A great start to the New Year would be for you to make a firm resolution to begin exercising regularly, and what better exercise program to kick off the New Year than the superior benefits of the high intensity interval training program, or HIIT. This approach to exercise differs from other exercise plans in that it is meant to develop and tone your body by performing short but concentrated workout sessions which usually last from 10 to 20 minutes. An example of high intensity interval training would be if you were to walk or jog for 10 to 15 seconds while alternating 20 second periods of intense running or sprinting. HIIT is also becoming increasing popular because it is one of the best workouts which makes the best use of a limited amount of time.
Although an extended aerobic workout is thought by many to be a proven method that decreases body fat, since fatty acid utilization will always follow a 30 minute or longer aerobic session, high intensity interval training seems a bit counterintuitive when you consider its principles. However, there have been studies that have shown HIIT to be more effective at reducing fat and losing weight than aerobics. The dynamic of this effect may lie in the increase of RMR, or the resting metabolic rate which is the amount of energy you are using while resting or doing minimal activity. You will not induce catabolization of muscle tissue, either, while burning body fat with HIIT because this type of training that favors the metabolism of fat before muscle.
Although HIIT seems to be today’s new “wonder” exercise, it is not that easy to do and will take discipline and determination on the part of the exerciser. While it is great for those who have limited time to exercise (and that includes most of us busy working parents!), HIIT may not be right for you, especially if you have been prone or are experiencing any kind of cardiovascular issues or other health-related problems which may reduce your ability to perform HIIT exercises. Even if you are healthy, it is always a good idea to schedule a check-up with your family physician before beginning a high intensity interval workout training program.
Whether you are someone who desires a leaner, healthier body or you are already in fairly good shape but want to enhance your performance involving sport-related activity, an HIIT program can be uniquely tailored for any field of athletics or lifestyle. The correlation between HIIT and the results it produces lies in the different intensities and lengths of each interval, along with the amount of sessions you choose to do in one week. The intense effort you put into an HIIT exercise session, which begins to burn calories almost immediately, also allows your system to continue to burn calories after you are done exercising because it takes your body much longer to wind down to its normal RMR rate than doing regular exercises.
Scivation CEO Marc Lobliner Tire Flipping for HIIT
Am I Healthy Enough For HIIT?
Prior to beginning a high intensity interval training program (after you have seen your doctor if necessary), your ability to maintain approximately 70-85% of your maximum heart rate while exercising for at least a half an hour without being extremely tired or short-winded is important as an indication of whether you are ready to begin HIIT. Remember it is also equally important to perform warm-up exercises before doing any physically strenuous activity, as this will raise the core temperature of your body and the temperature of your muscles. Muscles which are warmed-up will be more flexible and less prone to being damaged by excessive stretching or pulling. You also want to increase your heart and breathing rate by warming up which assists in sending oxygen and essential nutrients to the parts of your body which you will be exercising. Warm-up activities should consist of light swimming, walking, stationary bike riding, or easy jogging and should last between 5 to 10 minutes.
A typical HIIT exercise session begins with this warm-up period followed up by six to ten high intensity exercises which are integrated with intervals of reduced intensity exercises. After this workout period is over, you should finish with simple, cooling down exercises which are intended to allow your heart and breathing to slowly recover and resume their normal resting rates. Examples of cooling down exercises are stretching, deep breathing, and normal walking. When executing HIIT exercises, you should attempt to put as much effort into them as possible. However, the reduced intensity exercises should be done at half the intensity of the HIIT exercises. These kinds of workouts are to be alternated repeatedly for approximately fifteen to twenty minutes. Only people who are conditioned to do the maximum HIIT workout can safely endure up to five minutes of high intensity exercise without feeling exhausted so if you are just beginning this type of workout, don’t expect to do any more than two minutes of HIIT until you have increased you stamina and are able to do lengthier HIIT sessions.
