#and they’re a great climber. they have a lot of core and upper body strength

[gatesofember]

told a random lady about Clover and said “I’ve always wanted a disabled pet” and she was like “idk that sounds like a lot of work” ?????? excuse me????

[boletus-edulis]

Fitness, a Long Post

I’ve gotten countless asks about my workout routine and I’ve been waiting to respond so that I may answer in full! Finally, here it is. 

Let me begin by clarifying that I am by no means any fitness guru or personal trainer. I am simply a college student that found that a regular workout schedule really helped me out physically, mentally and emotionally. 

Originally I started out with some yoga and slight strength training, with the mindset “I am happy with my body weight, so why waste my time with cardio or high intensity training?” and THAT was a load of bullshit, guys. Cardio and HIIT (high intensity interval training) is for everybody--not just if you plan on losing weight (although it is a great fat burner). Eventually, later in my freshman year I began to use the cycling bike, but not really knowing where to begin. I worked out until I felt tired and would push myself a little, but then turn the intensity down. This works, but it doesn’t burn fat or push you to the point of being drenched in sweat--which is a truly humbling and refreshing experience.

Before I get into my routines, I’ll show you a very simple graphic.

Something I’ve learned from working out is that you have to fake yourself out. Hype yourself up to thinking that you’re the hottest piece of meat out there. If you puff out your chest and convince yourself that you’re in the joestar bloodline, you’ll become it. It seems silly, but try contrasting that with thoughts of “I’m not strong enough, I’m not powerful enough, I can’t do that”. Yes, I am a weird squishy noodle, but I’m a weird squishy noodle with great biceps and thighs for days--and I didn’t get there by thinking “I’m a weird squishy noodle who can’t do this”.

I joined a gym this summer. For the record, I highly recommend joining a gym. I found a really nice gym that’s usually very expensive and got a huge student discount. If you can’t find a place like that, someplace cheap is planet fitness. Going to a gym and having the mindset that you’re getting out of the house to go to something good for your body and mind is so HELPFUL. I tried working out at home for years and it just never worked for me. 

I think what has been working for me most was taking classes at the gym. If you can’t join a gym, try to seek out fitness groups--you can find local ones on facebook. A trainer will usually meet with groups of people and you all work out together. The class I take a few times a week is called Core and More, and is named appropriately so, seeing as it works your core, and the rest of your body. 

What I have learned from this class:

- work out in sets. If you have three 20-minute sets of workouts that switch between ab mat work, upper body and lower body, you’ll be set. And I don’t mean work them separately in sets, I mean 20 minutes of upper, lower and core, then do that two more times. The variety keeps it interesting.

- Gliders are a lot of fun--they kick your ass--but they’re fun. They’re cheap, portable and there’s a LOT you can do with them. Here’s a link to some workouts you can do with them. I use them with every workout. My favorite thing to do with them is mountain climbers! It works your core, arms and a little bit of booty too!!

- When doing sets of workouts, do a set of 8 singles, then 4 of double counts, then (four sets) of three pulses and a single. So if you were doing a bicep curl, your first 8 counts would go, 1, 1, 1, so on. Your second set would go up 1, 2, down 1, 2. Your third set goes three short pulses (less than one full curl) and then up 1, down, pulse, pulse, pulse, up 1, down. I’m not sure if that part makes any sense...sorry guys, I’m doing my best. Doing sets this way will push your muscles even further.

- To warm up, if I want to really push myself, I’ll do squats to an entire song. Except what I do is a pulse of 4 to the beat. You can say this in your head to the beat “1, 2, 3, 4 and up, rest, rest, rest.” and back into the 1,2,3,4. If that doesn’t make sense, just try it. If you have any sense of rhythm you’ll figure it out! I put a small workout ball between my legs (squishy, about the size of a small soccer ball) to keep fro my knees turning inward. 

And there’s so much more, but it’s all so hard to explain over text! Maybe i’ll have to make my own workout video...let’s put that as plan Z.

Some additional tips:

If you are looking to burn fat fast and have access to an outdoor or indoor spinning bike PLEASE check out this youtube. I just did this workout this morning and it felt great. It’s only 20 minutes but your metabolism keeps going for hours!

If you are trying to gain visible muscle instead of lean muscle you will need to up the amount of weight you are using. IF YOU FEEL JOINT PAIN, STOP. If you feel muscle pain, good. That means its working. If you want to gain visible muscle you have to fatigue your muscles until you literally cannot do another rep. I always have 10s, 7s and 5s with me when I do muscle training. I use the 10s to start out, but if I can’t even left them because I’m so fatigued, I switch to the 7s. 

If you don’t know what to do, look it up. Look up ab workouts, look up online workout classes, look up “best exercises for obliques”, and so on. It’s all out there! I do have the stuff I do because I found it online by searching on youtube. 

And lastly, try to work out every day. That should be your goal at least. We all have lives and plans, and things come up. I don’t go to the gym every day, but I shoot for it. I end up going 4 or maybe 5 times a week if I’m lucky that week! I woke up at 5 AM to go to the gym because I had a full day a couple of weeks ago. Barely anyone was at the gym, and I got it out of the way early! 

For me, exercising is mentally healthy as it is physically healthy. I didn’t even know I would be so in love with it a year ago. Now if I go a week without working out, I feel super off and down on myself. It’s helped with my depression and helped me gain confidence (even if my body has not changed much except for muscle gain!--it’s almost all mental).

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. 

[gabriellakirtonblog]

How to Create Home Workouts for High-Performance Clients

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When the coronavirus hit and gyms closed down, those of us who train athletes and other advanced clients faced what seemed like an impossible challenge: helping them achieve high-performance goals when they’re at home with limited equipment.

