Top 5 Benefits of HIIT Sessions

There is an increasing amount of training programmes or gyms that are offering HIIT sessions; and they are slowly becoming the ‘norm’. What actually is it? Is it actually beneficial? This article will provide you with an overall review on HIIT training.

What is HIIT Training?

HIIT stands for high-intensity-interval training and it consists of both high-intensity and low-intensity exercises in one session [1]. Alternating between high- and low-intensity exercises allows the body to recover for short periods between high-intensity exercises [1]. Additionally, if periods of rest are permitted, they tend to be really short [1-4]. With training sessions lasting no more than 30mins, this begs the questions...

IS LESS ACTUALLY MORE? CAN HIIT TRAINING REPLACE REGULAR CARDIO TRAINING?

Benefits of HIIT Training:

1. Improves aerobic fitness. This means that there is an increased ability of the body to deliver oxygen to the muscles that are used during exercise [1-3]. Improvements in fitness were already present 2 weeks after HIIT [2].

2. Greater fat loss. HIIT causes more calories to be burnt and enhances the processes that drive fat loss (i.e. greater use of fat cells and increased responsiveness of enzymes) [1].

3. Prevents and manages metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. HIIT increases the body’s response to insulin and improves the regulation of sugar (glucose) in the body [2].

4. Improves the body’s blood flow. HIIT causes Nitric Oxide, a chemical in the body, to be released in larger amounts. This chemical in turn causes the blood vessels to increase in size thereby, resulting in a better blood flow distribution [2].

5. Improves muscle endurance and muscle strength. This means that the muscles were able to retain a high force for a longer period of time after HIIT and; the amount of force produced by the muscles were much greater as a result of HIIT training [3-4].

How should you programme your HIIT?

The general recommendation is that each work bout should be between 3-5minutes. The work to rest ratio could range from 1:1 (i.e 30s work, 30s rest) to 1:4 (i.e 30s work, 2mins rest), with the 1:4 ratio being recommended for the less fit [1].

Summary

HIIT is a very time efficient method to increase fitness, muscular performance and fat loss.

However, you should take care that when using this mode of training as a supplement to strength training, there is a chance of overtraining due to the high-intensity levels of HIIT [1]. Therefore, you should ensure that you are aware of your own capabilities and fitness levels before attempting to create a training programme of your own.

With that being said, if you would have any questions regarding your training programme, please feel free to ask them to me! I’ll be glad to help you out!

#HIIT #workout #fitness #training #cardioworkout

References

1. Schoenfeld B, Dawes J. High-Intensity Interval Training: Applications for General Fitness Training. Strength and Conditioning Journal. 2009;31(6):44-46.

2. Kilpatrick M, Jung M, Little J. HIGH-INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING. ACSMʼs Health & Fitness Journal. 2014;18(5):11-16.

3. Eather N, Riley N, Miller A, Smith V, Poole A, Vincze L et al. Efficacy and feasibility of HIIT training for university students: The Uni-HIIT RCT. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 2019;22(5):596-601.

4. Buckley S, Knapp K, Lackie A, Lewry C, Horvey K, Benko C et al. Multimodal high-intensity interval training increases muscle function and metabolic performance in females. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 2015;40(11):1157-1162.