The Ultimate Fitness Tip: Put Your Heart Into It With High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
You know the saying that to really succeed at something, you have to put your heart into it? It turns out to be more literal than you thought. There’s more and more studies proving that short bursts of intense exercise that really get the heart rate up are superior to longer, less intense cardio. That means that not only do you need less time to get into great shape, but that you’ll be less likely to get overuse injuries since you won’t be putting a lot of pressure on the joints for an extended period of time.
[The first person ever to run a marathon dropped dead after completing it. There are better and safer ways to go about getting into shape.]
Getting The Heart Pumping Helps Get Results
High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT, is when you do sets of intense physical exercise that really gets the heart pumping. For instance, if you’re doing HIIT with sprints, then you might sprint as fast as you can for 10 seconds and then walk for 20 seconds, repeating the process up to 8 times (just remember to consult your doctor before starting an exercise program). Why is HIIT so popular? Well, just take a look at this:
“A 2005 study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that after just two weeks of interval training, six of the eight college-age men and women doubled their endurance, or the amount of time they could ride a bicycle at moderate intensity before exhaustion.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/fashion/03Fitness.html)
My Comments: In only two weeks, those who participated in HIIT doubled their endurance. And if that isn’t reason enough to start doing HIIT…
“After interval training, the amount of fat burned in an hour of continuous moderate cycling increased by 36 percent, said Jason L. Talanian, the lead author of the study and an exercise scientist at the University of Guelph in Ontario. Cardiovascular fitness — the ability of the heart and lungs to supply oxygen to working muscles — improved by 13 percent.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/fashion/03Fitness.html)
My Comments: So not only was endurance doubled in only two weeks of High Intensity Interval Training, but fat burned more readily and the heart and lungs were better able to supply oxygen. This is definitely something that I want to be doing!
Why Marathon Cardio Is Bad For You
There’s a common misconception among guys and girls who want to lose weight that the best way to go about it is training for a marathon. This could not be further from the truth. Pheidippides, the first person to historically run a marathon, dropped dead after his first marathon. So it’s pretty clear that from the get go, marathons have had a bad track record (pun intended). If you need more proof than that, read Arthur De Vany’s top 10 reasons not to run a marathon.
The Body Was Designed For Short Spurts of High Intensity Exercise Followed By Low Intensity Exercise
I personally believe that one of the reasons HIIT followed by low intensity exercise works so well is that the body was designed to work that way. In the old days, most of the time people were walking from one place to another at an easy pace, and occasionally had to sprint or use a tremendous amount of energy either because they were hunting for food or were being chased by animals.
Because of this, our bodies are best made to be constantly involved in low key activity like walking and occasionally to do intense activity like sprinting. So to get the best results from the few times a week you do high intensity interval training, try to walk as much as possible the rest of the week.
A Quick Summary (for those who skimmed)
1) High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT, where you do short intense sets of exercise to get your heart rate up is proven to be extremely effective at increasing endurance, the ability for the body to take in oxygen, and fat loss.
2) We’re not built to run marathons. We’re built to have short spurts of intense exercises followed by less intense exercise like walking.
3) HIIT allows for getting in an excellent workout while saving time.
Before I Finish…
I just want to clarify that while I definitely like HIIT a lot, I think that the main thing in a workout is to get your heart beat up for a period of time. While HIIT is excellent at that, you don’t need to do high intensity interval training alone to achieve all the benefits. If you enjoy jogging for 3 miles while sprinting at the last bit of every mile to get your heart beat really going, that’s also great. The main thing is to make sure that for at least a few of your workouts during the week, you push yourself until you’re short of breath.