This isn’t theoretical for me. As a strength and conditioning coach for Rugby Canada, I train athletes who were in the weight room four times a week, with programs that included Olympic lifts and heavy squats. Now they’re at home with the same needs but nothing to lift beyond their own body weight.

It’s not the first time I’ve faced this challenge. I used to work with members of elite military units whose deployments left them hundreds of miles from the nearest gym. The bodyweight exercises and techniques I used helped them achieve their goals despite their environment.

Here’s what I learned about training clients for high performance without the usual tools of our trade—starting with what not to do.

The home workout mistake you must avoid

Progressive overload is the key to everything we do as trainers. It doesn’t matter if the client is a deconditioned beginner or an elite athlete. To make that client stronger, we manipulate variables like load, volume, frequency, and duration.

But when we can’t easily change the load with barbells and dumbbells, we focus on volume. We have our clients do too many reps of too few exercises, setting them up for overuse injuries.

Worst-case scenario: After doing high-rep sets of push-ups and lunges three or four times a week, your most enthusiastic clients end up with shoulder impingement and patellar tendonitis.

You’d never train a client like that in the gym. Why would you do it at home?

So let’s talk about how you can help your clients get the results they want without unnecessary injury risks.

We’ll start with what I call the three Ls: load, levers, and limbs.

Home workout fix #1: Load

Everyone has a backpack. And everyone has things they can put into the backpack to create a load—canned goods in the kitchen, books in the living room, maybe a few bricks or paver stones out on the porch.

If the client has kids, or an unfinished home-improvement project, they may even have a sandbag, a sack of cement, or a couple of paint cans. If they have pets, they probably have a large quantity of dog or cat food.

What do those inanimate objects have in common? They all give your clients heavy things to lift.

Anything you can do with a sandbag or weight vest in the gym, your clients can do with a backpack filled with odds and ends. Old milk jugs filled with water or sand can substitute for dumbbells or kettlebells on some exercises.

APPLICATIONS

Push-up variations (wearing a loaded backpack):

  Bent-over row (holding the straps of the backpack):

  Chops and other core exercises (holding the sides of the backpack):

Other options:

Squat variations (wearing a loaded backpack or holding the load against the chest)

Deadlift variations (holding the straps of the backpack)

Overhead press (lifting the backpack with one or both hands)

Single-joint exercises (lifting the backpack with both hands, or a can, bottle, or jug with one hand)

Home workout fix #2: Levers

Consider the inverted row, an exercise we all know how to do at home. Take a broomstick, balance it between two chairs, and you’ve got the functional equivalent of a Smith machine.

We also have an illustration of how levers work: To make the exercise easier, shorten the lever by moving the feet closer to the body. To make it harder, lengthen the lever by moving the feet farther away.

We can even lighten the resistance in the middle of a set by changing foot position, as shown here by Kellie Davis:

Another way to increase the challenge: Do a slow eccentric contraction with a long lever, and then bring your feet up to make it easier for the concentric portion.

Push-up variations give us even better examples. Consider this progression from easiest to hardest:

Wall push-up

Countertop push-up

Hands-on-couch push-up

Kneeling push-up

Traditional push-up

Feet-elevated push-up

Pike push-up with feet on chair

Handstand push-up

In most of them, you’re making the movement more challenging by forcing your body to move a higher percentage of your body weight. Then, with the final three, you’re changing the angle to force smaller muscles in your shoulders to take on more of the load.

You can also combine a slow eccentric contraction in one variation (like the traditional push-up) with an easier variation for the concentric portion (like the kneeling push-up).

Home workout fix #3: Limbs

The same load becomes much heavier when you reduce the number of limbs involved in lifting it. It’s perhaps the simplest and most intuitive way to increase intensity.

As an added bonus, working with one limb at a time doubles the number of reps per set, which is an easy way to increase the density of the workout.

APPLICATIONS

Lunge and split squat variations (wearing a loaded backpack or holding the load against the chest):

  Romanian deadlift variations (wearing a loaded backpack or holding the load against the chest):

  Sprinter calf raise (using body weight or wearing a loaded backpack):

Other options:

Single-arm push-up variations (using a wall or elevated surface for most clients)

Single-leg glute raises and hip thrusts (using body weight or holding something heavy on the working side)

Home workout fix #4: Sliding exercises

Sliding exercises provide a unique training stimulus because they require constant engagement of hip and trunk muscles throughout the range of motion.

If you train athletes, you’ve probably used a slide board, and many of us have also used Valslides or some other type of sliding discs. At home, a towel works just as well on a tile or wood floor.

APPLICATIONS

Towel hamstring curl:

  Towel single-arm push-up (with the arm sliding forward, to the side, or alternating the two movements):

Other options:

Towel pec fly push-up

Towel side or reverse lunge

Towel knee tuck

Towel mountain climber

Towel body saw

Home workout fix #5: Plyometrics

Because plyometrics are intense and short, with long rest periods between sets, we rarely include them in programs for clients focused on hypertrophy or fat loss. The risk seems out of proportion to any potential progress toward the clients’ goals.

But when used cautiously, plyometrics can be a great way to increase both the intensity and variety in a home workout program for a client who has little to no equipment. That’s in addition to the neuromuscular benefit of learning to coordinate fast, powerful movements involving the body’s largest muscles.

Guidelines

Do plyometrics early in the workout, after the warmup and before the first strength exercises.

Do one plyometric movement per workout, or at most one each for upper and lower body.

Do a maximum of five reps per set and no more than four sets.

Recover for two to three minutes between sets. (Clients can do mobility or core exercises in between sets, as long as they don’t fatigue the same muscles.)

