HIIT Cardio Training

"HIIT It!... and Burn Fat ALL Day Long..."

A cardiovascular exercise, known as HIIT cardio training, might just be the fat loss ticket for those looking to trim up.

While early morning slow cardio exercise works for many, HIIT, otherwise known as High Intensity Interval Training, can be used as another way of shedding those pounds; some say faster than low intensity cardio.

Although performing low-intensity cardio (LI cardio), such as brisk walking, on an empty stomach taps into fat stores during the training session, HIIT offers an all-day fat burning experience.

What is HIIT?

There are many ways of performing HIIT cardio.

I have tried sprinting at a sports field track, running on a treadmill and going as fast as I can on an elliptical machine.

HIIT training can also be done in less time than slow-going cardio; usually 20 minutes is sufficient for me.

Here is a typical HIIT Cardio session for me:

I warm up for 5 minutes, by either brisk walking or light jogging.
I go all-out as fast as I can for 20-30 seconds, then slow it down to a light jog type of speed for about 1 minute.
Then repeat.
Then I cool down for about 2 minutes near the end.

Check out this video, explaining HIIT...

Learn More About High Intensity Interval Training

Most of the time, I end getting 8 to 10 all-out sprints in a 20 minute session.

This is a lot harder than it sounds so one should definitely try HIIT with caution and an OK from your doctor before attempting.

When to do HIIT?

I treat HIIT cardio the same way I treat lifting weights; that is, as a full blown workout.

Before I lift weights, I always eat a solid meal 60-90 minutes before hand. Same goes for HIIT.

With that said, you can do HIIT whenever you like, but bear in mind, you may have problems getting to sleep if you perform this style of cardio training prior to bed time.

Personally, I would not do HIIT closer than 4 hours before you plan on going to bed.

If your goals include building muscle with weights, I would minimize the number of HIIT sessions to twice a week, on days that you do not lift weights.

The reason for this is to not overload your body and hamper the recovery time it needs from both weight training and cardio sessions.

I have found that by lifting weights 3 times a week (with 30 minutes of low intensity cardio performed in the mornings or post workout), that 1 or 2 HIIT workouts on my non-workout days are sufficient.

If I start to feel too burnt out, I simply back off the high intensity interval training.

Everyone has different recovering abilities... so you need to try different scenarios to find which works best for you.

Eating for HIIT

hiit cardio training When you perform low intensity cardio, the goal is to have your body use its fat stores for the energy source; thus losing body fat.

In my opinion, low intensity cardio is always best performed before your first meal of the day or right after weight training.

Your glycogen stores are the lowest at these points and performing slow cardio (with your heart rate being under 120 beats per minute) forces your body to use body fat for fuel.

However, eating for HIIT cardio sessions is another ball game all together.

When you perform high intensity cardio your body will automatically look to your glycogen stores, not body fat.

If you have very little glycogen stores in your reserve, your body will turn towards your muscle for fuel.

Obviously, this is something we do not want; especially if you have muscle building goals in mind as well.

Therefore, I find it is best to eat a meal with some protein and carbohydrates an hour to an hour and a half before you do a HIIT workout.

Doing this will top up your glycogen stores beforehand, leaving you ready to undertake a high intensity cardio session.

The beautiful part of doing HIIT is that it will tap into your fat stores all day long after the training session.

So while slow-go cardio may burn more fat during a session, HIIT cardio training gives your body the opportunity to dip into your body fat levels throughout the day.

Get Fit for a Cardio Workout

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