HIIT workouts and their benefits

If you are looking for the most effective way to burn fat, burn calories, lose weight while keeping muscles, building muscles, increasing fitness, strengthening the heart muscle, and much more than that then nothing beats HIIT workouts.

HIIT workouts are a type of cardio, they are high-intensity exercises called HIIT for short High Intensity Interval Training. They help raise your heart's work to a different level than other cardio exercises. You can do HIIT with other cardio like jump rope or running by switching between HIIT moves then slowing down and returning to HIIT again. It is found that HIIT boosts metabolism and builds strength because it gives the same benefits as low and moderate intensity aerobic workouts but in much less time.

You can do HIIT even if you only have 5 minutes. A quick home workout lasting from 3 to 20 minutes, maybe between meetings or during breaks and rest time, can boost your metabolism. This type of training was discovered by Japanese scientist Dr. Izumi Tabata and a team of fitness and sports researchers. They found that if you push yourself as hard as you can for 20 seconds then rest for 10 seconds repeatedly for 4 minutes, you get better fitness gains than a half-hour workout.

How to get started with HIIT workouts?

There are many ways to add HIIT to your workouts, so starting is easy. Just pick an activity like running, biking, jumping, etc.

Examples of HIIT workouts:

Here's a full session made of four HIIT exercises to burn fat around the waist, belly, and hips.

How to do the workout session:

• Do the 4 exercises 4 times. Do each exercise for 50 seconds, then rest 35 seconds before the next. Finish all four before repeating the cycle 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time.

• Workout time: 22 minutes and 40 seconds.

1. Up And Out Jumping Jacks exercise:

1. Stand straight with relaxed shoulders.

2. Jump and move your feet apart, while moving your hands from the sides to your head.

3. Drop back down and return your hands and feet to the starting position.

2. High Knees Exercise:

1. Stand straight, keep your feet shoulder-width apart, and look forward.

2. Jump and lift your right knee while keeping your left foot on the ground.

3. Jump and lift your left knee while keeping your right foot on the ground.

4. Do this alternatingly at a high speed.

5. It should look like you're running in place, except lift your knees up high. You can keep your arms stretched in front and let your knees touch your palms when doing the move.

3. Plank exercise:

1. Lie on your stomach on the floor and support yourself with your arms, elbows on the ground.

2. Clasp your hands together in front of your chest, then tighten your body and lift up, raising your shoulder muscles, keeping your body straight.

3. Keep your toes fixed on the ground, tighten your knees and legs.

4. Hold this position for 30 to 45 seconds, then rest.

4. Mountain climbers exercise:

1. Get into a plank position, place your hands slightly wider than shoulder width, keeping your core tight.

2. Move your right knee toward your chest without lifting your hips.

3. Bring your right leg back and move your left knee toward your chest.

4. Put your left leg back in place.

5. Do this faster without lifting your hips.

• Other examples of HIIT exercises:

1. On a stationary bike, pedal hard and fast for 30 seconds, then pedal slow and easy for 2 to 4 minutes, then repeat this pattern for 15 to 30 minutes.

2. After jogging to warm up, run as fast as you can for 15 seconds, then walk or jog slowly for 1 to 2 minutes, then repeat this pattern for 10 to 20 minutes.

3. Do squat jumps as fast as possible for 30 to 90 seconds, then stand or walk for 30 to 90 seconds, then repeat this pattern for 10 to 20 minutes.

• These examples can help you start adding HIIT workouts into your exercise routine.

• Benefits of HIIT workouts:

1. Burn a lot of calories in a short time:

• You can burn calories fast with HIIT. Studies comparing calories burned in 30 minutes of HIIT, weightlifting, running, and biking show HIIT burns 25-30% more calories than the others.

• So HIIT burns more calories than other workouts or the same amount but in less time.

2. Boost your metabolism rate for hours after exercising:

HIIT has been found to increase metabolism rate For hours after the workout, because it helps boost your metabolism even after exercising more than other workouts, as it burns more calories even after finishing the exercise.

It’s also found that HIIT workouts switch the body’s metabolism to using fat for energy instead of carbs, so just two minutes of HIIT exercises increase metabolism for 24 hours just like doing 30 minutes of running.

3. It helps you lose fat:

• Doing HIIT exercises leads to losing body fat and waist size, even with a much shorter time commitment, as doing HIIT three times a week for 20 minutes leads to losing 2 kg of body fat in 12 weeks without any diet changes.

• HIIT workouts may be more effective for fat loss in those who are overweight or obese even with a relatively short time commitment.

4. They may help you gain muscle:

• Besides helping with fat loss, HIIT can also help increase muscle mass in some people, but muscle gain mostly happens in the muscles used the most, often the core and legs.

5. Improved oxygen consumption:

• Oxygen consumption means how well your muscles use oxygen, usually through long sessions of steady running or cycling.

• But HIIT workouts seem to give the same benefits in less time. Five weeks of HIIT, done four days a week for 20 minutes each, boosted oxygen use by 9%.

6. Lowering heart rate and blood pressure

• HIIT might also have important health perks. It's been shown to lower heart rate and blood pressure in overweight and obese people who often have high blood pressure.

• Eight weeks of HIIT on a stationary bike reduced blood pressure as much as regular endurance training in adults with high blood pressure. The HIIT group worked out just three times a week for 20 minutes, and it cut blood pressure.

• But HIIT usually doesn't change blood pressure in people with normal weight and normal blood pressure.

7. Better blood sugar levels:

• You can lower and improve blood sugar by doing less than 12 weeks of HIIT. It not only lowers blood sugar but also helps improve it. Insulin resistance More than other traditional exercises.

• HIIT workouts have been proven effective in improving blood sugar levels for people with type 2 diabetes.

There are many types of exercises you can lose weight with or try to adopt healthy habits, including HIIT workouts. You can find many exercises at Fitness Garage, or Facebook, and find many healthy recipes too.