I have spoken about high intensity interval training before in this blog and as with other concepts that have been spoken on again, I am back to providing some more information that would benefit you from using HIIT. This cardio style is generally what you see done, to provide the physique that most sprinters have. As you can see from the picture, exceedingly long sessions of cardio doesn’t yield the maximum amount of muscle but with HIIT, you can retain your muscle or even build it, while perform some intense cardio for short spurts, rather than very long ones.
The thing about all these different forms of cardio, is the different tweaks that can be done to it, to keep the intensity going. There is no point to get good at something and keep at it, because that would just be you at a maintenance level rather than at a fat loss level. We all know the body is able to adapt, so once it does, this is one tweak you can make to your every loving HIIT session and keep the fat loss coming!
You have two options when it comes to doing high intensity interval training, when it comes to the rest and go periods. The rest period is the time where you have the low intensity and the go period,is when you have the high intensity. If you have read my previous blog about HIIT, you’ll already have the concept down. Just in case you haven’t, here’s a quick run through on what HIIT is really about.
High intensity interval training, is a cardio session that’s scientifically proven to increase fat loss. Some actually argue that it’s one of the best ways to reduce body fat, than regular long session cardio. The reason for this is because it’s been shown that high intensity interval training causes the body’s rest metabolic rate to be increased, up to 24 hours after the session. This means, your regular resting metabolic rate, even on the day after performing the cardio session has increased. So your body is basically utilizing the energy stores it has, at an increased rate. This is beneficial because increased metabolism is very good for fat loss!
The other positive aspect about HIIT, is the short sessions. It’s generally advised that one is only required to do 10-15 minutes of HIIT, to yield the positive effects of it. Unlike the regular long session cardios that last 30-45 minutes, you can get what you need out of this cardio style in way less and have time to go on with your day. No longer do people have the excuse of saying they don’t have enough time to do cardio. Who doesn’t have 10-15 minutes to bust out some sprints or HIIT?
The additional tweak that was the whole purpose of this blog, is that you can literally have a resting period during HIIT that includes you stopping. See, when people do sprints, which is a form of HIIT as you go and then rest, the person actually stops. They propelled themselves forward as fast as they possibly can, and then once they’ve reached their destination, they stop. This stop period during HIIT should last about 15 seconds and the go period about 30-45 seconds. This gives you enough time to “recover” and then perform the 15 seconds of high intensity all over again.
One little advice I want to mention to anyone reading this, change up your intervals as the cardio session becomes easier over time. You can start off with the 15/45 interval, and move to 30/30 or even 1 minute/ 1 minute. The intervals shouldn’t be too long, as that would defeat the whole purpose.