High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): A Must Have Tool In Your Fitness Arsenal
Every time I’ve ever walked into a gym, I’ve seen body after body lined up on the treadmills, elliptical machines, stair climbers, and bicycles. It seems to be the common belief that if you put in an hour or so sweating on these machines, that fat will disappear from your body. There is no doubt that you will burn calories doing these types of exercises, BUT…Is this “endurance” training really the best way to burn fat?
In a Canadian study at Laval University, Dr. Angelo Tremblay PH.D. and a team of researchers compared the effects of traditional “steady state/endurance” exercise versus higher intensity workouts. In one test group(endurance training group, or ET group), the participants rode stationary bikes 4 or 5 times a week for 30 to 45 minutes per session. The second test group (high intensity interval training group…or HIIT group) did the same, but filled a portion of the workout period with short bursts of high intensity cycling. They would pedal the bikes as fast as they could for 30 to 90 seconds, rest briefly, then repeated the sequence approximately 5 to 15 times toward the end of the workout.
At the end of the study, the results rang loud and clear. The HIIT group lost 9 times as much subcutaneous fat in 15 weeks as the ET group did in 21 weeks. Even though the ET group would burn twice as many calories per exercise session, the fat burn would come to a near complete stop once the workouts ended. The opposite held true for the HIIT group. Once their workouts ended, their body’s metabolism was substantially elevated causing 9 times as many calories burned following the workout.
Before going to the gym and spending an hour on the treadmill, you may want to try a 20 or 30 minute high intensity interval session. What do you have to lose? Only 9 times as much fat!
Dennis
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Dennis Hardy
Dennis Hardy is an Independent Team Beachbody Fitness Coach
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