Why Arn't You Losing Weight Running On A Treadmill?
For those of us who have a gym membership know that the cardio section is always full. Your first instinct when losing weight may have been to jump on a treadmill and run for an hour. Yeah it may have worked for a while but you finally hit that plateau and realize you are not losing weight any longer. What if I told you that doing a 15 minute HIIT workout would make you burn more fat than going for a steady 2 hour run?
What is HIIT?
High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT describes any workout that alternates between intense burst of activity and fixed periods of less intense activity or even complete rests. For example running as fast as you can for 1 minute and then walking for 2 minutes and repeat 5 times for 15 minutes. Studies show you can achieve more progress in a mere 15 minute interval training (done 3 times per week) than the girl jogging on the treadmill for an hour.
Even in just 2 weeks of high intensity intervals improves your aerobic capacity as much as 6 to 8 weeks of endurance training.
Six Benefits Of HIIT Training!
1. You’ll Burn Fat
Not only do you burn more calories during a HIIT workout but the effect of all that intense exertion kicks your body’s repair cycle into hyperactive. That means you burn more fat and calories in the 24 hours after a HIIT workout than you do after say a steady pace run.
2. You’ll Build a Healthier Heart
Most people aren’t used to pushing into the aerobic zone (when you can’t breath and you feel like your heart is trying to jump out of your chest). But in this case extreme training produces extreme results. One 2006 study found that after 8 weeks of doing HIIT workouts, subjects could bicycle twice as long as they could before the study, while maintaining the same pace.
3. No Equipment Necessary
Running, biking, jump roping, and rowing all work great for HIIT, but you don't need any equipment to get it done. High knees, fast feet, or anything plyometric like jumping lunges work just as well to get your heart rate up fast.
4. You Lose Weight, Not Muscle!
Anyone who has been on a diet knows that it's hard to not lose muscle mass along with fat. While steady state cardio seems to encourage muscle loss, studies show that both weight training and HIIT workouts allow dieters to preserve their hard-earned muscles while ensuring most of the weight lost comes from fat stores.
5. You’ll Increase Your Metabolism
In addition to increased fat burning and more muscle preserved, HIIT stimulates production of your human growth hormone (HGH) by up to 450 percent during the 24 hours after you finish your workout. This is great news since HGH is not only responsible for increased caloric burn but also slows down the aging process, making you younger both inside and out!
6. You Can Do It Anywhere
You can do it in a boat, you can do it with a goat. You can do it here or there, you can do it anywhere! Dr. Seuss would have loved HIIT. Since it's such a simple concept—go at maximum effort for a short period of time followed by a recovery period and repeat—you can adapt it to whatever time and space constraints you have.
I hope you really enjoyed this blog post and it motivated you to do some exercises! ALL YOU NEED IS 15 MINUTES A DAY!
As always THANK YOU Steemit Community!