If you feel chest pain, constriction in the chest area, or experience difficulty in breathing while HIIT exercising, don’t just stop immediately but begin cool down exercises if you can do so because there is the possibility that blood may collect in your arms and legs, or you may suffer from lightheadedness if you suddenly stop in the middle of an intense workout. In addition, it is very important to drink water before an exercise session, at least one or two glasses, in order to prevent dehydration. Cramping may occur during and after HIIT if you do not drink water beforehand due to rapid loss of water and sodium from your body. Also, it is equally important not to miss a HIIT session unless you are extremely ill and would do harm to yourself If you were to undertake the intense exercising involved in HIIT. You won’t experience continual progress if you are irregular in working out and it just makes it more difficult to perform at maximum intensity during the next session.
Marc Lobliner doing a Farmers Walk as HIIT Cardio for the day!
Heart Rate Matters - Keep Track
Studies have revealed that the HIIT workout helps individuals burn up to nine times more fat than the usual, lengthier exercise session. Typically, a high intensity interval training program consists of working out on cardio equipment, a treadmill, or an elliptical machine, which mimics the act of walking and running without putting extreme pressure on hip, knee and ankle joint. In order to accurately monitor your heart rate, you will need a heart rate monitor which consists of a device that looks like a wrist watch and a strap which encircles your chest that sends information regarding your heart rate to the wrist watch monitor. It is simple to understand and you can easily find one on the internet for around $50. You should also create and follow a meal plan that is rich in the nutrients your body will be depleting while on your HIIT program. In addition, eating 5 to 6 small meals a day which contain the necessary amounts of protein, vegetables, and fruits is recommended since this maintains a steady rate of metabolism in your body and prevents the urge to overeat when you feel extremely hungry.
How do you find your actual maximum heart rate? Simple! All you do is subtract your age from the number 220, which is just an estimate, but it will give you a good base on which to gauge your heart rate. For example, if you are 40 years old, your maximum heart rate would be 180, which is a pretty decent approximation for someone of that age in good health. However, if you are a healthy 65 year old who exercises regularly, your maximum heart rate might be slightly higher than the rate of 155 you get when you subtract 65 from 220. So check your heart rate when doing an intense session of HIIT and compare that number with the number you end up with when calculated. If it is higher than the calculated number and you have been exercising without any difficulties at that rate, then use that number. You are just in better shape than most people you’re age!
What you need to do when using HIIT is to wait until your heart rate is around 80% or so then begin exercising as intensely as you can (without injuring yourself, of course), pushing yourself until you can’t push yourself any further. Do this for about one minute before slowing down a bit and returning to the 80% heart rate. Then after sixty seconds of reduced but still vigorous exercising, start revving up your internal engine again and go for another minute of strenuous exercising. Look at the heart monitor reader on your wrist and note the highest number it reaches. If it stays there for a few seconds, that is the number you should consider as your maximum heart rate.
There are several different kinds of heart rate monitors available online or in a general fitness store. Some will only display what your current heart rate is; others will have the ability to calculate and tell you what your best average heart rate is in comparison to maximum heart rates. There are even heart rate monitors which allow you to download this information so that you can print out and record your HIIT workout session!
HIIT Research and Results!
Besides preparing your body for a consistent program of high intensity interval training sessions, your mind also needs some of your attention and preparation. Central to the human nervous system is the mighty brain, an organ which expends a large amount of the energy you provide your body with when you eat and sleep. When you begin your HIIT program, much of your success is going to emerge from your nervous system being able to quickly adapt to the severity of such short bursts of intense exercise. It is similar to learning any new activity which deviates from anything you have ever done before, only this time you are going to include your muscles, lungs and heart in the process! In order to finish each HIIT interval you will initially have to make yourself concentrate on forcing your body to do what you want it to do. While engaged in this effort, you will be unaware of anything else except focusing on pushing yourself until you can’t possibly exert any more force of will on your body. After a few HIIT sessions, however, you will begin to notice you won’t need to focus so intently on doing your HIIT exercises because it will seem that your body is performing the exercises as though it now knows what is expected of it. This is because it does! Your brain, being the extremely adaptable organ that it is, chemically understands what is happening to your body when you begin your HIIT session. It is now efficiently and silently preparing and telling your body to get ready for an intense period of heavy physical activity. This is why you will begin to discover that each HIIT session seems to take less effort than the previous one.
