Ever wondered how you can burn more fat, but spend less time exercising? Ok, who hasn’t wondered that!? I’ve got a secret weapon called HIIT, that will help you do just that!
HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training, which is short intervals of high intensity cardio (such as running as fast as you possibly can), which you break up with intervals of low intensity cardio (just a casual walk or even rest). HIIT can increase the amount of calories you burn during your exercise session, improve your athletic endurance, and of course, increase your fat burning potential.
This is a go to method of training in our Total Body Workouts. As I often say “A quick workout is a good workout.”
How do you do HIIT?
Glad you asked! An example of a HIIT session is a 30 second sprint, immediately followed by a 30 second walk (or REST). These sprint and rest periods are your intervals, and should be repeated for 10-15 minutes. I prefer to do this exercise on a treadmill, however, an RPM bike or outside is another option!
Why is HIIT the best?
Two Big Reasons (WARNING: Getting a bit knowledge heavy below).
1. You burn a ton more calories per minute of exercise. HIIT is a much higher intensity style of cardio, which means your heart beats faster, you sweat more, and of course burn more calories. Pretty exciting, right!?
2. Excessive Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption & Acute Hormonal Response. These scientific terms are a fancy way of saying that after you finish your workout, you continue burning fat…a lot of fat actually. This is called the “after burn” effect of HIIT training, and because of this, some people claim that you can burn up to 3 times as much fat from a HIIT session vs. regular jogging.
To Start:
Try this super fat burning cardio style once or twice per week. 15 minutes is all you need, and follow the 30:30 second intervals. Don’t start too quick if you’re on a treadmill, as you need to get confident mounting and dismounting the moving platform in between intervals. Remember you can also do this on a stationary bicycle, or outside.
*NOTE: I do not recommend only one type of cardio. Quite the opposite actually, I think every type of training has benefits, and no one training style is complete on it’s own. By mixing different styles, it is much easier to see fast results. Results = happy you 🙂