High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Understanding How It Works

You can get tired of running till boredom takes over, costing hours of your time just to exercise and not see results. The traditional way to exercise consists of an extended period of lifting weights, coupled with long stretches of cardiovascular movement on a treadmill or other similar activities. An alternative approach to exercising is called High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

The program consists of several short rounds of strenuous exercise with brief periods of rest. High Intensity Interval Training promotes fat loss, improves the cardiovascular system, and raises the performance level of the human body more effectively and more time efficiently.

HIIT training is significantly better than doing exercises such as marathons. As more people discover HIIT, they will reap the benefits and find fewer excuses not to get in shape.

Elliptical machines, dumbbells, treadmills, barbells and body weight can be incorporated for HIIT sessions, but the main idea is to switch quickly between the different movements. HIIT has several exciting bursts of strenuous exercise lasting between one and sixteen minutes, and brief periods of rest or active recovery in between sets (Glenn, Siddhartha 2).

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Active recovery is a state of slower exercise, in other words the body is moving and recovering at the same time. An average workout including a warm up and a cool down runs at about 20-25 minutes (Glenn, Siddhartha 2). This style of exercising is known to maximize the heart rate while allowing adequate recovery for the heart to rest (Glenn, Siddhartha 2).

HIIT training is a versatile mode of exercise, and can be incorporated into different programs.

A fitness coach reaffirms this, “Another benefit of HIIT is that you can do it almost anywhere with any piece of equipment—or without any equipment at all! Although it can be, HIIT does not have to be done on gym cardio equipment. The possibilities are virtually limitless.

You can use it with a jump rope, with weights, with strength bands, with your body weight" (Stoppani 1).A notable training regimen was designed by Jim Stoppani, for an 8 week fat-burning course. Some of the reasons given for incorporating HIIT into his regimen were as follows: Lose six times more body fat than steady state aerobic exercise, burn more calories after the workout, and have an increase in testosterone and muscle growth. Stoppani's workout incrementally increases throughout an 8 week period, making it suitable for a beginner. For the first two weeks, the workout only lasts 14 minutes, and can be used everyday. The exercises can be anything the participant chooses.

A digital clock or timer can be useful for this workout, as it is based off of intervals. Fifteen seconds of high intensity exercise, such as jumping rope, running, or burpees is executed, and afterwards sixty seconds of slower exercise, such as pushups or walking. This cycle is repeated ten times, and on the last round a fifteen second burst of exercise is added to the end. If the athlete still has difficulty with the regimen at the end of the second week, he or she can continue until mastery to move to the next increment.

During week three to four, the workout time increases by three minutes. This time 30 seconds of high intensity, followed by 60 seconds of rest or slow exercise. It is repeated 10 times, and a 30 sec high intensity burst is added at the end. In week five through six, the total workout time is 18.5 minutes, a large jump from the original 14 minute workout. In this regimen the rest time is cut in half, and an extra round is added. The final two weeks are more intense: thirty seconds of high intensity exercise, followed by fifteen seconds of rest.

The cycle is repeated 25 times, with a extra 30 sec high intensity burst at the end of the workout. At the end of the 8 week course, the ending workout time is 20 minutes. This course provides a complete beginner with the means to level up with HIIT training and be able to do higher endurance workouts in the future. This 8 week course is a boot camp for HIIT training.

HIIT not only affects individuals with lower percentages of body fat, but also the overweightand those who have other issues, such as diabetes (Boutcher 5). Tests that used overweight adults with type 2 diabetes found the greatest fat loss results (Boutcher 6). According to Stephen H. Boutcher, HIIT has the potential to be an economical and effective exercise protocol to reduce the fat in people who are at an unhealthy weight (Boutcher 1). One reason is that chemicals that drive lipolysis are increased after doing HIIT, the process of breaking down stored fat, are increased after doing HIIT (Boutcher 2). Remember love handles? That's an example of fat storage that lipolysis can help convert into energy.

Another vital fat loss factor is a person's resistance to insulin. The lower the resistance to insulin is, the better the weight loss. One of the best results was a 58% increase in insulin sensitivity levels (Boutcher 4). In another test blood sugar was shown to drop, and reported that," Average 24-hr blood glucose was reduced by 13% and postprandial (after a meal) blood glucose by 30%."-(Glenn, Siddhartha 1). In addition a decrease in abdominal fat was noted. Over a period of eight weeks abdominal trunk fat decreased by a whopping 44% and 48% in two studies (Boutcher 4).

Research conducted between two groups; one using HIIT and one using a steady state routine, revealed that at the end of 24 weeks the group using HIIT exercises lost more fat from beneath the skin, than the normal exercise test group (Boutcher 6). Based on these tests and observations, HIIT training makes the ideal fat loss exercise.

