In the fitness world, there is a term that’s been passed around lately and that is HIIT. What does HIIT stands for? HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training.
What does this mean and how can this help you get a toned or shredded physique? Well, I will talk about everything you need to know about HIIT and how it can help you get a toned physique in this article.
So, a lot of people want to get lean and most of them even want to push it to get a toned or shredded body. They want to look like the fitness models they usually see on fitness magazines.
But, a lot of people are doing the most ineffective exercises to get them what they want. Most people resort to steady cardio exercises, which will ultimately lead them to failure.
What do I mean by “steady” cardio exercises? Steady cardio exercises are exercises that require you to perform an activity at a steady pace.
In the case of running, you will run at a steady rate and speed. In the case of weight lifting, you will lift the same amount of weight with the same level of intensity.
Although you get lean and you will gain muscle from doing these exercises, it can only help you in the beginning.
Overtime, your body will get acclimated to the training program, leaving you with no result whatsoever.
So, how do you combat this? Well, that is where the HIIT will come in. High-intensity interval training works wonders for people who want to get a toned physique, and here’s why.
As previously mentioned, when you workout at a steady pace, your body will get used to it and you will see minimal gains at best.
But what HIIT does is that it challenges and confuses your body by doing interval training. What I mean by this is that you do a few minutes of intense workout then couple it with a less stressful training regimen for a couple of minutes and alternate it again to an intense workout, then rinse and repeat.
HIIT is more effective at helping you lose weight and getting a shredded physique because your body will be in a near-constant fat burning mode. In other words, when you’re doing HIIT workouts, your body will have more metabolism and you get a more effective passive fat burning power.
Also, High-intensity interval training increases your resting metabolic rate than doing steady-paced exercises. Furthermore, your growth hormones and catecholamine levels will rise up quicker when doing HIIT workouts, which are touted to be important in fat loss.
So, if you want to do cardio exercises such as running, for example, you can increase the intensity by sprinting 100 meters and then jogging for the next 100 meters and so on.
For weight lifters, you can increase the intensity by doing low-rep exercises and then superset it with low-weight, high-rep exercises. Suppose you bench press 250lbs for 8 reps, you then superset it with 150lbs and 20 reps and then go back to 250 lbs after a brief rest.
I hope you get the point of HIIT. If you’re currently not seeing the results you’ve wanted, try doing HIIT workouts. Increase the intensity of your workouts to get increased and gratifying results.