An example of how the brain can be conditioned to assist the body in a future physical undertaking is revealed in an interesting experiment done at the Cleveland Clinic Foundations in Cleveland, Ohio. Researchers discovered that just by thinking about exercising a specific muscle, this muscle can actually be strengthened as though it were performing actual exercises! The experiment involved a group of thirty people approximately 23 years of age who were told to think as clearly and strongly as possible about using their little finger muscles or about flexing their elbows for five minutes per day over a span of twelve weeks. After three months, this group was compared to the control group who did not participate in imagining a little finger or elbow exercise. When each group’s strength was measured, the researchers found that those who imagined exercising their little finger had increased muscle strength in that finger by 35%, with the elbow group increasing their elbow flexor strength by 14%. Brains scans implemented after the study further revealed that there was more intense neuronal action in the cortex than previously found before the experiment. Researchers concluded that the increase in power in the little fingers and elbows of the imagining groups were correlated with improved capability of the brain to signal these muscles by repetitious, concentrated thinking.
So even the mere thought, albeit sustained and concentrated, of exercising parts of your body is enough to cause a change in that area, which reveals just how substantial the influence your mind has over your body really is. HIIT is essentially a high intensity workout but your brain plays a big role in the success of that workout.
Pay attention to your breathing. Is it slow and deep, or quick and shallow? Is your belly expanding and contracting, or is your chest doing all the work?
Walking is especially good for your brain, because it increases blood circulation and the oxygen and glucose that reach your brain. Walking is not strenuous, so your leg muscles don't take up extra oxygen and glucose like they do during other forms of exercise. As you walk, you effectively oxygenate your brain. Maybe this is why walking can "clear your head" and help you to think better.
Movement and exercise increase breathing and heart rate so that more blood flows to the brain, enhancing energy production and waste removal. Studies show that in response to exercise, cerebral blood vessels can grow, even in middle-aged sedentary animals.
Endorphins
Endorphins are released within 30 minutes of the start of physical activity in order to bind to opioid receptors in your brain's neurons, according to Bryan Mawr College. This blocks the release of some neurotransmitters, which inhibits your nervous system's ability to transmit pain impulses from your body to the brain. This helps reduce your discomfort and pain when exercising. But endorphins don't do this on their own--they work in conjunction with the pleasure-inducing neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine.
What is TMS Therapy? Learn more about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy. www.NeuroStarTMS.com
Serotonin
Serotonin levels in your brain tend to increase when you exercise, according to the Better Health Channel. Additionally, individuals who exercise frequently tend to have more serotonin present in their brains. Serotonin is a pleasure neurotransmitter that affects numerous functions, including your sleeping and awake cycles, appetite, mood and libido. It is also the chemical whose presence has a direct link to depression--higher levels of serotonin usually result in less frequent or extreme depression.
Dopamine
Dopamine is a chemical that helps regulate fine-motor function, according to the Franklin Institute. This plays a role in developing your coordination and muscle memory. It also helps your brain learn about how it is rewarded by stimulus, according to PsychologyToday.com. When exercise causes an elevation in serotonin levels, dopamine helps your brain associate exercise with that elevated happiness achievement!
