Our time is short and our time is precious. With everything in life we prioritise and devote time to the things we see as the most important. Family, friends, maybe a hobby and the thing that provides us with the means to do all this……. Work. However in recent years the importance for us to push health and fitness up that priority list is becoming more and more apparent. At the end of the day being generally unhealthy whether that’s not doing enough physical activity or not providing your body with the required nutrition or maybe a combination of the two then you are running the risk of not only shortening your life but increasing the chance of suffering the consequences with your health which will in turn hinder your ability to enjoy the things you love in life. Depressing right? So what if I told you that being fit and healthy, or at least drastically improving your chances of being fit and healthy could be achieved within a 30 minute period 3-4 times…….. ill let that sink in a minute. To put that in to perspective 4 hours is just over 2% of your week, now tell me you don’t have time!!!! The workout I’m going to describe can be performed in the gym, the back garden, your living room, just about anywhere with as much or as little equipment as you like, in fact all you actually need is that spare 30 mins and your own body weight. No fads no gimmicks, I’m not trying to sell you anything, just a short effective intense workout to get that heart rate increased and the blood pumping. If this sound up your street then read on. What is HIIT? HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training and is one of the most effective workout methods for burning fat. HIIT workouts also boost your metabolism, improve your cardiovascular fitness, and boosts energy levels by getting your body working harder to burn fat. A HIIT workout involves short bursts of intense exercise, followed by recovery periods of low-intensity activity or rest. Clients who attend our personal training or fit camps will find this method commonly used by our trainers, 20-30 seconds intense activity followed by 30-40 seconds low intensity exercise or rest. You would repeat this routine for up to 15-20 minutes and voilà you have smashed a HIIT workout! The beauty of this method is that those of you with hectic schedules or even those of you that don’t enjoy training can smash an effective circuit and achieve body composition and fitness goals in a short period of time. Choosing your exercises This will largely come down to where you are completing your HIIT workout. If at home with no equipment then bodyweight exercises are the key; Burpees, press ups, squats, jump squats…. The list go’s on. If in a gym with more options and you’re looking for a bit of variation then you should be choosing exercises that are working across multiple joints and muscles; squat and press, barbell walking lunges, KB swings. If you are looking to train outdoors then the idea is similar to working from home but now you have endless space you could utilise this and do some form of running, maybe sprints or if you’re feeling really fit hill sprints. At Bodypro you will see all of these methods integrated in to most of our clients personalised programmes and fitcamps. At the end of the day we want to make the time our clients spend with us as effective as possible so they achieve they’re goals as quick as possible. So, Why HIIT (other than the amazing benefits already covered) Burn fat, lose weight and boost your metabolism = The end The reason why a HIIT workout is more effective than say a steady state jog is purely down to intensity. The more intense an exercise the more calories burned, meaning that more calories can be burned in a shorter period of time. HIIT is also said to cause something dubbed “after burn” which is your body still burning calories hours after the workout has finished due to an increase in your metabolic rate. Always aim to push yourself as hard as you can, as the more intense your workout, the greater the effects will be. A study published by the Journal of Obesity found that HIIT workouts allow those who are on a diet to preserve their muscle mass, while ensuring that most of the weight loss comes from fat stores in your body. Finally Always warm up, always cool down and always stretch! For an example HIIT workout head to our facebook page to see Ben complete the workout with you.
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