High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) = results if you are time poor

There is a growing body of research supporting the value of HIIT as a time effective way to achieve positive health outcomes. HIIT involves short work periods of a high work loads interspersed with periods of recovery and has been shown to produce similar reductions in cardiovascular and metabolic risks (heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood sugar, etc) as traditional ‘steady state’ exercise. The real value in HIIT is the minimal time investment required to produce these outcomes – a 75 to 90% decrease in exercise time when completed as HIIT rather than steady state aerobic exercise.

An example would be completing 10×1 min. sprints (90% of maximal intensity) on a bike with a 1 min. recovery between each (HIIT – 20 min. total time investment) compared with heading out for a 1 hour brisk walk/jog (steady state endurance).

There are still many reasons to keep steady state training as part of your weekly program but HIIT provides for greater time effectiveness when needed during a busy week.

From a personal training perspective, we believe that HIIT is an integral aspect to most of the sessions we conduct. We see value in spending 15-30 minutes of your training time doing HIIT which allows time for other equally important fitness qualities to be addressed including strength, postural, flexibility and core training to produce more bang for your buck!

For those who can spare 4.5 minutes, here is a link to the HIIT protocol researchers explaining their findings and its benefits http://nyti.ms/KhEYYb

-Kristin Lewis