Hi
High
Intensity
Interval
Training
I often 'joke' with clients that if they are not hating every second of this incredible fitness building form of exercise then they are not doing it
properly!
HIIT consists of small time periods (10 sec or so up to a couple of minutes) of REALLY hard exercise...alternating with (too!) short periods of rest, repeated for a set number of times.
e.g. 10 seconds work, 10 seconds rest then repeat up to 5 minutes. Or the classic Tabata style protocol : 20 sec on, 10 sec stopped..repeated 8
times so you get 4 minutes of hard exercise.
Sound like fun?!
The effect on the body is a huge improvement in cardio- vascular health, good boost to your metabolism and improvement to recovery rates.
The intensity of the work sets needs to be between 8 and 9 on a scale of effort of 1-10 (1 being
low effort like lying down..and 10 being how fast you would run if chased by Freddy Kruger!).
Important to remember that the effort needs to be intense for you and your current fitness level/ injury status. If it's just walking fast for the work sets, and feels like your (nearly) max effort then that is totally on the right track.
At
this point of maximal effort, whatever your fitness level, you will be working just as hard as anyone else. Often when unconditioned we think that someone who is fit is finding it easy..this is not true. Hard work is hard work whatever your level, it's just the speed or power output that differs.
You can do this with sprints in the park, on a bike at the gym or even make those work sets a
strength exercise such as a squat or Kettlebell swing.
It's intense but quick, so the time spent under stress is low for your body.
It's a real kick starter for a fat loss plateau, stagnating exercise program and really upgrades your metabolism and cardio fitness.
I won't pretend it is fun so
remember that it's the results you need to love (which are astounding!) over the crazy amount of effort you need to put in.
It makes you comfortable with being uncomfortable. The mental gains and pride you will notice as you get quicker and stronger have repercussions across all your life.
Give it a go and surprise yourself!
J