Start conservatively and progress slowly. Don’t throw your 50-year-old executive right into a pro athlete’s routine, no matter how cool it looks on Instagram. (And for that matter, don’t throw an athlete into that routine unless they’re ready for it.)

Progression

You can start any client with the double-leg drop. Emphasize how important it is to “stick” the landing, even though they haven’t actually left the ground:

You can progress to landing from a low step, countermovement jumps, and broad jumps. That should be challenging enough for most nonathletic clients.

Upper-body plyometrics

Most plyometric push-ups are variations on the same idea: Lower the body under control, then push off the ground explosively. There’s no need to do a hand clap at the top—or, for that matter, to even lift the hands off the floor. The benefit comes from the speed of the movement, not the distance.

You can also use single-arm variations, like the wall push-away:

Use these exercises with caution, especially if the workout includes traditional push-up variations. No matter how eager your clients are to get their work in, their shoulders can only take so much repetitive stress.

Putting together a high-performance home workout

I’ve had great results with EMOM (every minute on the minute) workouts, both for my clients and in my own training.

The following workout takes 30 minutes for five rounds. Three of the exercises require a loaded backpack, using the same weight for all three.

Minute 1: Backpack alternating reverse lunge for 30 seconds

Minute 2: Backpack squat to press for 30 seconds

Minute 3: Backpack biceps curl for 30 seconds

Minute 4: Hamstring walkout for 30 seconds

Minute 5: Front plank for maximum time, up to 60 seconds

Minute 6: Rest

Use the first round as a warmup, working without weight on the reverse lunge, and doing fewer reps or working for less time on the others.

Final thoughts on home workouts for athletes and advanced clients

With the options I’ve shown here, you have lots of ways for your clients to make progress while training at home with little to no equipment. You can mix and match these exercises in countless ways for endless variety.

But the trick, as you know, isn’t coming up with the ideal exercise order and set-rep scheme. That’s the fun part. The challenge is making sure …

Your clients want to start the training session.

They’re willing to work at a high enough effort to get the results they want.

They can do the workout without risking their most vulnerable joints because of excessive volume.

If you can do all that, you know you’re earning your pay.

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The post How to Create Home Workouts for High-Performance Clients appeared first on The PTDC.

How to Create Home Workouts for High-Performance Clients published first on https://onezeroonesarms.tumblr.com/

[ruthellisneda]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

..

https://ift.tt/2U0I8Xa

[almajonesnjna]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

..

https://ift.tt/2U0I8Xa

[neilmillerne]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

..

https://ift.tt/2U0I8Xa

[albertcaldwellne]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

..

https://ift.tt/2U0I8Xa

[joshuabradleyn]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

..

https://ift.tt/2U0I8Xa

[johnclapperne]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They���re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

..

https://ift.tt/2mnLWQW

[lindafrancois]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

Man

Getting started with interval training

When it’s time to advance your high intensity interval training, think about the following:

Frequency. This would be the number of intervals in your workout.

Intensity. How hard are you going in each interval.

Time. How long are your intervals, resting periods, etc.

Maybe you start out doing three intervals of intense running. Once it becomes routine, bring it up to four intervals.

Maybe you crank the resistance on your stationary bike to “8” during your intense interval. When it becomes normal, bring it up to “10.”

Maybe you do pull ups for 20 seconds. When you’ve got a good handle on that, aim for 30 seconds.

This mindset will keep you advancing in interval training.

What to progress in any category? Consistency is the name of the game. Even just doing a HIIT workout once a week will help you progress in all three categories.

Mistakes to avoid when doing high intensity interval training

There’s a lot to consider when embarking on a HIIT practice. No matter which routine you end up starting with, make sure you think about the following:

Ease into it. Despite the “intense,” go ahead and start slow. As the saying goes, “you must walk before you can run.” The importance is building a HIIT practice. If you need to go “less intense” before progressing to “intense,” that’s fine. It’ll help build your aerobic capabilities (endurance), which will be important when working on intensity.

Keep proper form. Doing your movements correctly will help prevent injury. This is even more important in your later intervals, where you may be exhausted and tired. If you find yourself breaking form, go ahead and slow down. Intense isn’t worth an injury.

Get rest. Our bodies actually build muscle while we are resting. So take some “off days” from your HIIT practice. Want to stay active on these days? Go for a walk!

Take it easy, focus on your form, and make sure to prioritize rest.

HIIT Timer Recommendations

HIIT centers on doing intervals. One moment it’s intense, the next you’re onto a short rest break.

A good way to know when it’s time to go from one sequence to the next is a timer. A loud “beep” can tell you when it’s okay to catch your breath or when you have to kick it in gear.

J&J Official Seven Minute Workout. This free app from Johnson & Johnson is actually really awesome. It has premade workouts you can choose form based on your fitness level, or tweak them to make it your own.

Runtastic. Don’t let the name fool you, this free app is for more than just running. You can customize for many different interval workouts, depending on what exercise you go with. And the interface looks slick.

Seconds. It’s free and customizable to any form of HIIT. It can also integrate with your music, which is pretty sweet.

Seven. If you’re new to HIIT, Seven would be a good app for you. It’s free, plus it has illustrations for exercises. You also get to customise your own virtual personal trainer, which may be the future of fitness. The bots are coming…

Sworkit. First off, it’s a clever name (taken from “Simply Work It.”) Second, it’s free. Third, it can display your workout, goals, and calories burned. I like it.

Also, we need to talk about interval times. Most of the apps referenced are completely customizable. For example, you can change the intense interval from 120 seconds to 90 seconds. This is critical, because it’s up to you to decide how long you can do intense vs. rest.

Generally, folks recommend one minute of intensity and then two for rest when doing HIIT. However, this all depends on the individual, and exercises performed. Burpees are tougher to do than jumping over a rope. So feel free to make changes like 30 seconds of intensity and three minutes of rest. Make it your own.