Someone who is out of shape can quickly run out of breath. The person's body can only utilize a small amount of oxygen, making the person run out of breath quicker. Test results for cardiovascular systems after using HIIT were exceptional. A noticeable improvement was found in test subject's cardiovascular system, such as a greater maximum oxygen intake. A study conducted over a period of two weeks, found that subjects' maximum oxygen intake increased by 13% (Boutcher 4). HIIT exercise has also been shown to help patients with heart failure, metabolic syndrome, and coronary artery disease (Glenn, Siddhartha 1).

Four weeks of HIIT exercise improved 40-kilometer timed trial performances of competitive cyclists, lowering the amount of time it took them to complete the trial, and increasing the subjects' endurance level (Finn 1). Christian Finn states that, “In addition to its effect on VO2max (maximum oxygen intake), high-intensity intermittent training can improve athletic performance." Cross-country skiers also made substantial performance improvements after substituting low intensity training with high intensity interval training over the course of a year (Finn 1).

High Intensity Interval Training increases the body's endurance, by making it use its full capacity for short amounts of time, thereby training the body to cope with a higher level of strenuous exercise. This happens without the damage of prolonged and continuous intensity, such as marathon or triathlon running.

The average length of a marathon is 26 miles, and involves continuous heavy exertion of the body that can last between four to five hours. According to Mr. Holmich, long distance running and marathon running have become more popular in the last 15 years, and a large amount of races are held every year. Holmich states that, “The elite runner is training between 90-150 km per week, using one daily training session."(1). The training for the race is so intense that it can result in injury or sickness.

The author notes, "Maughan and Miller have in an open entry marathon found an incidence of training related injuries of 58%.”(21). In a similar study, pre race drop-out causes were mainly from injury and illness during practice(Clough 1). Before a larger race, 42% of 502 non finishers dropped out because of injury(Clough 1). Most damages were located at the knees, ankles and feet, and hips or back.

Clough suggests that these participants were no different from the other successful athletes, and that it was the training demands for marathon running that caused the problems. Running causes a lot of friction and wear and tear against the joints and bones, and can worsen if sustained for long periods of time. And this is the problem: marathons involve up to 5 hours of potentially damaging exercise. If athletes are already getting injured by training, the race must be equally or more dangerous to the participants.

Extreme thirst, gastro intestinal issues, chills, muscular cramps, blisters and skin lesions can occur during and after a race, not to mention sheer exhaustion (Holmich 20). In a study by Siegel, "prolonged strenuous exercise such as marathon running may trigger myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death" (1). In other words, runners can drop dead while running or suffer life threatening heart attacks. The heart is being overexerted for a long period of time, and there is no rest. A runner may not even be aware of the problem, and simply collapse. He or she may be in the greatest shape, but the heart cannot endure the sheer amount of cardio. An athlete can carry the trauma from the previous race into the next training session, and suffer a spontaneous break down.

People have even been admitted to hospitals, under the pretense of disease, only to have been falsely hospitalized due to a marathon (Smith 293). The importance of not straining the heart to extreme levels has been shoved under the table, and anyone who trains and races for marathons has a chance of overexerting their cardiovascular systems. This is where the alternative, HIIT training comes into play. HIIT training equally pushes an athlete's limits, while staying within reason. This program takes into consideration the endurance of the heart, and the damage that exercise can cause.

Instead of prolonged running, HIIT training opts for sprints, and only short intervals of taxing heart rates. The heart can function 100% and have time to rest, versus constantly going for hours on end and overstraining. It's meant to be challenging, not damaging. You can apply HIIT training to any form of exercise, making it a versatile and healthy routine.

One of the most common excuses made by would-be exercisers is "shortage of time"; that doing a traditional exercise takes too long. High Intensity Training remedies this problem, as this training program rarely takes more than 20-25 minutes to complete with warming up and cooling down, and the actual meat of the workout lasts only 8-16 minutes (Glenn, Siddhartha 2).

For busy people on the go who want to maintain their health, an effective and short HIIT workout is an excellent choice. Medium to low intensity type exercises scored badly in a poll because they were "boring" (Glenn, Siddhartha 2). In other words the workouts were not interesting enough to keep the subjects motivated. If a person knows that he will finish in ten minutes if he pushes harder, versus having a whole hour to get through repetitions of pumping iron, he might be more motivated to work harder. A rating statistic showed that HIIT scored better for "enjoyment" despite the higher intensity, and was preferred to steady-state continuous exercise (Glenn, Siddhartha 2).

In conclusion HIIT training improves performance and endurance, so that a person can pull out all the stops in a race. It also is a proven method to lose fat and helps reverse insulin resistance problems. HIIT training is also well known for enhancing the cardiovascular system, which plays a major role in the overall health of the human body. Since HIIT workouts take minutes instead of hours, there is no excuse for not incorporating HIIT into one's health routine.