High intensity training, or HIT for short, is a workout style that involves short bursts of intense exercise followed by periods of rest or lower intensity activity. This type of training has become increasingly popular in recent years due to its many benefits. In this post, we'll explore what high intensity training is, the benefits it offers, and how to incorporate it into your workout routine.
What is High Intensity Training?
High intensity training is a workout style that focuses on short, intense bursts of exercise. This type of training is designed to push your body to its limits, making it an effective way to improve overall fitness and burn fat. There are several types of high intensity training, including:
- High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): This involves short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by short periods of rest or low-intensity activity. For example, you might do a 30-second sprint followed by a 30-second rest period, and repeat this cycle for 10-20 minutes.
- Tabata Training: This is a type of HIIT that involves 20 seconds of intense exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated for four minutes.
- EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute): This type of training involves completing a certain number of reps of an exercise within one minute, then resting for the remainder of that minute. You repeat this cycle for several rounds.
Benefits of High Intensity Training
- Increased fat loss and weight loss: One of the main benefits of high intensity training is that it can help you burn more calories and lose weight. By pushing your body to its limits during a workout, you'll increase your metabolism and burn more calories throughout the day.
- Improved cardiovascular health: High intensity training can also improve your cardiovascular health. By working your heart and lungs to their limits, you'll increase your aerobic capacity and improve your overall endurance.
- Increased muscle strength and endurance: High intensity training is also great for building muscle strength and endurance. By working your muscles to their limits, you'll stimulate muscle growth and increase your overall strength.
- Improved insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control: High intensity training can also improve insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control. This is because the intense exercise causes your body to use up glucose in your muscles, which helps to regulate blood sugar levels.
- Increased human growth hormone production: High intensity training can also increase the production of human growth hormone (HGH) in your body. This hormone is essential for muscle growth and repair, as well as overall health and vitality.
- Time efficiency: Finally, high intensity training is a time-efficient way to work out. Since the workouts are short and intense, you can get a great workout in a relatively short amount of time.
How to Incorporate High Intensity Training Into Your Routine
If you're new to high intensity training, it's important to start slowly and gradually increase the intensity and duration of your workouts. Here are some tips for getting started:
- Start with short, low-intensity workouts: If you're new to high intensity training, start with short, low-intensity workouts and gradually work your way up. For example, start with a 10-minute HIIT workout, then gradually increase the duration and intensity over time.
- Choose exercises that you enjoy: To make high intensity training more enjoyable, choose exercises that you enjoy and that challenge you. This could be anything from sprinting to jumping jacks to burpees.
- Incorporate high intensity training into your existing routine: You can also incorporate high intensity training into your existing workout routine. For example, you could do a short HIIT workout after your regular strength training routine.
- Rest and recover: It's important to give your body time to rest and recover between high intensity workouts. This will help prevent injury and allow your muscles time to repair and grow.
- Listen to your body: Finally, it's important to listen to your body and adjust your workouts as needed. If you're feeling fatigued or experiencing pain, it's important to take a break and allow your body to recover.
Precautions and Considerations
While high intensity training offers many benefits, it's important to take certain precautions and considerations to prevent injury and ensure that you're getting the most out of your workouts. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Proper form and technique: It's important to use proper form and technique during high intensity workouts to prevent injury. This may require working with a trainer or fitness professional to ensure that you're using proper form.
- Warm up and cool down: It's also important to warm up and cool down properly before and after your workouts. This will help prevent injury and improve your overall performance.
- Consider your health status: High intensity training may not be appropriate for everyone. If you have certain health conditions, such as heart disease or joint problems, you may need to modify your workouts or avoid high intensity training altogether.
- Stay hydrated: It's important to stay hydrated during high intensity workouts, as you'll be sweating more than usual.
Finally, the most important reason to incorporate a weekly session of high intensity training is that it will significantly extend not only your healthspan but your lifespan. "Cardiorespiratory fitness is a modifiable indicator of long-term mortality, and health care professionals should encourage patients to achieve and maintain high levels of fitness." Check out the study.
Conclusion
High intensity training is a great way to improve overall fitness, burn fat, and build muscle strength and endurance. By incorporating high intensity workouts into your routine, you can achieve your fitness goals more quickly and efficiently. Just remember to start slowly, listen to your body, and take the necessary precautions to prevent injury and ensure that you're getting the most out of your workouts.