Whatever way you chose to do HIIT, is fine, as long as you actually do it. The benefits of HIIT kick in when going HARD for you. In other words, you don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to get the benefits of HIIT[7]. Your light jog down the street works.

As we discussed, if you’re consistent, you’ll improve. So don’t stress on where you have to start. For now, download an app and get going.

Okay, I think I’ve covered everything. You now know about HIIT, have a bunch of workouts to choose from, and apps to help with timing! Let’s go!

I hate multiple choice! Pick a HIIT workout for me!

Fine. Let’s power walk!

Warm-up. For three minutes, walk at a easy pace.

Intervals. Let’s do seven intervals, two minutes each. For the first 60 seconds, power walk, like you’re trying to beat someone to the front of the line at Starbucks. For the next 60 seconds, just walk. Repeat six more times.

Cool down. You can do some more light walking, or a little bit of stretching here would be great.

Total time: 20 minutes.

I want to stress, that you can do just about any exercise in exchange for this routine. Just minus “power walk” and add “push-ups.” It’ll still be a great HIIT workout.

“But Steve, that’s still multiple choice!”

Right, right… sorry. Stick to power walking for now.

Start now

Let’s shock your heart today!

No jumper cables, let’s do interval training.

If you got through this whole article, you need to actually try it. That’s the point.

Do our power walking routine above. It’s a great place to start. Don’t stress if it seems too simple. Remember, our goal at this stage is comfort. We can work on “whoa, that was intense” later.

Keep it up and your heart rate will be roaring before you know it. If you’d rather sprint, let’s do it! There’s a zillion ways to do HIIT. Just don’t let the options paralyze you. Pick one, anyone, and get to it.

Interval training, in any form, is a solid fitness choice and a great practice to have in the workout arsenal.

Let’s go!

-Steve

PS: As a reminder, if you want help on your fitness journey, we can help. We have our 1-on-1 Coaching program that will help you transform. If you’re looking to level up your life (and you are if you read this whole article), then an accountability partner would be one of the best tools to utilize. Click here to learn more.

###

All photo credits can be found in this footnote[8].

  Footnotes    ( returns to text)

Check out that article from ACSP here.

Read Tabata’s original study here.

Read that study from the Journal of Obesity here.

Read that study on HIIT and calories burned here.

Check out the one such study on HIIT and insulin resistance here. Another can be read right here.

Check out the comparison of HIIT and regular cardio on heart health here.

Said article.

This study demonstrated the benefits of HIIT on ‘recreational active’ participates, showing that the Tabata principles work on regular folks too, not just Olympic athletes.

Photo: Biking on a Rail, Countryside Ride, Plundeing in Koln, Running, Stairs, Rowing, Mermaid, Stranded, Troll, Stopwatch, Trooper, Jump

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training published first on https://dietariouspage.tumblr.com/

[fitnetpro]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

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THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

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Getting started with interval training

When it’s time to advance your high intensity interval training, think about the following:

Frequency. This would be the number of intervals in your workout.

Intensity. How hard are you going in each interval.

Time. How long are your intervals, resting periods, etc.

Maybe you start out doing three intervals of intense running. Once it becomes routine, bring it up to four intervals.

Maybe you crank the resistance on your stationary bike to “8” during your intense interval. When it becomes normal, bring it up to “10.”

Maybe you do pull ups for 20 seconds. When you’ve got a good handle on that, aim for 30 seconds.

This mindset will keep you advancing in interval training.

What to progress in any category? Consistency is the name of the game. Even just doing a HIIT workout once a week will help you progress in all three categories.

Mistakes to avoid when doing high intensity interval training

There’s a lot to consider when embarking on a HIIT practice. No matter which routine you end up starting with, make sure you think about the following:

Ease into it. Despite the “intense,” go ahead and start slow. As the saying goes, “you must walk before you can run.” The importance is building a HIIT practice. If you need to go “less intense” before progressing to “intense,” that’s fine. It’ll help build your aerobic capabilities (endurance), which will be important when working on intensity.

Keep proper form. Doing your movements correctly will help prevent injury. This is even more important in your later intervals, where you may be exhausted and tired. If you find yourself breaking form, go ahead and slow down. Intense isn’t worth an injury.

Get rest. Our bodies actually build muscle while we are resting. So take some “off days” from your HIIT practice. Want to stay active on these days? Go for a walk!

Take it easy, focus on your form, and make sure to prioritize rest.

HIIT Timer Recommendations

HIIT centers on doing intervals. One moment it’s intense, the next you’re onto a short rest break.

A good way to know when it’s time to go from one sequence to the next is a timer. A loud “beep” can tell you when it’s okay to catch your breath or when you have to kick it in gear.

J&J Official Seven Minute Workout. This free app from Johnson & Johnson is actually really awesome. It has premade workouts you can choose form based on your fitness level, or tweak them to make it your own.

Runtastic. Don’t let the name fool you, this free app is for more than just running. You can customize for many different interval workouts, depending on what exercise you go with. And the interface looks slick.

Seconds. It’s free and customizable to any form of HIIT. It can also integrate with your music, which is pretty sweet.

Seven. If you’re new to HIIT, Seven would be a good app for you. It’s free, plus it has illustrations for exercises. You also get to customise your own virtual personal trainer, which may be the future of fitness. The bots are coming…

Sworkit. First off, it’s a clever name (taken from “Simply Work It.”) Second, it’s free. Third, it can display your workout, goals, and calories burned. I like it.

Also, we need to talk about interval times. Most of the apps referenced are completely customizable. For example, you can change the intense interval from 120 seconds to 90 seconds. This is critical, because it’s up to you to decide how long you can do intense vs. rest.

