If you are a busy person that does not have the time to go to a gym but is still trying to achieve a healthy lifestyle, the High-Intensity Interval Training is perfect for your lifestyle. You can do it anywhere and anytime in just a short span of time as long as your mind and body are well-acquainted with doing it.
No need to go to the gym or purchase expensive workout equipment just to make it work for you. What’s good about HIIT is that you will still continuously feel its effects even after the training sessions. Make the most of your workout time by learning detailed information about HIIT for beginners.
What is High-intensity Interval Training?
As its name implies, High-Intensity Interval Training is a set of exercises consist of a warm-up period, repetitive high-intensity exercises, and the cool-down period. Each set is separated by moments of rest and recovery. It is known as one of the best interval-based training because of the range of benefits that you gain from it.
There are misconceptions that for you to be able to have an efficient workout, you must spend long hours of training to get faster results. The main idea of High-Intensity Interval Training is the use of short but intense exercising intervals. You can benefit from this type of workout even you only do it for 4 minutes.
How Often Should You Do HIIT?
If you are new to this type of workout regimen, two or three workout sessions in a week are fine. Since this is intense training, it is important to give your body time to recover. During the days that you are not doing HIIT, you may perform other types of exercises that are lighter. The downside of this type of workout is that it can place an immense amount of stress on your body that is why the recovery period of about 48 hours is important.
The high-intensity interval training is known for its short but intense cardio-vascular exercises that are based on repetition. You can do HIIT for about 4 minutes up to 30 minutes depending on the combination of exercises that you wish to perform. During the first few sessions, you may have 15 seconds workout with a minute resting period before proceeding to the next set. As your stamina strengthens, your workout should be longer than your recovery time like 1-minute work and 15 seconds recovery time.
How To Do a HIIT Workout?
What’s good about a HIIT workout is that you can be able to choose for a specific type of exercise that you can do in your chosen time frame. An ideal HIIT workout consists of a combination of arms, legs, and core muscles cardio steps. This is a 30-minute and 15-minute sample workout of High-Intensity Interval Training for beginners.
- Warm-Up
This should be the very first step that you need to do every time you do any type of workout so as to prepare your whole body. These are simple and most common warm-up exercises for beginners: 2-3 minutes of jumping jacks, jogging in place, push-up or knee bends. You would know that you have done the warm-up exercises correctly if your body feels warm and your muscles and joints seem flexible.
Duration: 12-minute HIIT for beginners; You can do each set of exercises for 1 minute with 15 seconds rest before proceeding to the next exercise.
- Butt Kicker
Step 1: Stand tall with your hands placed at the back just on top of your butt.
Step 2: Make sure that your feet are apart and it should be in line with your hips.
Step 3: Jog in place, you are doing it correctly if the heels of your feet almost touch or tap your back.
- Pop Squat
Step 1: Stand straight with your feet together. Place your hands at your chest.
Step 2: This exercise will enhance your glutes and knees. Jump and land on the ground with your feet apart while tapping the ground. You are doing it correctly if you are on the squatting position.
Step 3: Jump to place your feet back together in standing position. Do the same process for a minute while alternating your hand in tapping the floor.
- Skater
Step 1: Stand straight with your feet apart. Jump to the right side with your right foot. The left foot will follow.
Step 2: As you land on your right foot, your left foot will sway behind. For you to easily jump and land on one foot, you should be in a slightly squatting position. Alternately do it for 8 counts
Step 3: Go back to the standing position. Do the same process but with your left foot. Jump to the left side with your left foot. The right foot will follow in a swaying manner towards your back. Do it also for 8 counts.
- Cool-down
For a 12-minute HIIT workout, you can have 2-3 minutes cool-down exercises to let your heart rate go back to normal and so your breathing will normalize. You can do the HIIT running for 1 minute, stretching of arms and legs for 1 minute, and exhale and inhale breathing exercises for 30 seconds.
Benefits of High-Intensity Training
- Efficient and Convenient
No need to spend long hours doing exercises just to feel satisfied. With HIIT, you’ll achieve progress in just a short span of time as long as you are doing the right thing. Studies show that a two weeks consistent HIIT is better at improving your aerobic capacity compared to 2 months of endurance training. You don’t have to invest in expensive workout equipment because with the use of your bodily strength, you can create a significant impact on your body.
- It can burn fats and calories
There are scientific researches that prove that HIIT effectively burns fat and calories in a short span of time. It is said that about 25-30% of calories are burnt in just one session compared to other types of workout. While you are burning those fats, your body is preparing to build your muscles.
