Let's Talk About.. HIIT

Let's Talk About.. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) vs. Hours in the Gym... 

I don't know why this comes to mind when thinking about HIIT...  Maybe because it involves a lot of planking and core strength?  Regardless, I can say that after 3 weeks of doing the Jillian Michael's HIIT 30 minute videos, I'm getting much closer to the top picture vs. the bottom picture from when we first started. 

Wikipedia Definition: 

High-intensity interval training (HIIT), also called high-intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE) or sprint interval training (SIT), is an enhanced form of interval training, an exercise strategy alternating periods of short intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods. HIIT is a form of cardiovascular exercise. Usual HIIT sessions may vary from 4–30 minutes. These short, intense workouts provide improved athletic capacity and condition, improved glucose metabolism, and improved fat burning. 

Example Workout 

8 Benefits of HIIT 

1. Efficient – HIIT is the ideal workout for a busy life. You can achieve more progress in 15 minutes than jogging for a FULL HOUR on a treadmill! 
2. Burn More Fat – you burn more calories and fat over a 24 hour period with HIIT vs. a regular 1.5 hours in the gym. 
3. Healthier Heart – you get your workouts to the “I can't breathe very well stage” and that builds a healthier heart. After 8 weeks, subjects could bicycle twice as long as they could before they started HIIT. 
4. No Equipment Needed – Biking, Running, Videos from home, Rowing, and Jump Roping work great for HII. 
5. Lose Weight, Not Muscle – HIIT workouts allow dieters to keep their muscles while ensuring most of the weight loss comes from fat stored. 
6. Increase Metabolism – HIIT stimulates production of your human growth hormone (HGH) by up to 450% during the 24 hours after the workout. 
7. Do It Anywhere – You can do it ANYWHERE – no gym required. 
8. Challenging - This is not a workout you can do while reading a magazine or talking on the phone. Because it's so short, you will be working hard the whole time. The good thing is that this format offers seasoned exercisers a new challenge and new exercisers a quick way to see results. You may be sucking wind, but you definitely won't be bored! Goes fast! 

The Challenge: 

My husband and I were in an exercise rut... We have four small kids and it's become increasingly harder and harder to find time to exercise. I find that if I'm doing a 60 minute Pilates video, I get interrupted at least 15 times by the kids, making it a 3 hour video. So, we were determined to get up earlier and motivate each other to do these videos that swear they replace 1.5 hours in the gym with a quick 25-30 minute video. 

The Bad News First...

This isn't for sissy's. The first day, we couldn't get past the first 15 minutes and thought we might die and curse Jillian until she finally died as well. There are NO breaks and no stopping whatsoever – plus, we were sore, sore, sore – BUT... It feels awesome in a weird kind of torture - like way!!!! 

The VERY GOOD News...

You quickly build up your stamina to the full 30 minutes (2nd day I was able to complete the full workout). After just one week, we really started to notice a difference. I feel much tighter in my core and my arms are getting more defined. My hubby has gotten even faster results (because most guys can just look at a gym and in 2 weeks get buff). Women take a tad longer - lucky us.

HERE is a link to one of the FREE YouTube videos that we have been doing: (oh, did I forget to mention that it's Level 1, 2, and 3?  And I've been referring to Level 1 – hahaha!  But, after a week we were able to move to Level 2 and were very pleased with ourselves).

Bottom Line...

I haven't felt this good or this happy with my body since well, forever... Since it's challenging, you get to feel that sense of accomplishment that you are completing something VERY hard, and since it's hard – you see results VERY VERY soon and that makes you happy and makes you want to keep going. I see things in my closet that I've kept for a while with that (one day) feeling over my head and now I know those will fit much sooner than expected and I can't wait. I think if I give it a couple more weeks, I will actually stop complaining about my body for the first time in... well forever :)

I'm shocking my body into something completely different than I've ever done before and I LOVE IT!

Meredith Webb

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