Work hard, Play harder, Train the hardest.

Some people love to work out while others (the majority!) find it a drag and can’t wait to hit the showers and head home. Well wouldn’t it be great to spend as little time as possible working out whilst receiving maximum benefits? Sounds too good to be true..?

Whether you’re an avid gym user or not I’m sure you have been made aware of the recent surge of interest in HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training. A recent TV program looked into the effects of short sharp bursts of intense exercise and found it to be beneficial to health status. People are going mad for high intensity training and great results are being seen from shorter workouts at maximum effort.

            Most of my clients only see me for half an hour – they all say they couldn’t survive a longer session! – Needless to say I am a massive fan of HIIT for my own, and my clients training. Despite the benefits seen in speed, strength, power and body comp I also save loads of time training this way. Whether you want to set your alarm that bit later in the morning or get home earlier to enjoy your evening, HIIT may be for you if you want to maximize results without spending hours slogging away in the gym.

I’m going to take Sprinting as my example exercise. Sprint training is favored by many athletes as it builds fast twitch muscle fibers and is highly effective for fat burning. Replacing long cardiovascular workouts on treadmills and cross trainers with sprint training a few times a week could result in huge benefits for you. You just have to remember one rule – you must perform at 100% intensity.  

The Sciencey bit

When the body performs any explosive movement at a high intensity it releases growth hormone (HGH) in the days to follow to aid recovery. It has been shown that a 30 second all-out sprint increased HGH 530% over baseline levels. High growth hormone levels are ideal for keeping body fat low and building lean muscle, thus increasing your metabolic rate.

Sprinting will increase the size of the mitochondria in your cells which is the part of the cell that stores energy. This makes the body more efficient at releasing energy so it has a reduced tendency to store body fat. Therefore, sprinting not only oxidizes fat, it also prevents the body from storing new fat.

When compared to low intensity exercise, sprinting and other high intensity training burns far more fat and calories. A 20-minute workout doing high-intensity sprints is roughly comparable to an hour-long cardio workout at a lower intensity.

So are you convinced? If you want to start HIIT on your next gym visit start with caution as your body needs time to adjust to such high intensities. If you want to try out some sprint training for the first time start out by stretching and doing a little jogging and then work up to moderate intensity sprints, to avoid injuring yourself. After completing moderate intensity sprints for your first few sessions you can start doing full intensity sprints. If you are already a keen sprinter, try your sprints uphill next time.

Combine your HIIT with good dietary practice and you can achieve a lean, strong and powerful body….and have the time to get out and show it off!  

-          For ideas on how to train in this way or to book in your HIIT session with me please get in contact. Lx