5 Benefits of Interval Training Looking to eliminate boredom, burn more calories, and add some intensity to your workout? Interval training may be the way to go. Heres why. You need to shake up your fitness program and lose weight, but you don’t really have any more time to dedicate to it. The perfect answer could be high-intensity interval training or HIIT for short. High-intensity interval training requires interspersing bursts of intense activity into your regular fitness program. It’s a form of fitness training that alternates high-intensity work efforts with low-to moderate-intensity ‘recovery’ efforts. How does interval training help? Adding interval training to your fitness program has both mental and physical benefits: • You lose weight faster. The more vigorous your exercise, the more calories you will burn, so even short bursts will help you lose weight. • It eliminates boredom. By varying the intensity of your exercises, it changes things up. Not only will your fitness program go by faster, but you won’t experience the drudgery that can come from doing the same routine every day. • No extras needed. You already have the equipment you need for your interval training because you’re already doing the basic workout. Interval training requires no special skills — the only thing needed is more effort on your part. • You increase your fitness levels. You will improve your ability to exercise and increase your stamina over time. • You reduce the time spent on exercise. You spend less time exercising, but you burn the same or more calories as with your normal routine. Anyone can add interval training to a fitness routine. For beginners who walk outdoors for exercise, you’ll need to find objects at regularly spaced distances when walking or running, such as telephone poles, and use them to judge your intervals. You might start out brisk walking from one to pole to the next, then walking at an easier pace for three poles. As your fitness level increases, increase the speed of your walk or run for an additional pole or two. Hills are another way to add interval training to your running or jogging workout. Additionally, a more structured option is to go by the clock. Walk or run at an intense pace for one minute. Then walk or jog for one minute at a relaxed pace. If you’re really serious about it, use a timer and a heart-rate monitor to time and pace your intervals. You can take this approach with any cardio activity (biking, swimming, treadmill, elliptical, precore, stairs…the list goes on). When interval training, it’s important to create an obvious distinction between your work efforts and your recovery efforts. Make sure you work in the “somewhat hard” to “hard” categories for the work, and the “low” to “moderate” categories for the recovery. Plan your interval training for one to three times a week. You shouldn’t do it every day. Interval training can also be added to your strength training workouts. Simply shorten the rest time in between sets. Not only will your workout time be reduced, but you will also keep your heart rate up. A higher heart rate can help you burn more fat during your workout. Interval training is very demanding. Your body needs to be able to handle the stress and to recover from the damage you will incur. If you have any heart problems or circulation issues, interval training is not for you. Others who should avoid HIIT include people with diabetes, people who are obese, and those who very out of shape.
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 12:30:00 +0000
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