Why You Should Practice HIIT
HIIT is high-intensity training, meaning that we must stagger the training sessions, leaving plenty of breaks.
HIIT is the new trend for working out and its excellent results have been proven. If you still do not know much about this new style of workout, keep reading.
We’ll tell you why HIIT is a good choice to include in your workout routine.
What is HIIT?
HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training. This workout consists of taking the body to its maximum performance during a short period, in approximately thirty seconds. This then allows the heart rate to fall in another short period with a similar duration.
Apparently, according to studies, this way of training activates the creation of mitochondrias. These are cells that are responsible for making good use of glucose and allow it to be used as energy. Practice HIIT three times a week in order to get good results in a efficient way.
What are the benefits of HIIT?
- Burn fat more effectively. High intensity exercise activates the metabolism and accelerates it, allowing the fat to burn quickly. In fact, your levels reach such a point that you can keep burning calories even after the session is over.
- Improves cardiovascular health. Due to the changes in the cardiac pressure when practicing this discipline, the blood circulation and the function of the heart are favored.
- The muscle is maintained. The HITT also favors the secretion of testosterone. So, when performing strength exercises, the muscles are strengthened and maintain their volume.
- Helps with diabetes. This type of workout is also appropriate for diabetics because it involves better use of glucose and helps with insulin sensitivity.
- The practice will improve your performance.
- The practice of HIIT stimulates growth hormones, which slow down the aging process.
- Oxidize fats.
- Prevents and reduces obesity.
- Prevents heart disease.
As you can see, there are many benefits to practicing HIIT, but if you have still not tried it, you may wonder how to get started?
How to practice HIIT
There are several very simple routines to get started in HIIT. We will give you some guidelines so that you can achieve it. These simple exercises can be carried out while running, on an elliptical, a treadmill, a bicycle, a stair climber, swimming or while using a rowing machine.
The routine is simple, you will start with few repetitions and you will be adding more each week. To get started, the sequence would be like this:
- Five minutes of jogging
- Three minutes–start with 30 seconds of sprinting, then 30 seconds of jogging and then finish with running.
- You will finish with a jog of five minutes
- Every week that passes you will add one more set of sprints, up to 30 seconds of jogging.
By keeping your rhythm,your resistance improves, and then you can change the rhythms. For example: 15-15, 30-30, 45-45, 60-60. But remember, you will always have to warm up for five minutes and finish with another five minutes of cooling down in order to allow the heart to return to its normal rhythm.
When you can and can’t practice HITT
Although the benefits of HITT are countless, practicing it every day is not good. Doing it more than three times a week can lead to over training. This can have negative consequences for your health.
In addition, you could also become discouraged by not seeing results. This is because the body takes the habit of doing the same exercises and ultimately, you do not exercise anything. The most advisable point, is to alternate HIIT with a weight routine and then rest for at least two days each week.
Of course, if you have chronic or acute injuries you should not practice HIIT, since the body will reach its highest level of performance. This could cause damage to your injured areas.
Follow these tips and practice HIIT safely to get the best results. Remember to enjoy a good diet and plan for rest, which is as important as training.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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- Liu JX, Zhu L, Li PJ, Li N, Xu YB. Effectiveness of high-intensity interval training on glycemic control and cardiorespiratory fitness in patients with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2019 May;31(5):575-593.
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