Fat Loss with High Intensity Interval Training
High intensity interval training, or HIIT, is one of the quickest ways to burn fat. HIIT’s increase your body’s aerobic and anaerobic capacity, turning you into a strong and fast power machine. Sound like something you want to try out? Okay! Get your bottle of water, your towel, and your determination because you will have to push yourself through this. Your SetStarter is a great tool to help you keep try of your intervals, so get that too and set it for vibration alert. Your heart will be pounding so hard, you may not hear the beeper! Are you ready for some really intense interval training
This workout greatly resembles a Tabata circuit except you have less rest and more work time. So four minutes is all you need and you are good to go. Make sure you get an okay from your doctor for this workout. It isn’t for beginners or the fragile.
Set your SetStarter for 10 rounds of 18 seconds on and 6 seconds off. The 6 seconds will be enough to get you from one position to another so you won’t even have time to write down your reps. If you want to keep track of your progression, consider asking a friend to count and keep track for you. Hey, it’s just four minutes! Any good friend can spare that.
4 Minute High Intensity Interval Training
This workout is only two complex moves that will kick your butt, believe me! Alternate between moves each round.
Move 1: Triple Jump- To start position yourself in lunge position with your hands out to the sides for balance. When your beeper goes off, complete a set of jumps moving from one jump to the next as quickly as you can with good form. Jump from lunge position, to jump squat, then jump lunge with the other leg forward, and back to jump squat. Here is the clincher, after the second jump squat explode off the floor into a jump tuck, which is when you jump up off the floor as high as you can and tuck your knees into your chest. During this move, make sure to land softly with your toes first. This will protect your knees.
Move 2: Push up Combo- Crouch down on the floor with your hands on the ground in front of you. Jump your legs back, into plank position, and then jump them both out to the sides at the same time as you do a push up. When you push up from the ground jump your legs back into plank position and jump your feet back into your chest into the starting position. Repeat this three move cycle until the 18 seconds are up.
This workout might seem simple and short, but once you do it, you’ll know what I’m talking about. You’ll be dripping with sweat and gasping for breath and damn proud of yourself! This high intensity interval training should not be done two days in a since it is so intense but using it on days when you are short on time is a great way to keep to your commitment to stay fit.
What Kinds of Exercises Can Interval Training Apply to?
Interval training can be any kind of movement that, when done with enough intensity, leaves you very fatigued within a brief period of time.
Modes of activity for interval training are those that are “aerobic” or “cardio” in nature, that can be sustained for long periods of time, such as walking, pedaling, jogging, skating, snow-shoeing and swimming.
Interval training can be done on any cardio equipment, including cross-country ski simulators and the revolving staircase. Other venues for interval training, including high intensity, include:
- Inline skating – hills will be necessary for better-conditioned people.
- Trail running – intensity intervals can be done on steeper grades and/or by running faster.
- Steep hill walking, trotting or sprinting
- Staircase dashing or two-step climbing
- Jump roping – intensity can be increased by jumping faster and/or higher.
- Box jumping – increase intensity by using a taller box, jumping faster or holding light dumbbells.
- Martial arts sparring
- Miscellaneous plyometrics (jumping) such as forward lunge jumping, squat jumping, side-to-side lunge jumping and burpees (combines squat jump with pushup).
- Box or platform stepping (increase intensity by adding height, increasing speed, holding weights or adding deep squats in between steps)
The work interval is when you are performing high or all-out effort. The rest interval is the recovery phase during which you’re moving casually. Figure out what you must do, in your chosen workout venue, to produce considerable fatigue or complete exhaustion within about 15 seconds to 60 seconds.
Is it still interval training if the work segment exceeds 60 seconds?
Yes. But it is not high intensity interval training (HIIT). In HIIT, the work segment is so strenuous that you cannot do it for longer than 30 seconds.
So if you find that you can keep stepping onto that box for longer than 30 seconds, this is not HIIT. If you can keep doing this for longer than a few minutes, it’s not even general interval training.
The interval should be challenging enough such that it cannot be sustained for longer than a few minutes.
So in the case of a stepping stool or box, something must be modified to bring on high fatigue. You must know how to tweak your program to impose a high demand on your body.
In the case of stepping, a higher stepping surface will increase intensity. Other ways to increase intensity include: faster stepping speed, adding a jump to every step, adding a squat every time you step onto the box, or adding a squat jump every time you step onto the box.
How exactly is the rest interval performed?
This is the baseline of the chosen venue. Some examples:
- Trail running: easy jogging or walking on flat grades
- Steep hills: walking back down the hill, or walking flat grades in between hills on a trail
- Jump roping: marching in place or walking about the room
- Box jumping or stepping: marching in place or walking about the room
- Heavy bag striking: light jogging in place or walking about the room
In short, during the rest interval, you should be moving, and it should be easy. Any kind of movement will suffice, even dancing or abdominal routines—as long as it’s casual effort. Duration should be one to several minutes.
Think of a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 feels like you’ve been napping in a hammock, and 10 feels as though you just tried to outrun a locomotive while carrying a gallon of milk in each hand.
A work interval should feel like at least a 6. A 6 is the lower end of interval training. Aim for an 8. If your body is already in good condition, aim for a 9 or 10. Rest intervals can range from 3 to 5.
Fartlek Training Overview
Here’s a great blog post that describes the benefits of Fartlek training, over at www.notyouraveragefitnesstips.com. This kind of exercise program is much more manageable from a timing perspective with our very own Set Starter interval timer.
What is Fartlek? It’s a term that means “speed play” in Swedish and is an interval training workout that involves continuous exercise alternated between low, medium, and high intensity intervals. The main advantages of Fartlek training are that it allows you to burn fat and also improve both anaerobic and aerobic endurance. In other words, it helps you to more efficiently perform really intense exercise as well as improving your overall aerobic capacity.
Interval Training For Weight Loss
Here are some great articles about the benefits of interval training to get our blog started!
Interval Training for Weight Loss: Why It is So Effective
skinnymom.com11/11/11
Skinny Mom is every mother’s hotspot for all information about fitness, nutrition, food, family, innovative workouts that you can do with your kids, muscle toning workouts, weight loss tips, skinny dinner recipes and best family …
A Up-to-date Interval Training Regimen That Can Help You Kiss Goodbye to Love Handles
healthyfitnesstipz.info11/11/11
Interval training on a treadmill is a first-class way to blaze a ton of kcals and formulate a excellent fat burning situation inside of your body. It is 1 of the golden ways for you to eliminate steadfast body fat, get ripped and forge …