If it was anything like mine and let your hair down a little too much,
pigging out on choccie Easter eggs, eating out and fine dining, you
may also be feeling a bit 'puffy' if you will.... I know I am! I have
been beating myself up for it, freaking out that my over indulgence
will have great detramental effects to my competition body!
Instead of falling in a heap on my bedroom floor and crying- I've
decided to amp up my cardio! The quickest and most time effective way
with high intesity interval training (HIIT)!
So what is HIIT?
HIIT is an exercise method where you switch between intense shorts
intervals at 90% of your heart rate followed by short recovery periods
Comparitivly to the typical steady-rate cardio most people do at a
moderate intensity, such as walking on a treadmill at 60-70% of their
max heart rate.
The benefits of HIIT:
For me one of the greatest benefits is that it doesn't take very long
at all- I can be done in 20-30 minutes! Getting out of bed 30 minutes
earlier for cardio is not so bad!
It's super tough! For those short periods your heart rate is at it's
highest and in turn you will be burning through the calories.
Research has proven that it increases EPOC (excess post-exercise
oxygen consumption) resulting in an elevated fat loss state for up to
24 hours after you finish your workout – something you won’t get from
lower intensity exercise.
It increases testosterone and growth hormone levels. These hormones
are highly responsible for increased muscle and fat loss, you should
be doing all you can to keep your NATURAL test levels high.
HIIT intervals can be used for any full body exercises like sprinting,
rowing, some weight training, cycling, skipping the list goes on.
Try something simple such as sprinting for 30 seconds as fast as you
can followed by 2 minutes rest- do this 8-10 times! Short, fast yet
effective! Goodbye fat and hello lean body :)
Need more proof?
One of the earliest studies, done by researchers at Laval University-
Canada used two groups in a months-long experiment. One group
followed a 15-week program using HIIT while the other performed only
steady-state cardio for 20 weeks. Proponents of steady-state training
were pleased to hear that those subjects burned 15,000 calories more
than their HIIT counterparts. Those who followed the HIIT program,
however, lost significantly more bodyfat. A 2001 study from East
Tennessee State University (Johnson City) demonstrated similar
findings with subjects who followed an eight-week HIIT program. Again,
HIIT proved to be the better fat-burner–subjects dropped 2% bodyfat
over the course of the experiment. Meanwhile, those who plodded
through the eight weeks on a steady-state program lost no body fat.
Reference: www.simplyshredded.com
So now you have the low down on HIIT, download yourself a interval timer from your App Store, get some cranking beats and smash out those high sets! You have nothing to lose but body fat ;)
Happy training!
Xx
