How To Understand High Intensity Interval Training

By Howe Russ


It is often said that learning how to lose weight is sometimes needlessly over complicated. Despite the numerous scientific advancements we have made in the last 20 years, the old classic formulas still return the best results. One of those formulas is HIIT.

Just like resistance training, there are various ways to perform this style of workout and your overall fitness goal will determine which method is best suited for you. Most people don't learn these different methods and therefore don't see any results. Today we will teach them to you.

Walk into any fitness center and you are going to notice two very different groups of people who prefer two extremely different training methods. You'll have those who are at their happiest when they are left to their own devices on a treadmill for an hour or more, then you'll have those who think that approach sounds like hell. This group like to focus much more on resistance training instead.

High intensity interval training provides both groups with a stepping stone between their respective styles, offering the benefits of both methods in one workout.

What type of person should be using this training method? It may surprise you to hear that both sets of people would get results. While your body is able to increase it's ability to shed unwanted fat at a quicker rate than regular cardiovascular activity, studies also show an increase in our ability to build lean muscle.

For those looking to lose fat there is one significant factor which makes high intensity interval training so appealing. This is often referred to as "The Afterburn Effect". When you finish a regular cardiovascular training session your body stops burning off calories the moment you leave the gym but with an interval workout you continue for up to 16 hours. This makes the fat loss benefits of this training method particularly great.

Take a look below at the most common variations of interval training and you will be able to apply one of these methods to your own training routine easily.

* The 4 minute workout developed in Japan, known as Tabata's.

* The Sport Specific Method

* The Fat Loss Method

The Tabata method is designed for elite athletes or extremely fit individuals who are looking to increase an already high level of fitness. When you reach a level which is considered elite, you will notice gains are far harder to come by. For instance, think how hard a bodybuilder works to add an extra quarter of an inch to a muscle before a contest.

Originating from Japan, this style of workout has been proven to increase the VO2 Max in a group of highly trained athletes by a whopping 28%.

It consists of performing an interval session which runs a total of just four minutes. Load up on a bike, set the timer for four minutes and spend twenty seconds at maximum intensity followed by ten seconds recovery. Keep repeating this cycle until the timer runs out and that's one session. Naturally, most people are not at a sufficient level of fitness to get the most out of this type of workout.

Sport specific interval workouts can be applied to those looking to train for a particular event or improve performance for a team game. One good example of this can be performed using a rowing machine. Row 500 meters as fast as possible then perform push-ups for thirty seconds. Repeat this cycle five times and you have a great muscle building high intensity circuit class.

If you are looking to use high intensity interval training to improve your general fitness and get the fat loss benefits on offer then you should pay close attention to a recent study performed in Canada. Researchers found that the optimal interval workout for fat loss is a thirty minute session split up into sections of 4 minutes at a moderate intensity and 30 second bursts of maximum effort.

Furthermore, regardless of whether your goal is weight loss or building muscle, recent scientific studies show that performing high intensity interval training before your resistance training increases the body's natural ability to perform both of the goals listed above.

Science has changed a lot of aspects of the health and fitness industry over the years and this is just one change which has been widely accepted. If you are stuck in the old routine of performing long, steady state cardio sessions and would like to learn how to lose weight with a bit more of a challenge each time you hit the gym, we highly recommend adopting HIIT into your training routine immediately.




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