HIIT has been part of my routine since 2009.
Interval training in a gym environment was a RARE thing back then. I don't believe "HIIT" was even a term until that point.
It then took about 2 years for HIIT to become mainstream.
Here's a Google Trend chart showing that 2011 is when the search trend for HIIT began to rise.
Things have changed.
Now over half the workouts I see on Youtube, Pinterest, etc... are some form of HIIT.
The problem is that a lot of clients don't understand how it works.
There is a lot of bad teaching going on.
There is also a myth that won't go away.
I'm guessing no less than 90% of the articles or videos about HIIT use this as a main selling point:
"The main benefit of HIIT is that you burn MANY more calories after the workout is over, compared to normal training."
The Afterburn Effect is the benefit stressed over and over.
Unfortunately, a comprehensive study came out in 2006 showing that calories burned after an HIIT workout are barely worth paying attention to.
Earlier today I was clicking around Pinterest reading fitness articles.
Lots of basic info.
I'm not saying that is bad, but I swear it felt like half of the articles were "7 Tips" type of articles.
And...
2 out of the 7 tips were almost always:
-
Drink more water.
-
Get plenty of sleep.
It seems as if we are just a few glasses of water away from hitting our goals :)
Once you increase the water?
Go to bed early.
You are 2/7th of the way to incredible muscle definition.
Another common tip was to do HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), because of the "Afterburn Effect".
This is outdated info.
But...
You wouldn't guess it from most of the articles I read today.
HIIT is a killer form of exercise.
The way HIIT benefits you is that the intense portion maxes out calorie burn.
The recovery portion allows you to do this without overtaxing and over-training the body.
There are other benefits as well.
Such as increasing VO2max, stroke volume of the heart, etc.
One more thing...
Drink more water and get plenty of sleep :)
I do have a favor to ask.
If you think this is a quality article, would you consider sharing it?
I'm an independent fitness writer with a relatively small website.
My articles don't get the distribution like a similar article would written on a site like Men's Health.
My blog is like a small local Italian restaurant.
It is small compared to a restaurant chain like the Olive Garden...
...but I take more personal pride in my work.
I'm like the owner of a local restaurant who goes table to table and wants you to LOVE your food and your experience.
Your experience matters to me.
I know that there really isn't such thing as a local fitness website...
...but I share the same spirit as a place in your neighborhood.
