HIIT Workouts Benefits for Improved Health & Fat Loss

It’s a brand new year and after all the indulgences of the holiday season, who doesn’t want to burn up unwanted fat fast?  With that being said, how do you get your body to stoke up its fat burning potential & burn fat as fuel faster and more efficiently.   For one, you start to incorporate HIIT workouts into your fitness routine.   

What is a HIIT workout? HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training.  A HIIT workout involves working at a High Intensity, 80 – 95% of the maximum heart rate (HRmax), followed by a recovery phase of working at 40%-50% of maximum heart rate.  These intervals last anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes. The ratio of high intensity to low intensity can vary from a 1:1 ratio or any other combination. For example 3 minutes all-out effort to 3 mins recovery work phase (40-50% MHR).

There is no magic formula for a fat loss, but scientific evidence and common sense says the more muscle mass you have and the more of a caloric deficet there is the more fat you burn, so HIIT weight training could give you faster results.  Simply because HIIT conditions your bodies cells to oxidize fat more efficiently. This is because HIIT workouts tend to burn more calories than traditional workouts, especially after the workout. The post-exercise period is called “EPOC”, which stands for excess postexercise oxygen consumption. Generally a 2-hour period after exercise when the body restores itself to pre-exercise levels.  Because of the vigorous nature of HIIT workouts, the EPOC generally tends to be modestly greater, adding about a 6 to 15% more calories of energy expenditure. If you also do about 15 – 20 minutes of light cardio exercise you will extend the benefits of fat burning from your workout.

HIIT forces the body to adapt, in other words improve.  HIIT improvements and adaptations can include:

• lower blood pressure
• insulin sensitivity
• cholesterol reduction
• cardiovascular health
• fat loss

The key to improved fat loss is improved health! Health is improved through proper nutrition and exercise on a regular basis.  HIIT isn’t meant to replace your regular health routine but it will enhance it. You should ease into a HIIT workout, otherwise, you will burn out and put yourself at risk for injury and burn out!  If you would like to give HIIT a try, sign up for a Gravity Training session. Gravity training is interval training done in a safe small group personal training environment.