You may know about LISS workouts and their benefits, but do you know what HIIT workouts are? It’s a type of training that involves short bursts of energy followed by rest periods. It can have major benefits and help tone your body up. Keep reading to learn about how HIIT workouts can affect your fitness journey
HIIT
HIIT stands for high intensity interval training. This means that you do high exertion exercises for a short period of time. There’s usually a time frame of 20-60 seconds to perform the exercise at maximum effort then you have a rest period of around the same time frame. These exercises are meant to raise your heart rate quickly and definitely get you sweating. There are thousands of different HIIT workouts, but many of the exercises challenge your body’s strength and agility.
Benefits:
Quick Workout
HIIT workouts are only 10-20 minutes long, which is really quick compared to other types of exercise. If you struggle to find time in your schedule for an hour-long workout, this can be the perfect solution for you. There are thousands of HIIT workouts that do not require any equipment, so you don’t even have to leave the house to get your sweat on! If you’re busy or want to squeeze in a quick effective workout try out a HIIT workout! I have some made up for you already! Try a 10 min HIIT workout or a more advanced HIIT workout.
Burn Calories Fast
HIIT workouts are built for you to get in a great workout in a short period of time. When you are working at your maximum effort for every exercise you can really only do 10-20 minutes of that workout. This doesn’t mean that it is any less effective than a 30 minute to an hour workout though. There’s a phenomenon known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) where your body burns more calories after the workout because it is trying to heal from the intensity of the workout. So during HIIT you burn calories very fast then you keep burning calories after your workout because HIIT workouts help boost your metabolism.
Helps Build Lean Muscles
HIIT workouts involve using many different muscle groups. Each HIIT workout is built differently, but the handful of exercises in each workout use the whole body. The explosive movements help build muscular endurance. It also helps build lean muscle, which is what you want to “tone up”. Many people talk about wanting to tone up and that involves building muscle so you have more of a defined, sculpted body. Having the ability to do a full body workout in 10-20 is a major advantage of HIIT. You are doing explosive movements that require fast twitch muscle fibers while getting in a sweaty cardio session.
There are a lot of benefits of HIIT workouts as well as LISS workouts, so to create the most effective schedule try to combine the two! Switching up the type of workouts you do weekly can keep your body at its peak performance because it will have to adapt to the different challenges of each workout