Generally, folks recommend one minute of intensity and then two for rest when doing HIIT. However, this all depends on the individual, and exercises performed. Burpees are tougher to do than jumping over a rope. So feel free to make changes like 30 seconds of intensity and three minutes of rest. Make it your own.

Whatever way you chose to do HIIT, is fine, as long as you actually do it. The benefits of HIIT kick in when going HARD for you. In other words, you don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to get the benefits of HIIT[7]. Your light jog down the street works.

As we discussed, if you’re consistent, you’ll improve. So don’t stress on where you have to start. For now, download an app and get going.

Okay, I think I’ve covered everything. You now know about HIIT, have a bunch of workouts to choose from, and apps to help with timing! Let’s go!

I hate multiple choice! Pick a HIIT workout for me!

Fine. Let’s power walk!

Warm-up. For three minutes, walk at a easy pace.

Intervals. Let’s do seven intervals, two minutes each. For the first 60 seconds, power walk, like you’re trying to beat someone to the front of the line at Starbucks. For the next 60 seconds, just walk. Repeat six more times.

Cool down. You can do some more light walking, or a little bit of stretching here would be great.

Total time: 20 minutes.

I want to stress, that you can do just about any exercise in exchange for this routine. Just minus “power walk” and add “push-ups.” It’ll still be a great HIIT workout.

“But Steve, that’s still multiple choice!”

Right, right… sorry. Stick to power walking for now.

Start now

Let’s shock your heart today!

No jumper cables, let’s do interval training.

If you got through this whole article, you need to actually try it. That’s the point.

Do our power walking routine above. It’s a great place to start. Don’t stress if it seems too simple. Remember, our goal at this stage is comfort. We can work on “whoa, that was intense” later.

Keep it up and your heart rate will be roaring before you know it. If you’d rather sprint, let’s do it! There’s a zillion ways to do HIIT. Just don’t let the options paralyze you. Pick one, anyone, and get to it.

Interval training, in any form, is a solid fitness choice and a great practice to have in the workout arsenal.

Let’s go!

-Steve

PS: As a reminder, if you want help on your fitness journey, we can help. We have our 1-on-1 Coaching program that will help you transform. If you’re looking to level up your life (and you are if you read this whole article), then an accountability partner would be one of the best tools to utilize. Click here to learn more.

###

All photo credits can be found in this footnote[8].

  Footnotes    ( returns to text)

Check out that article from ACSP here.

Read Tabata’s original study here.

Read that study from the Journal of Obesity here.

Read that study on HIIT and calories burned here.

Check out the one such study on HIIT and insulin resistance here. Another can be read right here.

Check out the comparison of HIIT and regular cardio on heart health here.

Said article.

This study demonstrated the benefits of HIIT on ‘recreational active’ participates, showing that the Tabata principles work on regular folks too, not just Olympic athletes.

Photo: Biking on a Rail, Countryside Ride, Plundeing in Koln, Running, Stairs, Rowing, Mermaid, Stranded, Troll, Stopwatch, Trooper, Jump

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training published first on http://fitnetpro.tumblr.com/

[denisalvney]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

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HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

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Getting started with interval training

When it’s time to advance your high intensity interval training, think about the following:

Frequency. This would be the number of intervals in your workout.

Intensity. How hard are you going in each interval.

Time. How long are your intervals, resting periods, etc.

Maybe you start out doing three intervals of intense running. Once it becomes routine, bring it up to four intervals.

Maybe you crank the resistance on your stationary bike to “8” during your intense interval. When it becomes normal, bring it up to “10.”

Maybe you do pull ups for 20 seconds. When you’ve got a good handle on that, aim for 30 seconds.

This mindset will keep you advancing in interval training.

What to progress in any category? Consistency is the name of the game. Even just doing a HIIT workout once a week will help you progress in all three categories.

Mistakes to avoid when doing high intensity interval training

There’s a lot to consider when embarking on a HIIT practice. No matter which routine you end up starting with, make sure you think about the following:

Ease into it. Despite the “intense,” go ahead and start slow. As the saying goes, “you must walk before you can run.” The importance is building a HIIT practice. If you need to go “less intense” before progressing to “intense,” that’s fine. It’ll help build your aerobic capabilities (endurance), which will be important when working on intensity.

Keep proper form. Doing your movements correctly will help prevent injury. This is even more important in your later intervals, where you may be exhausted and tired. If you find yourself breaking form, go ahead and slow down. Intense isn’t worth an injury.

Get rest. Our bodies actually build muscle while we are resting. So take some “off days” from your HIIT practice. Want to stay active on these days? Go for a walk!

Take it easy, focus on your form, and make sure to prioritize rest.

HIIT Timer Recommendations

HIIT centers on doing intervals. One moment it’s intense, the next you’re onto a short rest break.

A good way to know when it’s time to go from one sequence to the next is a timer. A loud “beep” can tell you when it’s okay to catch your breath or when you have to kick it in gear.

J&J Official Seven Minute Workout. This free app from Johnson & Johnson is actually really awesome. It has premade workouts you can choose form based on your fitness level, or tweak them to make it your own.

Runtastic. Don’t let the name fool you, this free app is for more than just running. You can customize for many different interval workouts, depending on what exercise you go with. And the interface looks slick.

Seconds. It’s free and customizable to any form of HIIT. It can also integrate with your music, which is pretty sweet.

Seven. If you’re new to HIIT, Seven would be a good app for you. It’s free, plus it has illustrations for exercises. You also get to customise your own virtual personal trainer, which may be the future of fitness. The bots are coming…

Sworkit. First off, it’s a clever name (taken from “Simply Work It.”) Second, it’s free. Third, it can display your workout, goals, and calories burned. I like it.