H.I.T remains one of the most controversial and novel ideas in the weight training world which is always ebbing and flowing from one perceived ‘wisdom’ to another. Science continues to show a whole variety of pathways, ingredients and conditions that are involved or cause muscle growth. H.I.T may never be the answer for everyone but it is difficult to deny that a sensible interpretation of it has worked for a lot of people. So it may be worth trying it out and learning for yourself. At worst you will have learnt the meaning of intensity and pushing yourself in a few sets harder than most people do in an entire training career and that at least is a skill you can apply to all your future training.
Although an extended aerobic workout is thought by many to be a proven method that decreases body fat, since fatty acid utilization will always follow a 30 minute or longer aerobic session, high intensity interval training seems a bit counterintuitive when you consider its principles. However, there have been studies that have shown HIIT to be more effective at reducing fat and losing weight than aerobics. The dynamic of this effect may lie in the increase of RMR, or the resting metabolic rate which is the amount of energy you are using while resting or doing minimal activity. You will not induce catabolization of muscle tissue, either, while burning body fat with HIIT because this type of training that favors the metabolism of fat before muscle.
Although HIIT seems to be today’s new “wonder” exercise, it is not that easy to do and will take discipline and determination on the part of the exerciser. While it is great for those who have limited time to exercise (and that includes most of us busy working parents!), HIIT may not be right for you, especially if you have been prone or are experiencing any kind of cardiovascular issues or other health-related problems which may reduce your ability to perform HIIT exercises. Even if you are healthy, it is always a good idea to schedule a check-up with your family physician before beginning a high intensity interval workout training program.
Whether you are someone who desires a leaner, healthier body or you are already in fairly good shape but want to enhance your performance involving sport-related activity, an HIIT program can be uniquely tailored for any field of athletics or lifestyle. The correlation between HIIT and the results it produces lies in the different intensities and lengths of each interval, along with the amount of sessions you choose to do in one week. The intense effort you put into an HIIT exercise session, which begins to burn calories almost immediately, also allows your system to continue to burn calories after you are done exercising because it takes your body much longer to wind down to its normal RMR rate than doing regular exercises.
Scivation CEO Marc Lobliner Tire Flipping for HIIT
Am I Healthy Enough For HIIT?
Prior to beginning a high intensity interval training program (after you have seen your doctor if necessary), your ability to maintain approximately 70-85% of your maximum heart rate while exercising for at least a half an hour without being extremely tired or short-winded is important as an indication of whether you are ready to begin HIIT. Remember it is also equally important to perform warm-up exercises before doing any physically strenuous activity, as this will raise the core temperature of your body and the temperature of your muscles. Muscles which are warmed-up will be more flexible and less prone to being damaged by excessive stretching or pulling. You also want to increase your heart and breathing rate by warming up which assists in sending oxygen and essential nutrients to the parts of your body which you will be exercising. Warm-up activities should consist of light swimming, walking, stationary bike riding, or easy jogging and should last between 5 to 10 minutes.
A typical HIIT exercise session begins with this warm-up period followed up by six to ten high intensity exercises which are integrated with intervals of reduced intensity exercises. After this workout period is over, you should finish with simple, cooling down exercises which are intended to allow your heart and breathing to slowly recover and resume their normal resting rates. Examples of cooling down exercises are stretching, deep breathing, and normal walking. When executing HIIT exercises, you should attempt to put as much effort into them as possible. However, the reduced intensity exercises should be done at half the intensity of the HIIT exercises. These kinds of workouts are to be alternated repeatedly for approximately fifteen to twenty minutes. Only people who are conditioned to do the maximum HIIT workout can safely endure up to five minutes of high intensity exercise without feeling exhausted so if you are just beginning this type of workout, don’t expect to do any more than two minutes of HIIT until you have increased you stamina and are able to do lengthier HIIT sessions.
