7 amazing benefits of HIIT workouts

[USAF-Larry]

Interesting article on the benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training.

"HIIT is an intense workout in which a person goes all-out in performing one hundred percent effort through quick, powerful bursts of exercise of up to 1 minute long, followed by a short recovery period of about 2 minutes in length. For example, a good starter HIIT workout is running as fast as you can for up to 1 minute and then walking at a brisk pace for 2 minutes.  Repeat this 3-minute interval five times for a 15-minute workout."

You can read the full article here: 7 amazing benefits of HIIT workouts

[WavyDavey]

Pretty good.I agree with all the health benefits part.

Not sure why they state it's 1 minute work followed by 2 minutes rest. That's not a good ratio, except for a beginner. 60 seconds work followed by 20 or 30 seconds rest is more in line. The point is the ratio isn't fixed, and rest is usually shorter than the work (thus the "intensity").

Everyone loves that idea of EPOC afterburn, but it's less impressive when you realize that it only burned about 60 more calories. But every calorie counts!

There's a video called "The Truth about HIIT Cardio" on youtube that goes over the actual numbers of HIIT vs. standard cardio. Basically, it's kind of a wash, as far as weight loss. But in terms of anaerobic conditioning, HIIT is difficult to beat.

[MagsOnTheBeach]

I did my first HIIT workout last week and it killed me in a good way.  I was sore though for the next 3 days.  I used a beginner workout on youtube, and it was fun.  I was sweating buckets by the end and the euphoria lasted a couple days.  

[WavyDavey]

@MagsOnTheBeach, enjoy your early days afterburn glow! I still remember those first few workouts, feeling a burning in my lungs and my heart was going to jump out of my body. Ah....

A PT said once, "If you're not actively hating your life while doing HIIT, you're doing it wrong."

I have a question for @USAF-Larry or anyone else that does HIIT. How do you re-spark your metabolism once it adjusts to the training?