Also, we need to talk about interval times. Most of the apps referenced are completely customizable. For example, you can change the intense interval from 120 seconds to 90 seconds. This is critical, because it’s up to you to decide how long you can do intense vs. rest.

Generally, folks recommend one minute of intensity and then two for rest when doing HIIT. However, this all depends on the individual, and exercises performed. Burpees are tougher to do than jumping over a rope. So feel free to make changes like 30 seconds of intensity and three minutes of rest. Make it your own.

Whatever way you chose to do HIIT, is fine, as long as you actually do it. The benefits of HIIT kick in when going HARD for you. In other words, you don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to get the benefits of HIIT[7]. Your light jog down the street works.

As we discussed, if you’re consistent, you’ll improve. So don’t stress on where you have to start. For now, download an app and get going.

Okay, I think I’ve covered everything. You now know about HIIT, have a bunch of workouts to choose from, and apps to help with timing! Let’s go!

I hate multiple choice! Pick a HIIT workout for me!

Fine. Let’s power walk!

Warm-up. For three minutes, walk at a easy pace.

Intervals. Let’s do seven intervals, two minutes each. For the first 60 seconds, power walk, like you’re trying to beat someone to the front of the line at Starbucks. For the next 60 seconds, just walk. Repeat six more times.

Cool down. You can do some more light walking, or a little bit of stretching here would be great.

Total time: 20 minutes.

I want to stress, that you can do just about any exercise in exchange for this routine. Just minus “power walk” and add “push-ups.” It’ll still be a great HIIT workout.

“But Steve, that’s still multiple choice!”

Right, right… sorry. Stick to power walking for now.

Start now

Let’s shock your heart today!

No jumper cables, let’s do interval training.

If you got through this whole article, you need to actually try it. That’s the point.

Do our power walking routine above. It’s a great place to start. Don’t stress if it seems too simple. Remember, our goal at this stage is comfort. We can work on “whoa, that was intense” later.

Keep it up and your heart rate will be roaring before you know it. If you’d rather sprint, let’s do it! There’s a zillion ways to do HIIT. Just don’t let the options paralyze you. Pick one, anyone, and get to it.

Interval training, in any form, is a solid fitness choice and a great practice to have in the workout arsenal.

Let’s go!

-Steve

PS: As a reminder, if you want help on your fitness journey, we can help. We have our 1-on-1 Coaching program that will help you transform. If you’re looking to level up your life (and you are if you read this whole article), then an accountability partner would be one of the best tools to utilize. Click here to learn more.

###

All photo credits can be found in this footnote[8].

  Footnotes    ( returns to text)

Check out that article from ACSP here.

Read Tabata’s original study here.

Read that study from the Journal of Obesity here.

Read that study on HIIT and calories burned here.

Check out the one such study on HIIT and insulin resistance here. Another can be read right here.

Check out the comparison of HIIT and regular cardio on heart health here.

Said article.

This study demonstrated the benefits of HIIT on ‘recreational active’ participates, showing that the Tabata principles work on regular folks too, not just Olympic athletes.

Photo: Biking on a Rail, Countryside Ride, Plundeing in Koln, Running, Stairs, Rowing, Mermaid, Stranded, Troll, Stopwatch, Trooper, Jump

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training published first on https://www.nerdfitness.com

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Three HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

..

https://ift.tt/2QwBBB5

[almajonesnjna]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

..

https://ift.tt/2mnLWQW

[neilmillerne]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

..

https://ift.tt/2mnLWQW

[albertcaldwellne]

3 HIIT Workouts for Beginners: How to Start Interval Training

So you’ve heard amazing things about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

You’re not quite sure what it is, only that people seem to like it and it helps them lose weight. You probably have questions like:

Is it running?

Sprinting?

Why is it so popular?

What are the positives and negatives I should consider?

What if I hate running?

If you’re a busy person, you don’t need to be spending hours a day on a treadmill or out jogging around your neighborhood to lose weight. In fact, those hours of running could actually cause a litany of healthy issues if you don’t have great form!

I’ll try to keep things concise so you can get to the root of the real reason why you’re here: “will Interval Training help me lose weight and get in shape?”

Let’s dig in to what interval training is, and how you can use it to give your heart a great workout and kickstart your weight loss regiment.

What is interval training? What is HIIT?

High Intensity Interval Training is following a specific regiment where you vary your speeds and intensity throughout a shorter run/swim/bike/row.

Any cardio, as long as you’re able to vary your speed easily, can be a form of HIIT.

Imagine jogging lightly for three minutes, then pushing yourself hard for a minute by sprinting, and then repeating this cycle 4 more times (usually around 20 total minutes). That’s HIIT.

So what’s the deal? Why is HIIT so hot in the streets right now?

In 2018, HIIT was ranked the number one fitness trend by American College of Sports Medicine[1]. This makes sense to me, because everybody is busy and overwhelmed, so they’re looking for fast results in a minimum amount of time

Which brings us to intense, short workouts that hopefully create the results we’re all after.

(Notice the word “hopefully” there – but I’ll get to that shortly.)

You may be asking, “Steve, just how short and intense are we talking about here? Also your new haircut looks spiffy.”

Thanks! Let’s explore the pros and cons of intervals!

What are the benefits of HIIT?

The 1996 landmark Tabata study demonstrated the benefits of extreme HIIT[2].

Dr. Izumi Tabata, from Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, was obsessed with interval training. The doctor sought to see exactly what kind of gains were obtained from short, intense, periods of exercise. So he experimented on some Olympic athletes who were hanging around his institute.

