The Benefits of HIIT Workouts
High Intensity Interval Training, better known as HIIT, is the most effective workout for your time and body. BoxUnion’s HIIT workout class is designed to shoot your heart rate up into the cardiovascular, calorie burning zone and bring it back down just as quickly to increase strength, help you lose weight and give you a total body workout in just forty-five minutes or less.
So…What is High Intensity Interval Training?
HIIT workouts are an intense total body cardio training session. They are designed to give maximum effort through quick, intense bursts of exercise followed by an immediate stop or easy active recovery to bring your heart rate back down to a controlled pace.
HIIT workouts that combine aerobic exercises and bodyweight exercises create the best opportunity to burn calories, build lean muscle and continue to boost your metabolism all day long. This type of exercise is proven to maximize your results in a quicker amount of time.
Benefits of HIIT Workouts
1. Burn calories for up to 24 hours
Ever heard of EPOC? It stands for excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. EPOC is a scientific term that means you continue to burn calories after your workout. With HIIT workouts, you are depleting your oxygen stores to the max, which allows you to keep your body “working” (building those oxygen stores back up) for up to 16-24 hours after your workout! When your body is working, your body is burning calories. It’s that simple!
2. No Equipment Necessary
Due to the intensity of the workout itself, most HIIT workouts don’t require any equipment. They also don’t require much space. This makes HIIT classes the perfect at-home workout. All you need is a little bit of space and towel to wipe your sweat! Tip: If you have downstairs neighbors, make sure they are awake before you begin your workout. There are a lot of jumps, burpees and high knees involved!
3. Build Big Muscle Groups
There is a common misconception that strict cardio, like running, burns more calories. The reality is that building lean muscle and using big muscle groups with each exercise burns more calories faster AND builds lean, tone muscles. An example of a HIIT workout exercise that uses big muscle groups such as your legs and shoulders would be mountain climbers. Exercises like mountain climbers force the heart rate up quicker because you are using more energy to engage and build your muscles as you max out your reps each set.
4. Improve Oxygen and Blood Flow
Any high-intensity workout increases the body’s need for oxygen during the max effort process. Intense interval training creates an oxygen shortage, causing the body to ask for more during its recovery. With HIIT workouts, the recovery time is short and occasionally done with active movements. You are forcing your body to replenish its oxygen quicker and training your body to recover faster.
5. Lower Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar
HIIT Workouts have many overall positive health impacts, including lowering your blood pressure and blood sugar, both of which are risk factors for heart disease. While most exercise will inadvertently lower your blood pressure and blood sugar, HIIT workouts keep your body “working out”. Therefore, you can achieve the same results in less time and with fewer workouts.
Getting Started
High intensity interval training is no joke and taking the first step can be intimidating. Remember – if you can’t do all the exercises that is OKAY. HIIT workouts are tough, but you are tougher! Keep working at it and watch your body change – you’ll build lean muscle, improve your overall health and be able to do more than you ever thought possible in a single workout.
Check out this HIIT workout on our YouTube Channel to get an easy start.
To keep going… Head over to BoxUnion Digital, where we offer over fifteen On-Demand HIIT workouts and two LIVE HIIT workout classes a day. You can always mix up your workout week with over 10 different categories of classes ranging from 10-45 minutes.
Need more motivation? BoxUnion Digital started the #BetterTogether Challenge. During the month of October, see how many classes you can take in 31 days. Join with our free 14-day trial and sign up to join the challenge! Don’t forget to use the code STAYSTRONG for an extra 33% off your first two months.
