What is HIIT and why should you do it?

On Tuesday I went for a HITT boot camp in my hometown and I died. There on the spot, straight after the session was finished I died and went to fitness hell....I mean heaven. It's been 2 days since I went and I am still sore. Proper DOMS. I thought I am fit, but boy I was so wrong, I couldn't keep up, but loved every minute of it. I asked the owner Joe if he would be kind enough to share with me and you what is HIIT and why should you do it. Enjoy reading it and if you are local to me see you at the next one!!

Firstly I'll introduce myself, my name is Joe, I am a Personal Trainer that lives and breathes health and fitness & trying to help people achieve their goals. I am based in Chelmsford and work with all different kinds of people with different goals throughout Essex.  As an amateur athlete I have represented Great Britain in Triathlon for my age group and currently compete at a fairly decent level in OCR (Obstacle Course Racing). To help achieve my standard of fitness I have used many different methods over the years, HIIT has been a vital part of that training with some awesome benefits.

Hedi has been kind enough to ask if I would share my knowledge of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) alongside her blog, I am more than happy to do this, the quality and passion she shows to you all how to eat in such a simple clean and balanced way really does get results and head you in a direction towards optimal health. If you like what I have to say and have any questions regarding fitness, feel free to let Hedi know and maybe she'll invite me back sometime.

I'm sure you may have heard of the word 'HIIT', or high intensity interval training banded around online fitness forums or within gym surroundings, But what is it? And why should you be doing it?

So what is HIIT?
HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. To put it plainly, it is exercise split into repeated cycles of high intensity exercise (like 40 seconds of jumping jacks) broken up with short periods of recovery. In doing this, your heart rate increases to around 80-95% of your maximum heart rate, which then follows a short rest. The short sets of explosive exercise are repeated a small number of times, which means that even in a short class, you can get fantastic results.

What exactly does HIIT do (and should you do it)?
Much more than just an exercise, HIIT has some amazing health benefits:

• An improvement to your cardiovascular system.These types of workouts will strengthen your heart and reduce your resting heart rate.
• Burning body fat up to 9 times faster and increasing your metabolism, even when you're resting. After a session, your metabolic rate will speed up, and be boosted for up to 24-48 hours after your session.
• Improving lung capacity, to make your body more efficient at dealing with exercise over time.
• Time saving: Research shows that you can achieve more progress in a mere 15-20 minutes of HIIT (done 3 x times week) than someone jogging on the treadmill for an hour.
• Maintaining muscle mass: HIIT will use fuel stored as fat in your body, giving muscles a wide berth.

So should you do it?? Oh yes!

If you can find a good instructor near you it can be fun too, the sessions can be adapted for all levels of ability, everyone can reap the benefits of HIIT and if it's coupled alongside eating great nutrition you're onto a winner.

Good Luck with achieving your goals, and for those that want to find me or get in touch, follow the links below,

Joe Spencer

Email; [email protected]

www.vipfit.co.uk

Twitter: @vipfitHIIT