If you feel chest pain, constriction in the chest area, or experience difficulty in breathing while HIIT exercising, don’t just stop immediately but begin cool down exercises if you can do so because there is the possibility that blood may collect in your arms and legs, or you may suffer from lightheadedness if you suddenly stop in the middle of an intense workout. In addition, it is very important to drink water before an exercise session, at least one or two glasses, in order to prevent dehydration. Cramping may occur during and after HIIT if you do not drink water beforehand due to rapid loss of water and sodium from your body. Also, it is equally important not to miss a HIIT session unless you are extremely ill and would do harm to yourself If you were to undertake the intense exercising involved in HIIT. You won’t experience continual progress if you are irregular in working out and it just makes it more difficult to perform at maximum intensity during the next session.
Marc Lobliner doing a Farmers Walk as HIIT Cardio for the day!
Heart Rate Matters - Keep Track
Studies have revealed that the HIIT workout helps individuals burn up to nine times more fat than the usual, lengthier exercise session. Typically, a high intensity interval training program consists of working out on cardio equipment, a treadmill, or an elliptical machine, which mimics the act of walking and running without putting extreme pressure on hip, knee and ankle joint. In order to accurately monitor your heart rate, you will need a heart rate monitor which consists of a device that looks like a wrist watch and a strap which encircles your chest that sends information regarding your heart rate to the wrist watch monitor. It is simple to understand and you can easily find one on the internet for around $50. You should also create and follow a meal plan that is rich in the nutrients your body will be depleting while on your HIIT program. In addition, eating 5 to 6 small meals a day which contain the necessary amounts of protein, vegetables, and fruits is recommended since this maintains a steady rate of metabolism in your body and prevents the urge to overeat when you feel extremely hungry.
How do you find your actual maximum heart rate? Simple! All you do is subtract your age from the number 220, which is just an estimate, but it will give you a good base on which to gauge your heart rate. For example, if you are 40 years old, your maximum heart rate would be 180, which is a pretty decent approximation for someone of that age in good health. However, if you are a healthy 65 year old who exercises regularly, your maximum heart rate might be slightly higher than the rate of 155 you get when you subtract 65 from 220. So check your heart rate when doing an intense session of HIIT and compare that number with the number you end up with when calculated. If it is higher than the calculated number and you have been exercising without any difficulties at that rate, then use that number. You are just in better shape than most people you’re age!
What you need to do when using HIIT is to wait until your heart rate is around 80% or so then begin exercising as intensely as you can (without injuring yourself, of course), pushing yourself until you can’t push yourself any further. Do this for about one minute before slowing down a bit and returning to the 80% heart rate. Then after sixty seconds of reduced but still vigorous exercising, start revving up your internal engine again and go for another minute of strenuous exercising. Look at the heart monitor reader on your wrist and note the highest number it reaches. If it stays there for a few seconds, that is the number you should consider as your maximum heart rate.
There are several different kinds of heart rate monitors available online or in a general fitness store. Some will only display what your current heart rate is; others will have the ability to calculate and tell you what your best average heart rate is in comparison to maximum heart rates. There are even heart rate monitors which allow you to download this information so that you can print out and record your HIIT workout session!
HIIT Research and Results!
Besides preparing your body for a consistent program of high intensity interval training sessions, your mind also needs some of your attention and preparation. Central to the human nervous system is the mighty brain, an organ which expends a large amount of the energy you provide your body with when you eat and sleep. When you begin your HIIT program, much of your success is going to emerge from your nervous system being able to quickly adapt to the severity of such short bursts of intense exercise. It is similar to learning any new activity which deviates from anything you have ever done before, only this time you are going to include your muscles, lungs and heart in the process! In order to finish each HIIT interval you will initially have to make yourself concentrate on forcing your body to do what you want it to do. While engaged in this effort, you will be unaware of anything else except focusing on pushing yourself until you can’t possibly exert any more force of will on your body. After a few HIIT sessions, however, you will begin to notice you won’t need to focus so intently on doing your HIIT exercises because it will seem that your body is performing the exercises as though it now knows what is expected of it. This is because it does! Your brain, being the extremely adaptable organ that it is, chemically understands what is happening to your body when you begin your HIIT session. It is now efficiently and silently preparing and telling your body to get ready for an intense period of heavy physical activity. This is why you will begin to discover that each HIIT session seems to take less effort than the previous one.
