The Benefits of HIIT

We are in the second month of the New Year and back in January, there were many New Year’s resolutions to hit the gym, lose weight and look your best.  We all start off strong and determine to meet our goals, but then something happens. We lose focus, but there is a way to make up for what you missed by doing High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) at home, outside or at the gym.

What is HIIT? According to an article published by Andjelka Pavlovic, Ph.D. at Source “High-intensity interval training (HIT/HIIT) is an effective method of training that yields improvements in exercise performance, fitness, and health. HIT is characterized by short, high-intensity work bouts, with lower intensity recovery phases that are repeated throughout one exercise session.”

When you incorporate HIIT into your workout, you get an intense workout in less time. As a certified Exercise Group Instructor, I’ve led my classes with HITT training while in Portugal, where we did variations of 20, 30, or 45 minutes of HITT exercises.  With HIIT, you can incorporate no equipment or add equipment and have an effective workout.

When I taught HITT, my exercises ranged from Total Body, Free Weights, Bosu Ball, Barbell, Jump Rope etc. During my classes, my students received a fun, energetic and killer workout and that is how you should feel when you are done working out.

Why I recommend HITT. I recommend HIIT because it is fun, quick, and effective. When I do it, I can see the changes in my entire body. My body parts are defined and I love it. You can improve your fitness and endurance by incorporating HIIT into your weekly workout. Here is a quick workout for you to implement anywhere and five the benefit of doing each provided by other authors.

HITT BLAST

(5 Exercises & 5 Rounds)

(1 Minute of Work & 15 Seconds of Rest)

Jump Rope– Is fun and easy to add to any workout anywhere. It is an easy equipment to pack when while on the road for work. There are so much that you can do with a jump rope.  Here are five benefits  provided byhttps://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/blog/6395/7-benefits-of-jumping-rope,

1. Jumping rope can increase the elasticity and resiliency of lower-leg muscles, leading to a reduced risk of lower-leg injuries
2. Jumping rope can help improve your coordination
3. Jumping rope can help improve your cognitive function.
4. Jumping rope can help increase the intensity of circuit-training workouts.
5. Jump ropes are extremely portable, which makes them an excellent option when traveling.

Wall Sit– Another easy exercise that you can do anywhere and you will feel the burn the longer you sit against the wall. All you have to do is put your back against the wall and go down as fart as you feel comfortable.  Here are five benefits provided by http://www.bodybuildingestore.com/10-benefits-of-wall-sit-exercises/  you can click on the link to read the other three benefits.

1. Strength the Muscles
2. Helps in Focusing
3. Helps in Gaining the Stamina
4. Makes Your Thighs Really Strong
5. Allows You to Be More Flexible with your Body

Push-ups– is a great way to build upper body strength, but you are also building lower body strength as well. Here are five benefits of why you should implement push-ups into your workouts provided by  https://www.livestrong.com/article/25511-benefits-pushups/,

1. Target Multiple Muscle Groups
2. You Can Do Them Anywhere
3. Push-Ups Build Core Strength
4. They Burn Lots of Calories
5. Push-Ups Are Easy to Modify

Lying Leg Raises-Is one of my favorite exercise to do, because it is a great workout for the core. There are many other variations of working the abdominal from crunches, hanging leg raises, alternating knees to elbow, etc.

Here are three benefits of doing leg raises according to http://bcworkout.com/2015/06/05/what-are-the-benefits-of-leg-raise-exercises/

1. Lower back muscles- With regular execution of leg raises, it will help in lowering the risk of experiencing a back injury, strain, or pain when you perform other routines or daily activities.
2. Abdominal/core muscle– The primary group of muscle that benefits from leg raise is the lower abdominal muscles.
3. Hip flexors- One thing about all types of leg raise exercises is that they will increase agility, flexibility, and strength of hip flexors

Planks- is a great way to have a full body workout in, you can do different planks such a steady planks, up/downs, plank jacks, side planks, alternating knees to elbow planks. As you can see this is a great exercise to incorporate it. Here are five plank benefits by  http://www.lifehack.org/292578/7-things-that-will-happen-when-you-do-planking-exercise-every-day

1. You’ll improve core definition and performance
2. You’ll decrease your risk of injury in the back and spinal column
3. You’ll experience an increased boost to your overall metabolism
4. You’ll significantly improve your posture
5. You’ll improve overall balance

I enjoy doing all these exercises at home, outside or at the gym, and I hope that you will find them enjoyable as well.  Remember you determine your fitness goals and levels so modify as needed, but push yourself. Click on the above links to read about the additional benefits of incorporating these five exercises into your workouts and have fun doing them

Question: What is your favorite exercise to do?

Shevvymac

“Motivational Accountability Change”