If you are looking for an extremely effective way to burn calories, then you need to give HIIT a try. For those who don’t know, HIIT stands for “high-intensity interval training.” This is an exercise system that embodies the principle that “less is more.” If you are unfamiliar with this exercise system, but you are interested in learning about, then you have come to the right place. In this short article, you will find out what HIIT is and why it is so effective.
What Is HIIT?
As was mentioned in the introduction, HIIT is an exercise system that works on the principle of “less is more.” HIIT encourages you to do very short bursts of intense exercise, punctuated with breaks in-between. The “breaks” often consist of doing light exercise to keep your heart up. To give you an example of what HIIT set looks like, here is a very typical set that a lot of people who practice HIIT do on a regular basis.
You start out by doing 30-seconds of sprinting, burpees, or deadman sprints. Then, you do 60-seconds of light jogging. This is considered a single set. You then repeat this set as many times as desired (typically, people do 8-10 sets per session).
One of the major components of HIIT and why so many people love it is that it gives you a large degree of freedom when it comes to choosing what sort of exercise you do. The example given above is just one of the many ways that you can do HIIT. For example, if you like treadmills, you can do HIIT on a treadmill by setting high-resistance levels and going as fast as possible for a short period and then going back to a brisk jog. So, no matter your preferred form of exercise, you can do HIIT that you enjoy and that works best for you.
Why Is It Effective?
So, what is it about HIIT that makes it effective? Why is it that short bursts of intense exercise are better than long periods of moderately intense exercise? It has to do with the way that your body responds to extremely intense exercise. The high-intensity exercise, even though it is done in short bursts, kickstarts your metabolism in a way that moderate exercise just doesn’t. Kicking your metabolism into high gear really helps you to burn calories at a faster rate than you would otherwise.
