Many advantages and effects on the body, but as little time as possible during training? That sounds almost too good to be true. If you don't shy away from maximum exertion, you should discover HIIT training for yourself. Read here what positive effects this training method has for you.
Exercise is extremely important for human physical health. Especially if you have integrated very little physical exertion into your everyday life and job, you should try to become more active and Everyday sport turn it into an exercise routine.
To the limitless Motivation to feel, but often the weaker self must first be overcome. Are you one of those people who constantly comes up with excuses why a workout is not possible? You will now find out why time is no longer an excuse.
What is HIIT training?
HIIT means "high-intensity interval training", in German high-intensity interval training. This type of training is about you short but extremely intensive training phases go through, alternately with recovery phases and a low intensity. With this training method, it is possible to achieve many health benefits in a very short time and thus one of the least time-consuming methods to complete a training.1
Surely you've heard of HIT training, which is not the same as HIIT training. You can find out what the difference between the two training methods is in our YouTube video. If you don't want to miss any more videos, subscribe to ours ahead YouTube Channel!
How does HIIT training work?
A HIIT workout can take about 10-30 minutes. You can integrate HIIT into your training in various ways, for example sprinting, cycling, jumping rope or with your own body weight.
For example, you can sit on your bike and cycle as fast as you can for half a minute with high resistance and then cycle slowly for several minutes at low intensity for a few minutes. This unit would be a repetition. Ideally, you are doing your HIIT training 4-6 repetitions of such training intervals.
Regeneration during HIIT training
A sufficient phase of the Recovery is very important after such high intensity training with HIIT. You should at least 2 days break adhere to. The exact duration is very individual and depends on your training. If you notice during training that there is no increase in performance, then it was probably too early for you to train again. It is sufficient to do the HIIT training twice a week.
The right nutrients, such as ours, can also support you during your regeneration REFRESH.
Pros: What are the benefits of HIIT training?
HIIT training has many health benefits for you.
HIIT training can offer you these advantages:
- burn lots of calories in a short period of time
- Increase metabolic activity for hours after exercise
- Fat reduction
- muscle building
- Improve oxygen consumption
- Lower your heart rate and blood pressure
- Reduce blood sugar
HIIT training helps burn lots of calories in a short amount of time
In one study, researchers compared the number of calories burned while exercising with HIIT, weight training, running, and cycling. The result - HIIT training burned 25-30% more calories than the other types of training.2, 3 In this workout, one repetition consisted of 20 seconds of maximum intensity and a break of 40 seconds.
Increase metabolic activity for hours after HIIT training
One study showed that it is possible that you can increase your metabolic activity for hours with HIIT training.4, 5 The researchers have also found that the metabolism is shifted in such a way that fats are used as an energy source instead of carbohydrates. This means that you not only burn more calories during HIIT training than with any other workout, but that additional calories are also lost after training thanks to HIIT.
HIIT training and fat reduction
In spite of the fact that it is less time-consuming, HIIT training can help, just like normal endurance training Lose fat and lose weight with itn.6, 7, 8 After reviewing 13 experiments and over 400 overweight people, researchers came to the conclusion that high-intensity interval training can reduce body fat and waist size.9
Another study was able to find out that HIIT training, which is carried out three times a week for 20 minutes, led test subjects to 12 kg body fat in 2 weeks without any change in their diet lost. They also found that with HIIT training, unhealthy visceral fat that accumulates in the abdominal cavity can be reduced.10
HIIT training: building muscle
However, HIIT training can not only help you lose fat, it can also help you build muscle. However, this is more likely to apply to people who have not actively exercised before. However, muscle growth is mainly due to the muscles that are used the most, often the torso and legs. HIIT training doesn't really come close to strength training if you want to build muscle mass.11, 12
HIIT training can improve oxygen consumption
Typically, you would do cardiovascular exercise to improve your oxygen consumption by running or cycling. But HIIT training can also produce the same effects in a shorter time. You can do 5 weeks of HIIT training 4 days a week with a duration of 20 minutes improve oxygen consumption by 9%. Another group, on the other hand, who got on the bike for 40 minutes four times a week, had improved oxygen consumption almost identically to the HIIT group.13 The only difference - the people who trained with HIIT only needed half as much time for your training. If you convert that to a whole week, you save a whole hour with HIIT compared to conventional endurance training.
HIIT training can lower your heart rate and blood pressure
HIIT training not only has a positive effect in that you improve and decrease your endurance, it also has other important health benefits. Much research found that the Heart rate and blood pressure in overweight or obese people can be loweredwho often have high blood pressure. In normal-weight people without problems with blood pressure, however, no change could be found in this regard.14 Some researchers even found that HIIT training can lower blood pressure even more than moderate intensity training.15
Blood sugar can be reduced through HIIT training
HIIT training is particularly suitable for people who suffer from type 2 diabetes.16 Numerous studies have found that HIIT training not only lowers blood sugar, but also lowers it Significantly improved insulin resistance than usual endurance training.17
HIIT training for beginners
All of the positive advantages of HIIT training have already convinced you? Here we go! If you want to start HIIT training now, the first step is that you Decide on an activity.
For example, would you prefer jogging, cycling or jumping rope? Pick the activity that you enjoy the most. Of course, you can also use the cardio machines in your gym to do your HIIT training. Then you can do a little experiment how long you hold the high-intensity training units and the subsequent recovery phases. Remember that recovery does not mean doing nothing, but rather that you continue to train with less intensity during this phase.
Feel free to try out the times a little until you have found the optimal time to start training with HIIT.
Example of a HIIT training with jogging:
Warm up by first walking gently and relaxed for 3 minutes. After your warm-up, sprint as fast as you can for 15 seconds! Then you run out and continue to run for 1-2 minutes. Repeat this pattern for 10-20 minutes. After each training session, you can decide whether and to what extent you should adjust your training time.
Example of cardio equipment in the gym:
If you prefer to work out in the gym, choose a cardio machine there, such as a bike or cross trainer. Here you can keep your high-intensity interval phase a little longer. Try to kick as fast and hard as possible for 30 seconds, then take a light recovery period of 2-4 minutes. You then repeat this pattern for 15-30 minutes.
Example of exercises at home:
Can't start jogging or doing anything in the gym? Again, there is no excuse for you why you cannot do HIIT training. Pick an exercise that you enjoy, such as jumping rope or jumping jacks. Do as many reps as you can, as fast as you can for 30-60 seconds. This is followed by a break of 30-60 seconds and you start again for 10-20 minutes. In the recovery phase from the exercises at home, you can shake yourself out and move around easily on the spot or in the room.
Summary
If it's your goal lose weight and burn plenty of calories, then you should definitely try HIIT training. With this training method you can practically yourself save half the training time - well, excuses don't count! Another positive effect is that you get your Stimulates metabolism so much that activity continues for hours after training. Other health benefits include less body fat and an improvement in heart rate, blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and blood sugar is also lowered.
If you have already had experience with HIIT or are trying it out again, please share your experiences with us on Instagram @ahead_nutrition With. We are curious to see what effects you were able to achieve!
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24552392
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25162652
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26691413
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23438230
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24773393
[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22648463
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25581765
[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26489022
[9] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28401638
[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22720138
[11] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26479856
[12] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25395872
[13] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27368057
[14] https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/51/6/494
[15] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20448634
[16] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24509992
[17] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26481101