The results were fascinating: compared to regular cardio, HIIT had a greater impact on improving both:

Aerobic increases (endurance)

Anaerobic increases (power)

“Steve, you’re losing me! What’s that mean?”

Let’s imagine you are trying to increase how long you can run. And you also want to increase how hard you can go.

What would you do to improve?

Most people would answer with “try to run more.” You know, like jogging around the block. They’d start doing this a few times a week to improve their overall running capability.

Not a bad response, but there’s a better answer:

As Tabata demonstrated, the best way to increase aerobic and anaerobic capacity would be to focus instead on bouts of intense effort with sprinting followed by short periods of rest. A HIIT exercise, in other words. The intensity required to do such a thing helps build both endurance and power at the same time.

Plus, it takes less time! The average interval training workout is 20 minutes or less. Tabata was able to demonstrate improvements in his athletes in just four minutes. Incredible.

What’s happening here?

Your heart is a muscle. Intense interval training challenges it by forcing it outside of its comfort zone.

This is a good thing.

If you keep your heart beating at a constant rate, never expanding it outside of its comfort zone, it will never grow stronger. This is not good.

That’s why I support Nasim Taleb’s concept of “antifragility” – by introducing chaos and pushing your muscles outside of their comfort zone, they must adapt and grow more resilient in order to survive!

In other words: progressive overload – the same concept behind building strength.

Since Tabata’s 1996 study, many other trials have shown the benefits of interval training. Such as:

Weight loss. A study in the Journal of Obesity found participants were able to lose more body fat following a HIIT program compared to regular cardio[3]. This makes sense, because other studies suggest high intensity interval training burns more calories than a “steady state” workout[4]. Revving up your effort requires more out of you, including calories. If you’re interested in HIIT for weight loss, you’re on the right track.

Lowering blood sugar. Managing blood sugar is really important for health, and not just for diabetics. Those trying to lose fat should be aware of their blood sugar and corresponding insulin levels. The good news for our current discussion? HIIT has been shown to help lower and manage blood sugar levels[5].

Heart health. Touching on the “antifragile” topic again, HIIT has been shown to help with overall cardiovascular health the same way traditional endurance training does, but at a fraction of the time (almost half)[6].

Sold? Me too. Let’s chat about how to actually do some interval training.

What’s an example of a HIIT workout? How to do interval running

The key to HIIT is being able to go from “easy” to “difficult” All sorts of different exercises can get you there. We can group all workouts into aerobic, bodyweight and resistance.

HIIT is generally associated with running (aerobic), so we’ll devote this section to just that.

However, before we get into running (or any kind of HIIT workout), we need to talk about warming up.

To help prevent injury in any HIIT exercise, warm-up first. It can be as simple as doing some jumping jacks and air punches/kicks. These few minutes will loosen up your muscles, priming them for the intensity we are about to bring.

Also, when you’re done doing HIIT, do some stretching or yoga to cool down. Time to warm-up in reverse. This will help your muscles recover after your intense workout.

Okay, back to running.

Probably the easiest way to experiment with HIIT would be to run.

Here’s how to start with a basic HIIT running workout::

Go to a park in your neighborhood.

Warm yourself up with some light jogging, high knees and mobility – leg swings, arm swings, etc.,  

Run at a brisk pace for 30 seconds.

Need to slow down on the way? No worries. Jog or walk at a slow pace for 2 minutes.

After your rest, rev up the intensity again. Shoot for another 30 second jog if possible.

Continue until you get tired or after about ten “push/rest” intervals.

You’ll be surprised how quickly you get better at this, so don’t get disheartened if you find yourself stopping a lot. When beginning, don’t even worry about a timer. Just think about switching intensity.

Also, “running” or “jogging” is subjective. Whatever walking fast means to you is great. Do that for your periods of intensity.

It should be noted, that the entire “Couch to 5K” concept rests on interval training through running. It’s all broken down into “walking,” “jogging” and “running.” If you’re curious, check out our in-depth review of the program here. If want to start interval training, “Couch to 5K” could be a good way to do it.

Are you more of an indoor person?

Consider a treadmill, where it actually sets intervals for you based on your desired difficulty. We’ll be talking about machines a lot more in the next section, but a treadmill is all you need to do a HIIT workout. Experiment with the speed and incline to find a setting that you would consider “intense.” Many machines can be programed to flip between this and an “easy” setting. And you know what that means… boom! It’s built for HIIT

What are other examples of HIIT cardio?

There are a lot of different aerobic exercises for HIIT cardio.

For example, you could jump on a bike.

Biking for HIIT is much like running, but with wheels. Try peddling as hard as you can. Might be difficult to do on an actual street, so a stationary bike would be great for HIIT. Every spin class is based on this idea. Check out SoulCycle, Flywheel, or even your local gym for spin class opportunities. They’re popular for a reason, and you can make a friend or two!

Another important point on bikes: when scientists do research on HIIT, they generally use stationary bikes because of safety and ease of observation and measuring energy output. You probably won’t trip and fall on a stationary bike, no matter how fast you are pedalling. If you’re antsy about doing a HIIT workout because of the potential for injury, the bike might be the way to go.

Don’t have access to a bike?

Let’s chat about some other examples

Elliptical. If it has a dial for resistance, it can be used for interval training. That’s the name of the game here with the elliptical. For a couple minutes, go on low resistance (0-2 level). Then crank up the resistance for one minute (up to 8-10). Repeat this process for 12 and a half times, which will give you a 20 minute workout (the “half” allows you to stop after a low resistance interval). Everyone’s different, and this includes ellipticals, so adjust as needed.

Stair Climber. The dial again will help us here. Much like the elliptical, alternate between periods of low intensity for two minutes, then one minute for high intensity. The difference with the climber is the dial will control the speed of the stairs. Be careful.

