HIIT: The Latest on Weight Loss
I know there are a lot of recent articles on high intensity interval training. However, I believe that most of them do not fully and/or clearly explain this type of training. I hope this article helps remedy this situation.
I know most of us have been told that when we are in an aerobic state that raises our heart rate (HR) to more than 70% of our maximum heart rate (MHR), we cannot burn fat for fuel. This was simply based on our understanding of the nature of the chemical processes our cells use to replenish their fuel supply.
However, many new studies with well-documented results indicate that we obviously don’t know exactly what’s going on at the cellular level, because this research shows that we burn more calories from fat at these higher HR levels than we do at the lower ones. . And this in addition to burning more carbs too. A study with 17 participants conducted over a 20-week period showed that the HIIT group lost more than three times the amount of measured body fat as the resistance training group!
What is clear is that HIIT is the way to go to burn fat and preserve muscle mass. This is because if we only do high intensity training, we will burn our carbohydrate stores and not burn fat. Therefore, we will begin to break down our muscles to produce carbohydrates for fuel to continue the exercise. Somehow, interval training prevents this muscle wasting and allows the use of fat for fuel instead of muscle.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that during periods of lower intensity training our body uses fat for fuel; and in a way, it also uses fat to replenish our ATP stores that we burn during periods of high intensity. Then when we do our next HI interval, we have the fuel we need, in the form we need it. This will save our muscles and allow us to continue working.
As also noted in almost every HIIT article, much of the additional calorie burning occurs after we’ve finished exercising. This fact may allow us to burn more total calories from a shorter HIIT workout than from a longer steady state (non-interval) exercise workout. This is important for all of us (not just those with limited time to spend) because unless we’re extremely fit to begin with, we won’t be able to perform HIIT for as long as we can’t HIIT.
Remember, HIIT is very physically demanding. You need to make sure you are fit enough to handle the additional stresses it will put on your body. If you have any questions, consult your doctor.
Although there are many variations of HIIT, here are a few (which I posted in my newsletter) that aren’t as physically demanding as most and will still put you on the path to the results you want:
This program can be done on any type of cardio equipment or even outdoor jogging or lap swimming:
* Start with an easy 4-minute warm-up, casually increasing your pace to what you normally maintain for your workout.
* Once you’re hot enough, fire up your intensity for 30 seconds.
* Return to your normal pace for the next 30 seconds and then fly again.
*Repeat this 30-30 interval for 6 minutes, then gradually decrease your intensity as you enter a cool-down pace.
After your HIIT session, you can expect to burn more calories due to an increase in your metabolism. Sounds good right? If you’re not fit enough to jump into a full HIIT session, you may want to consider trying one of the following modified HIIT workouts:
Modified HIIT 1:
* Start with at least a 5-minute warm-up, casually increasing your pace to what you normally maintain for your workout.
*Once you are hot enough, increase your intensity for a full minute.
* Return to your normal pace and stay here until you have recovered enough to continue.
*Repeat this 1-minute interval with full recovery time between each for the entire workout, then gradually decrease your intensity as you enter a cool-down pace.
Modified HIIT 2:
* Start with at least a 5-minute warm-up, casually increasing your pace to what you normally maintain for your workout.
*Once you are hot enough, change your speed and intensity for 2 minutes.
* Return to your normal pace for 2 minutes and then change your intensity and speed again. The key is to keep your body guessing: You’re not doing full-intensity work, but you’re also not staying at the same pace throughout the workout.
*Repeat this 2-minute interval throughout your workout, then gradually decrease your intensity as you enter a cool-down pace.
Of course, as you get fitter, you can increase your high intensity time and reduce your recovery periods to match your increased aerobic capacity to the point where you’re using a 1:1 ratio of high intensity to recovery.
For more information on many types of training, please visit my website at http://www.Genbukan.biz
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