great way to increase speed & endurance. When you think of HIIT, think the opposite of keeping the same pace all workout long. High Intensity Interval Training is typically a 2:1 ratio of work to recovery periods. For example sprint for 20 seconds and recover for 10 seconds. You can do HIIT with cardio exercises, resistance exercises, or by combining both.
HIIT works because it burns a large amount of calories during exercise & up to 24 hours after exercise. The after workout calorie burn is due to EPOC, excess post oxygen consumption, which helps to increase your resting metabolic rate for up to 24 hours after training. Research has also shown HIIT to burn fat 50% more effectively than low intensity endurance training. HIIT should be called weight loss interval training because it is one of the fastest ways to fat loss. In comparison to low intensity training you are going to burn more calories in less time & burn fat more effectively.
HIIT has also been shown to improve athletic performance by increasing speed & endurance. If you are in a sport where you are trying to increase your pace this is the way to accomplish that goal. The intense start & stop methods (similar to training in a sport) in addition to to the EPOC all add to the increase in maximal oxygen consumption or VO2Max. Training a lot of clients involved in sports like biking & running, time and time again they are constantly telling me how in just a few workouts they are already shedding time off their pace & doing so with less effort...Lighter, Faster, Stronger! When describe Sweat's Boot Camps & Personal Training I constantly refer to it as training like an athlete, and this is exactly what I mean....High Intensity followed by Short Recovery Periods.
HIIT is what I call effective workout time. You are going to get similar results in less time than your endurance training or as I like to call it "same pace training". Studies have shown similar biochemical muscular changes from 2.5 of HIIT to 10.5 hours of endurance training. Similar results in 1/4 the time, that's rapid progress for health and fitness. Talk about getting in shape fast!
Cardio Exercise Plans for HIIT Training
Frequency of Training
For Fat Loss I recommend HIIT training 3-5 days a week!
Challenging Pace
When I say challenging I mean you are getting out of breath and counting down the time till the 2 minutes is over. You have to push yourself to make it the full 2 minutes. Your target heart rate should be 85% of your maximum heart rate, Low intensity is below 65%. You should start to feel breathless toward the end of the two minutes & You should definitely feel out of your comfort zone.
Recovery Pace
During that minute focus on catching your breath and recovering. Taking deep breaths in through your nose and slowly breathing out of your mouth is a great way to quickly recover your breathing and drop your heart rate quickly.
Treadmill
Warm-up: 5 minutes
Set the treadmill up to a pace that is challenging for 2 minutes. After the 2 minutes take the treadmill down to a recovery speed for 1 minute.
repeat for 20 minutes
Biking
Warm-up: 5 minutes
Take the resistance up on your bike and lift out of the seat for 2 minutes. I would take the resistance so that you can maintain a sprinting pace. Don't set the resistance to climbing a steep hill the goal is heart rate up, not wear your legs out. After 2 minutes take the resistance down & sit back in the seat for 1 minute.
Duration: repeat for 20 minutes
Running Outside
Warm Up: 5 minutes
Run for 2 minutes at a challenging pace & then walk for 1 minute to recover.
Duration: repeat for 20 minutes.