- You can preserve your muscle mass while losing weight
In high-intensity interval training, you are targeting to lose fats while building up your muscles. The muscle build-up is focused on the area that is often being used that is why if you are also targeting to gain muscle mass, it is recommended to have a rotational workout plan.
- Helps in regulating blood circulation
Doing interval-based training is proven to strengthen the heart. When your heart is in good condition, it will also improve your blood circulation. High-intensity exercises are recommended for those who are overweight and obese because it reduces heart rate and blood pressure.
Tips in Doing HIIT for Beginners
- Set a time and stick to it. In planning to do this workout session, it is advisable to choose for a convenient time each day so there are fewer chances of skipping it. Doing this workout is flexible. It can be done as you start the day or after work, whichever is convenient on your end.
- Practice the correct form of exercise. The HIIT workout is effective only if you are doing it right especially if you are into a strength workout. There are high chances to meet an injury if you are not executing the workout steps correctly. You can watch videos online for you to learn the correct form of exercise that you are doing. The best HIIT workout for men and women is when the exercises are executed properly even though it is just simple steps.
- Wear the right shoes. It would be easier for you to execute the exercises if your shoes are intended for workouts. The recommended shoes for this kind of workout is lightweight and has the right cushioning properties so your feet will be comfortable in executing each exercise.
- Don’t forget to do a proper warm-up. This is one of the most important parts of an exercise because it prepares your mind and body. It fuels up your stamina to have the energy. You can avoid the risk of an injury if your body is well-acquainted before doing the main exercise.
- Allow time to recover. High-intensity interval training for beginners can be mentally and bodily stressful. If you are not used to this workout yet, you can expect body aches that is why a 48-hour recovery period is recommended to allow your body to adjust and recover. 2-3 HIIT sessions per week are good but you can still do other endurance or strength training in between.
Is It Applicable For Everyone?
High-intensity interval training is not for everyone. Before deciding to engage yourself in this kind of workout, it is important to examine yourselves to ensure that it will not cause danger to your health and to maximize its benefits in your body. However, if there are no contraindications with your health, you don’t need to be an athletic-type of person to perform it.
Exercises in this type of exercising regimen are just simple routines that you need to do in repetitions to make it more beneficial that is why core strength is important. HIIT for beginners is not an easy process but as soon as they get used to the pattern on how the process works, it will surely be an enjoyable routine.
When To Avoid Interval Training?
- Those with injuries
If you have injuries to your joints, tendons, knee, or shoulders, it is advisable to let it heal first before doing high-intensity exercise so as not to aggravate the situation. It is possible to do workouts but make sure that it will not involve those parts of your body that are fractured or injured.
- Those with asthma or respiratory illnesses
The respiratory system plays a major role during the exercising sessions. As you increase your physical activity, your respiratory system would also increase its respiratory and expiratory flow rates. Doing extensive exercises may compromise the functioning of your respiratory system that is why it is recommended to just try light to medium workouts.
- Those who have high blood pressure
HIIT can both harm and benefit those who have problems with blood pressure. A sudden extensive exercise may lead to cardiac arrest due to an increase in blood pressure but if your body is used to doing workouts consistently, even if you’ll do HIIT, it will not affect your blood pressure level. Those who have blood pressure but are used to high-intensity exercise experience a decrease in blood pressure that lessens the stiffness of the artery walls.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What will happen to my body after I stopped my HIIT workouts?
A: One of the good points of HIIT is that even though you stopped your training sessions, your body will still continue to burn fats. This is because of the Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption wherein the body will require the use of calories to replenish the lost oxygen level in the body.
Q: Should I eat before a HIIT workout?
For you to be able to do your HIIT workouts energetically, the pre-workout meal is necessary especially if you are planning to do it before you start your day. If you do not feel like eating before a morning workout, it is recommended that you have eaten a balanced nutritious meal the night before. After a workout, if you feel hungry, eat a nutritious pre-workout meal to replenish the energy burned and so that your body will recover faster.
Q: Can pregnant women do HIIT?
Those who are accustomed to doing HIIT workout prior to pregnancy may still do it during the first three months but as your belly goes bigger, your body might have difficulty executing the exercises so you may just shift into another form of workout that is less extensive.
Final Thoughts
This type of interval training for beginners teaches that for you to see significant HIIT results into your body faster, you must be prepared in pushing yourself a little hard, as the cliche states, “No Pain, No Gain”. It takes time to build fitness with patience throughout the process.