What is HIIT?
High-intensity interval training, or HIIT, is a type of exercise that challenges your body in new ways and improves fitness faster than traditional steady-state cardio.
HIIT involves short bursts of high-intensity exercise coupled with brief recovery periods. This training style is effective for burning fat and improving aerobic capacity because it forces your body to exhaust its supply of accessible sugars (glucose) and instead begin burning fat for fuel. These workouts are shorter in duration but offer much greater rewards than steady-state cardio as they provide your body with the ultimate fat-burning, metabolism-boosting workout.
Benefits of HIIT
If your goal is to improve your cardiovascular fitness and burn fat, HIIT is the way to go. It will improve your strength, power, and aerobic capacity. Also, if you are a beginner or don’t currently work out, HIIT can be the perfect starting point.
You can gradually increase your intensity as you get stronger and fitter. So who should do HIIT?
- – It is especially beneficial for beginners who want to build endurance without having to spend hours in the gym.
- – Athletes who need greater endurance and shorter recovery time between workouts.
- – People with diabetes or other metabolic disorders.
- – People who are recovering from injury and looking to regain their fitness levels.
- – Pregnant women who want an effective workout plan that doesn’t involve too much impact on their body during pregnancy.
- – Obese individuals looking for a way to lose weight while build muscle.
- – Anybody looking for an intense workout that gets them in shape fast.
What’s the Difference Between HIIT and Steady State Cardio?
Generally, HIIT workouts are shorter in duration than their steady-state counterparts. A steady-state works by raising your heart rate over an extended period through prolonged periods of moderate activity.
For example, on a treadmill, you would maintain a steady pace while walking or jogging continuously for 45 minutes. When done correctly, these types of workouts can still be effective in improving aerobic fitness and burning fat but not to the same extent as HIIT.
The reason is that steady-state cardio only challenges your body to work at a certain predefined level of intensity, which leads to less overall body stress and strain on the muscles than HIIT does.
HIIT offers benefits beyond just burning fat or getting fit fast; it also improves mental health due to the release of endorphins created from intense exercise sessions (which reduces stress) and strengthens joints by increasing joint mobility.
How to Perform a High-Intensity Interval Workout
Now that you know what HIIT is, you must be wondering how do you perform a high-intensity interval workout?
First and foremost, you need to make sure your body is warmed up. This is to avoid any risk of injuries. You can accomplish it through some light jogging or cycling before engaging in your workout at full throttle. Once your body has been sufficiently warmed up, it’s time to start the “work” part of the workout.
Next, perform an exercise such as burpees at high intensity for 30 seconds, followed by moderate-intensity training for 90 seconds. You should repeat this pattern 8-10 times before taking a short break and repeating the cycle one more time.
The key here is to push yourself as hard as possible during those 30-second bursts and then to allow your heart rate to recover during the 90-sec periods of moderate-intensity activity.
Should you perform HIIT training every day? The answer is NO! Try including HIIT in your workouts at least twice per week for optimum results. HIIT is a great way to burn fat quickly, which, if done in excess, can prove counterproductive for people trying to gain muscle. A combination of strength exercises and HIIT training is the way to go.
HIIT Classes in UAE
If you want to get fit and set your heart racing through HIIT, it’s important you perform it correctly, with the right combination of exercises, form, and duration. And this can only be accomplished if you train with a personal trainer at one of the reputed HIIT classes in UAE. Whether you are in Sharjah or Abu Dhabi, or any other part of the UAE, you can easily find a HIIT class in your vicinity, courtesy of our list below:
Make sure you enroll in a program with a certified, highly experienced, and knowledgeable instructor to avoid injuries and other associated risks.
