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HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) – Is it effective for rapid weight loss?

Fitness

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) – Is it effective for rapid weight loss?

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Exercises play an integral role in our overall health. Workouts allow us to stay stronger, boost our immunity, allow us to maintain a healthy weight, among many other benefits.

But with a vast collection of workouts to choose from, picking the right workouts for your specific fitness goals could still become overwhelming and confusing.

A study published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine indicates that the high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is the magic bullet for those looking to shed on a few pounds and drastically.

According to the published study, participants who engaged in HIIT recorded 28.5% more weight loss than those on other activities. This is good news for all HIIT enthusiasts and those who are looking to lose weight in a short time.

Contents

Defining HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

HIIT is a style of workout featuring quick, intense bursts of exercise meant to raise your heart rate. HIIT usually alternates between periods of intense efforts and low effort, hence, the name includes the word “interval”.

“High Intensity” suggests that it is physically intensive workout done in short bursts. During HIIT, your body will be pushed to the metabolic limits.

Immediately after reaching your limits, the low-intensity interval will allow your body to recover or rather catch your breath.

For example, Imagine Sprinting for 30 seconds, then walking for 1 minute, then repeat the same for a total of 10 rounds. This is how HIIT is done.

Unlike other forms of workouts, HIIT is favored by many fitness enthusiasts because it’s not time-consuming, super accessible, and comes in various forms allowing even beginners to participate in this workout.

More importantly, when on HIIT, you will not need trudging on a treadmill for 45 minutes to get into a workout. With HIIT, you will need 10-20 minutes.

HIIT and Weight Loss

High-Intensity Interval Training and Burning Fat

If you are a cardio enthusiast, you have come across cardio graphs that encourage you to keep your heart rate within a certain “fat burning zone.” By doing this, it is assumed that you would maximize the amount of fat your body burns as opposed to sugars. However, you’ll burn fats and carbs when working out, but the proportions vary with the intensity of the workout.

Studies indicate that higher the exercise intensity, higher the reliance of body on muscle glycogen than on fat stores. As you up your intensity, the proportion of energy coming from muscles will be higher than that coming from the fat stores.

In effect, high intense activities translate to higher calories burned. Jogging alone will translate to say 200 calories burned, with 100 coming from the fat stores. Better yet, using HIIT workout equipment, on the other hand, will burn double the calories burned to 400, with 150 coming from the fat stores.

Energy expenditure alone doesn’t explain how it works for losing fat, but one clear thing is that high-intensity activities increase the metabolic rate and diet. In turn, this leads to even higher fat loss rate. Hence, if you are looking to burn more calories and fat for weight loss in record time, HIIT could be the way to go.

High-Intensity Interval Training and Your Muscles

If you are a weightlifter, you know that a cardio and building muscle are much antithetical.
Why?

Combining both strength and endurance training has the effect of hindering strength and muscle gains when compared to strength training alone.

While the right amount of cardio will accelerate muscle growth, you will need to keep your sessions short and your weekly duration low.

None of the cardio workouts that we know will help in fulfilling all the above criteria and still burn a significant amount of fat than HIIT.

Conclusion

HIIT workout has for a long time been touted as one of the best workouts, and we can see why. Apart from being easy to perform, a powerful HIIT session could help put you on the track to rapid weight loss.

 

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