Could HIIT Be The Perfect Workout For You?

If you’re looking for a way to start a workout plan that you can finally stick to, High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) may be your answer. Even though it may seem like a trendy exercise fad, HIIT may be especially effective if you’re overweight or out of shape and trying to get back in the fitness game.

HIIT involves doing high intensity movement for 30-60 seconds, several times, with short breaks in between. It's been growing in popularity as a way to switch up a boring continuous cardio workout. But it may also be useful for those who are having a hard time starting or sticking to a training regime. The draw, it seems, is that this kind of training makes it seem like there’s less effort involved.

The recent research focused on overweight adults living sedentary lifestyles. They performed two types of exercise: one was HIIT-focused, and one was 20 minutes of continuous exercise. The findings were surprising. Even though HIIT took longer and required at least equal energy output, the participants didn’t feel like as bored, as tired, or like they had expended as much energy, and therefore had a more positive experience with it than they did with continuous exercise. 

One researcher says this study is especially important since, he says, enjoying your workout is the most important part of keeping up a regime. He said that our problems with sticking to an exercise program is very simple. “I don’t think it’s education. I don’t think it’s that people are not convinced that exercise or physical activity is important. It’s just getting them to do it,” he said.

So if HIIT, which is about as effective as any other form of cardio, will get people to adhere to an exercise regime, then why not?

Of course, this kind of high-intensity exercise could be dangerous to someone who’s lived a sedentary lifestyle for a long time, r an older person with other health problems in addition to being overweight. But if HIIT is safe for someone, and they perceive it as easier, then it’s a great way to get exercise. Any kind of exercise that creates a more active population can't be that bad.

Do you use HIIT? What do you like about it?