Rowing machine. We’ll follow the same strategy here. Start with a two minute warm up. On minute three however, row like you’re being chased by the kraken for a full 60 seconds. Then catch your breath. The rowing machine might be hard to do for a full twenty minutes, since it’s a lot of upper body. Shoot for ten minutes at first.

Jumping rope. Jumping rope is a full body exercise. Your leg muscles work to jump, your core engages to keep balance, and your arms work to rotate the rope. Also, it’s fun. There’s no dial here, your own body controls the pace of the jump. Follow the same two minute ease, one minute intense as above. Jump rope can also be done with friends!

So far we’ve just been talking about aerobic exercises. Let’s cover our other categories, of bodyweight and resistance.

What other HIIT workouts are there?

Let’s chat about some alternatives to HIIT cardio, because I can already see the emails coming in:

“Steve, this all sounds great. But I hate running!”

Confession: So do I. So I don’t really run.

Here are some bodyweight examples to get going on HIIT:

Burpees. Stand up, then squat down, kick your legs out, do a push up, bring your legs back in, and explode up into a jump. Try to do 20 repetitions, then rest for two minutes. Repeat this a few times, for 15 minutes. Here’s exactly how to do a burpee:

Push-ups. For 20 seconds, do as many push ups as possible. Rest. Then do it again. If you’re worried about proper form, check out our full article here. I will mention that I want you to think of your body as a straight line. Focus on tightening this line throughout the whole movement. As demonstrated here:

Pull-ups. Same idea as above, do pull ups for 20 seconds, then rest. If you can’t do a pull up, we got you covered in this article right over here. Want a video of some nerds walking you through it?

Okay, that’s some bodyweight exercises. Let’s now chat some resistance examples for HIIT:

Kettlebell swing. For ten minutes, do 20 kettlebell swings on every minute. This will be intense, and worthy of a congratulations when you’re done. Check out our article for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about kettlebells here.

Battle ropes. If your gym has battle ropes, they’ll be great tool for HIIT. For intensity, the amount of slack in the rope determines the load. The more slack on the rope the tougher, and more intense, the workout. Also, don’t get stuck in just up and down movements. Variation will target different muscles.

Weightlifting. This would essentially be lifting heavy with fewer reps. More weight equals more intense. The critical piece will be moving from one exercise to another, for example the bench press to the lat bar: we call this circuit training! Might be tricky if you use a public gym and it’s busy, meaning you’ll have to wait your turn. If you can, go early. Beat the rush.

We’ve now covered aerobic, bodyweight and resistance forms of HIIT workouts. Let’s think outside the box though. We can get cray with interval training.

Basketball, tennis, soccer, and frisbee are AMAZING styles of exercise that use interval training (it’s all start and stop!). Run here, catch this and wait for the next round to start. That’s what we’re looking for in a HIIT workout.

So find a buddy and go play!

You can also do circuit training as a form of HIIT. Circuit training is going through a sequence of exercises, or stations, back to back. Push-ups to pull-ups, back to push-ups, only resting briefly from one exercise to another. This training would be perfect to mix it into a HIIT workout, since you can design your circuit to be very intense.

Check out our post for 15 routines to choose form. Plus, there’s a Batman workout hidden in there. You’re welcome.

Now, I understand at this point if you feel overwhelmed. I just threw a lot at you. And you might have a lot of questions: Is HIIT right for me? What should I be eating to prepare for interval training? What days should be rest days?

All good inquires. And we can help tailor a specific response just for you!

We answer questions like this in our 1-on-1 coaching program.

Here’s how it works: we get to learn your goals, lifestyle, challenges, and situation: Kids? An old injury? A job that requires travel? All the above? We got you covered.

We’ll then pair you with a coach from Team Nerd Fitness that fits your personality and situation. They’ll work with you to build custom workouts and nutrition guidance to meet any goal you might have. Unless that goal is ruthless world domination. Use your powers for good, okay?

Want to see if we are a good fit for each other? Click on the button below to schedule a free call. We’d love to talk to you, no matter what!

HIIT for weight loss

My guess is that you’re reading this article because you’re trying to get the most efficient “bang for your buck” when it comes to getting in shape.

And HIIT is a great form of exercise and COULD help with weight loss. I will, however, lower some of these outlandish claims that exist in the media. For example, Time magazine calls HIIT “miraculous” in one article[7]. That’s a little much, even for me, who writes for a living on why you should work out and likes using hyperbole for effect.

Seriously, I’m better at it than ANYBODY ON THE PLANET.

Ahem. Cardio, strength training, and HIIT all have benefits. HIIT deserves praise, but exercise in general deserves praise. As we discussed in our “Cardio vs HIIT vs Weights” post, all three forms of training have their place, and the best one for you is the one you actually do.

And strength training. Always strength training.

So to answer your question, is HIIT the secret and only weapon for weight loss? Na, it’s just great exercise. And exercise is important.

However, I will mention an important point: If you wanna lose body fat, how you eat will be responsible for 80% of your success or failure.

One of the Rules of the NF Rebellion is that “you can’t outrun your fork.”

This means that I don’t care how many intervals you do, it’s not gonna help you lose weight if you don’t also fix your nutrition. You can read our Beginner’s Guide to Nutrition if you want more information.

If you want to download our free 10-level Nutrition Guide to help you fix your diet starting today, you can do so by signing up in the box below:

Download our free weight loss guide

THE NERD FITNESS DIET: 10 Levels to Change Your Life

Follow our 10-level nutrition system at your own pace

What you need to know about weight loss and healthy eating

3 Simple rules we follow every day to stay on target

I identify as a:

Woman

..

https://ift.tt/2mnLWQW