As a huge advocate of HIIT, I like to remind people why it is such a good form of exercise. HIIT, high-intensity interval training is a type of training that combines a period of high intensity with periods of low intensity or rest.

It has been a popular form of training for many years, especially with athletes and now much more with the general population.

So what are all these benefits:

1. Taking part in HIIT improves heart health and has been proven to lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases. This study (1) found that blood pressure was reduced in obese and overweight subjects.

2. HIIT stimulates the creation of more mitochondria in your muscles (study 2). These are the powerhouses of your muscles and guess what? Therefore, the more mitochondria you have, the more fat you will burn.

3. You won’t get bored. As you are constantly changing it up and have different time intervals as well as perhaps using different pieces of kit, you are more likely to stick at it.

4. You can burn a lot of calories in a shorter amount of time. This is all down the intensity of your workout. The harder you are working, generally the more calories you are going to burn. With having little periods of rest you are able to push yourself more in the ‘work’ intervals.

5. Has been proven to improve your oxygen consumption. This is traditionally associated more with endurance-based activities, however, this study shows that oxygen consumption improved by 9% after 5 weeks of 4 weekly HIIT sessions of 20 minutes. (study 3)

6. As it’s a short amount of time you are more likely to be able to fit it into your day!

For instance, if you are new to HIIT it’s important to gradually introduce sessions into your week, starting off with just 1 session a week.

Here is an example of a great bodyweight HIIT session below:

Working for 30 seconds on with 15 seconds rest.

As a result, just doing 3 rounds of this circuit will get your blood pumping!

If you haven’t tried HIIT, give it a go, I’m guessing you’ll probably like it, or at least like how quick it is over with! That’s why I include HIIT sessions in my online personal training packages. Above all, it’s proven to be effective and doesn’t take up your whole day!

Check out the studies in the footnotes and other resources you might be interested in.

Keep it healthy!

Angela xx

Footnotes