24 Jan 2016

/ / / If you’ve been following Holy City Fit Chicks, then you have seen our many posts about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).  Angie and I both used to run several hours a week to keep in shape.  Cardio was always our go to form of exercise – read our bios to learn more about how we’ve changed our fitness philosophies.  Now we complete HIIT workouts with weights regularly and have personally seen our bodies transform by incorporating this type of aerobic exercise into our workout routines.   It’s not just something we do because of the changes we’ve seen though; it’s also because we really enjoy it. So, what is it? HIIT is repeating an exercise where you are working at an intensity of 90% of your maximum heart rate for 30 seconds up to several minutes followed by 1-5 minutes of recovery.  This is repeated 4-6 times in the workout for a total workout time of 20-30 minutes.  This type of workout is completed a minimum of 3 times per week. Benefits Risk of Injury is Low Whenbeginning an exercise regimen, especially if exercise is new to you, the potential for injury can occur.  However, HIIT is a very effective form of exercise and is actually safe in a controlled environment in which a trained individual can monitor your form to ensure injury does not occur.  It’s also more effective means of exercise with a trainer or workout partner.  Since you are working at such a high intensity, it is often hard to maintain that momentum when exercising alone.  Having a trainer or workout partner is motivation to keep the extreme energy expenditure required in the interval phases of HIIT. Improves Health More than one-third of adults are obese in the U.S.  Obesity increases the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke.  Moderate exercise has been proven to decrease cardiovascular disease risk.  However, not all moderate exercise programs succeed in significant fat loss.  HIIT has been shown to significantly reduce abdominal fat, total body mass, and improvemaximal oxygen uptake.  It also burns more calories than steady-state exercise (exercise in which your heart-rate level is maintained throughout the workout).  Other benefits include decreasing total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol which increasing HDL-cholesterol. Efficient Means of Exercise Since HIIT only requires 20-30 minutes of exercise, 3 times a week, it makes it an efficient type of workout.  Many of our clients work full-time with families and therefore have very busy schedules.  That’s why when we create customized plans, group challenges, or share social posts, we almost always create HIIT workouts. Reference Shiraev, T (2012). Evidence based exercise, Clinical benefits of high intensity interval training. Australian Family Physician. Volume 41 (Issue 12). Pages 960-962