Introduction
In the past years, there is being a surge on sport and health topics. We look more and more for some alternatives or variations of the most classic sports that keep evolving throughout years. One of the activities that has been quite trendy in the last years it’s HIIT.
In this post we will discuss how HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training works and how it may help you in your day-to-day life.
The different advantages that HIIT has goes from mere performance improvement to health improvements. However, there is more than this and HIIT also includes some advantages to our well-being and the enjoyment of our activities.
But before we start describing, in case you don’t know, what’s HITT and how it works?
In simple terms, HIIT is the combination of both:
- High intensity intervals
- Low intensity intervals that are used to recover from the high intensity
By high intensity intervals, it’s meant by those intervals where the heart rate capacity is equal to at least 80% of the maximum heart rate.
The frequency of the high and low intensity may vary, and it can go from to 2:1 or 1:2
An example may be clearer if we add some numbers.
Let’s imagine runner who performs the following steps:
1. 60-seconds sprint
2. 120-second Low intensity jogging
3. 60-seconds sprint
4. 120-second Low intensity jogging
And like that you can play with different variations. For example, sprints of 60 seconds and rest 60 seconds, etc.
The goal of the HIIT session is to give everything and end exhausted at the end of it.
Starting with HIIT means also getting out of your comfort zone and it may be challenging for you at the beginning. Nevertheless, being progressive and reading the following benefits will for sure help you go to the next level.
1. Lack of time
We would like to have days of 48 hours, but this is not possible. With HIIT you can reduce your sessions to more than half of it. From a 60-minute low-intensity session, you can switch it to a 15/20-minute HIIT session.
A 20-minute session will be enough to complete your daily activity and objectives.
In other words, the usual 45 minutes sessions you have can be to just 20-minute session. The minutes you don’t use can be used for any other thing.
Even if shorter duration, you will with a higher sensation of completeness and job well done because of the work that your body does after the work.
Further, there is no need to do these sessions every day. Since in every session, a lot of stress is added to your organs and muscles, 3 or 4 HITT sessions will be more than enough for you and your body. We will later see the post-process.
This benefit is a good argument to tell people who complain that they don’t do any exercise because they have too many things to do and no time. Most of us should be able to take 20 minutes from other daily tasks.
2. Get fit
As we have described above, if you have been without performing sport for some time, you should start slowly with HIIT. At the same time, this is a great technique to get in shape quite quickly compared to low-intensity trainings. Therefore, it may be a good idea in case you have joined a race in a few months, and you should prepare it beforehand.
3. Multiple variations
Although HIIT is more associated to jogging, many sports and activities can be applied to this technique. This means that you can enrich your portfolio of exercises and increase the fun.
El HIIT no es exclusivo de trotar, y puedes experimentarlo de muchas maneras
Some of the most important activies are:
- Swimming
- Cycling
- Weight training
- Rope jumping
- Rowing
- Burpees
- Dancing
As it occurs with nutrition, having a diversified set of exercises will help you not get bored and opening your mind to practice new ones.
4. Muscular mass
For professionals who compete, you may have heard different opinions about the different exercises and planning. Some argue that with running, they may lose part of their muscular mass that they have gained.
The benefit of HIIT, linked also to the duration is that you can achieve the following:
- Reduce the body fat
- Maintain the muscular mass
- Increase the muscular mass in the legs
Another example is if in the Olympics or you have a look at the bodies of different sports.
If you have a look at the bodies of marathon runners or long-distance cyclists you may see very thin athletes with low fat, but also low muscular mass except for the legs. The reason is that when performing these long-duration activities, the glucogen reserves are empty and the body starts taking energy from: fat and lipids.
For that reason, HIIT is a clear win-win solution and the reason for being the preferred choice for many athletes.
5. Metabolism
High Intense Interval Training is also called metabolic booster. The reason is that practicing HIIT produces a considerable acceleration in the metabolism of our body. But why is that? Due to the work that is performed, our body is pushed to the next level. Our body is clever enough and demands a bigger amount of oxygen to provide to our organs: heart, lungs, etc. However, it is not that the only reason only.
Apart from that, some components that were broken in the exercise must be restored and the energy that must be used to recover these proteins, tendons, etc., in the recovery phase is why our body keeps working even if we are in our sofa.
This process last around 48 hours and that’s why during this time, our body keeps burning calories. This is another reason for just having to perform this activity 3-4 times per week.
6. Better performance
Depending on the activity, some parts of our body will be development. However, HIIT has a great impact in the performance, and you may see improvements in the following factors:
- Speed
- Agility
- Power
- Resistance
If you practice HIIT you may have noticed that your performance in other sports such as swimming or cycling has also improved.
HIIT can boost your VO2 Max levels that can be very beneficial for sports such as cycling
One common thin with these sports is the VO2 max effectiveness. VO2 max measures the efficiency that your body uses the oxygen while performing your activity. Higher VO2 Max higher performance. There is a story back to the times of when triathlons were created in 1970 and who would win? Runners, swimmers, or cyclists? Some said that cyclists would be the winners because back then Eddy Merckx had the highest VO2 levels.
7. Heart
Not everything must be fun and performance. One of the most important characteristics is related to our health. If you suffer from health issues such as high pressure, you will be happy to hear that runners that practice HIIT benefit from a much better heart health.
Further, HIIT increases the amount of blood that the heart can pump.
Of course, if you have some health issues, another piece of advice would be having some medical checks before starting practicing this technique.
8. Cost
Starting with other sports and activities means increasing the fun. Nonetheless, in most cases to invest in different articles (bicycle, dumbbells, skis, goggles, etc.) If you are already jogging, there is nothing that you would have to buy.
This one is obvious, but with HIIT, you will be able to reuse the equipment you already have, and this will not mean an extra cost.
9. Kill the monotony
Coming back to the duration, being running at the same pace for 45 or 60 minutes may not be the most exciting activity. If you live in a big city, you will not find many tracks close to your place with 45/60 minutes routes.
Since the duration for HIIT is much shorter, this also gives you many more possibilities when combining the different routes.
Related to the variations and the monotony, there are also many other variations that we may say in other articles. For example, you may practice HIIT while doing some trail or as we have seen in other sports.
10 Risk of injuries
Finalizing with another health topic, being running for 60 minutes every day on the road or any other hard surface may not be the most convenient way to keep your knees.
I remember this was my main reason for switching to HIIT some 5-6 years ago.
After 20-30 minutes low-intensity running, I had a strong pain in the left knee, and I had to stop running. After 3-4 times, I decided I had to reduce the duration of these exercises or just stop. I decided to continue but compensating the lower duration with a more active and high interval trainings. That’s how I started and ever since I did not have any problem.
Every time we run our knees and other articulations may be subject to prolonged times of and a wrong way of running may lead to injuries. By reducing the duration of our training, we also reduce the risk of injuries and conserve intact our articulations.
What’s next
In conclusion, you have seen different advantages of practicing HIIT. It may sound challenging for you at the beginning, but I can assure you that this will not deceive you and will push your body to the next level.
We have found what the different benefits in terms of time, fun, health, and performance are. As discussed in one of the points, trying is free, and you may start with a just 10-minute session to give it a try.