You have heard that exercise is good and I know in previous posts I have mentioned why it is good.
*cough*, helps with depression, anxiety, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and more!
Did you know that you don’t have to work-out in a crowded gym or workout for hours on end to see results? HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training, has been shown to be a time-efficient training method for increasing cardiovascular health and improving muscle strength (Gibala, 2012). Research shows that HIIT almost doubles cardio respiratory fitness in patients when compared with those who participated in a low to moderate intensity workout (Weston, 2014).
What is even better about HIIT is that it can be done at home with little to no equipment and in under 30 minutes! One study found that HIIT and moderate intensity training had similar results for weight loss but they found that the HIIT group required almost 30% less total exercise time and 25% less energy expenditure (Sawyer, 2016).
So how should you go about HIIT? This depends on where your current activity level is at. If you have been mostly hibernating all winter you will want to start with shorter high intensity intervals. Perhaps start with an exercise like jumping jacks, speed walking up a hill, or a sprint on a bicycle and do that for 30 seconds as hard as you can and then rest for 1 minute. That is one round and if you can do that for 5 rounds comfortably, consider going as hard as you can for 1 minute and resting for 1 minute. Eventually you will decrease your resting periods and increase the number of rounds you do in 20-30 minutes.
The exercises listed above are a very very very small sample of what you can do for HIIT. You can do sprints, climb stairs, jump rope, push-ups, squats, lunges, box, row etc. HIIT allows you to be able to constantly mix up your routine and if you ever need an idea for a workout you can find some great home work-outs on YouTube that you can adapt to do outside as the weather begins to warm up. Plus, it’s a great way to get a little more vitamin D and fresh air.
If you have any questions about beginning a routine we are happy to help by establishing an overall health baseline that we can use to measure your work-out results and help you accomplish your goals.
Dr. Jeric Toney D.C.