An example of how the brain can be conditioned to assist the body in a future physical undertaking is revealed in an interesting experiment done at the Cleveland Clinic Foundations in Cleveland, Ohio. Researchers discovered that just by thinking about exercising a specific muscle, this muscle can actually be strengthened as though it were performing actual exercises! The experiment involved a group of thirty people approximately 23 years of age who were told to think as clearly and strongly as possible about using their little finger muscles or about flexing their elbows for five minutes per day over a span of twelve weeks. After three months, this group was compared to the control group who did not participate in imagining a little finger or elbow exercise. When each group’s strength was measured, the researchers found that those who imagined exercising their little finger had increased muscle strength in that finger by 35%, with the elbow group increasing their elbow flexor strength by 14%. Brains scans implemented after the study further revealed that there was more intense neuronal action in the cortex than previously found before the experiment. Researchers concluded that the increase in power in the little fingers and elbows of the imagining groups were correlated with improved capability of the brain to signal these muscles by repetitious, concentrated thinking.
So even the mere thought, albeit sustained and concentrated, of exercising parts of your body is enough to cause a change in that area, which reveals just how substantial the influence your mind has over your body really is. HIIT is essentially a high intensity workout but your brain plays a big role in the success of that workout.
Pay attention to your breathing. Is it slow and deep, or quick and shallow? Is your belly expanding and contracting, or is your chest doing all the work?
Walking is especially good for your brain, because it increases blood circulation and the oxygen and glucose that reach your brain. Walking is not strenuous, so your leg muscles don't take up extra oxygen and glucose like they do during other forms of exercise. As you walk, you effectively oxygenate your brain. Maybe this is why walking can "clear your head" and help you to think better.
Movement and exercise increase breathing and heart rate so that more blood flows to the brain, enhancing energy production and waste removal. Studies show that in response to exercise, cerebral blood vessels can grow, even in middle-aged sedentary animals.
Endorphins
Endorphins are released within 30 minutes of the start of physical activity in order to bind to opioid receptors in your brain's neurons, according to Bryan Mawr College. This blocks the release of some neurotransmitters, which inhibits your nervous system's ability to transmit pain impulses from your body to the brain. This helps reduce your discomfort and pain when exercising. But endorphins don't do this on their own--they work in conjunction with the pleasure-inducing neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine.
What is TMS Therapy? Learn more about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy. www.NeuroStarTMS.com
Serotonin
Serotonin levels in your brain tend to increase when you exercise, according to the Better Health Channel. Additionally, individuals who exercise frequently tend to have more serotonin present in their brains. Serotonin is a pleasure neurotransmitter that affects numerous functions, including your sleeping and awake cycles, appetite, mood and libido. It is also the chemical whose presence has a direct link to depression--higher levels of serotonin usually result in less frequent or extreme depression.
Dopamine
Dopamine is a chemical that helps regulate fine-motor function, according to the Franklin Institute. This plays a role in developing your coordination and muscle memory. It also helps your brain learn about how it is rewarded by stimulus, according to PsychologyToday.com. When exercise causes an elevation in serotonin levels, dopamine helps your brain associate exercise with that elevated happiness achievement!
H.I.T remains one of the most controversial and novel ideas in the weight training world which is always ebbing and flowing from one perceived ‘wisdom’ to another. Science continues to show a whole variety of pathways, ingredients and conditions that are involved or cause muscle growth. H.I.T may never be the answer for everyone but it is difficult to deny that a sensible interpretation of it has worked for a lot of people. So it may be worth trying it out and learning for yourself. At worst you will have learnt the meaning of intensity and pushing yourself in a few sets harder than most people do in an entire training career and that at least is a skill you can apply to all your future training.
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