HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training)

What if you could spend just 3 minutes on exercise each day and get a rock-hard body that would make even a professional body-builder jealous? Would you do it?

If the answer to the above question is "Yes", then the solution is HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). The basic idea of HIIT is to do a series of short bursts of intense runs with a recovery period between each run. The objective of HIIT training is to jump-start your metabolic rate to a super-high level and keep the rate high - long after the training session is completed.

Let's see how this would work in practice. The following table shows a typical example of a HIIT session.

Activity	Time	Notes
Warm up Jogging	3 minutes	-
Sprint	30 seconds	Run at your maximum speed
Walk/Jog	30 seconds	Let your heartbeat slowly recover
Sprint	30 seconds	Run at your maximum speed
Walk/Jog	30 seconds	Let your heartbeat slowly recover
Sprint	30 seconds	Run at your maximum speed
Walk/Jog	30 seconds	Let your heartbeat slowly recover
Sprint	30 seconds	Run at your maximum speed
Walk/Jog	30 seconds	Let your heartbeat slowly recover
Sprint	30 seconds	Run at your maximum speed
Walk/Jog	30 seconds	Let your heartbeat slowly recover
Sprint	30 seconds	Run at your maximum speed
Cool down Jogging	2 minutes	-

The total time spent is 10.5 minutes, out of which only a measly 3 minutes is real exercise, 3 minutes is a warm-up jog, another 2 minutes for cool-down and another 2.5 minutes for the recovery between each run.

And that's all you need to do for around 3 to 4 times a week to torch away all the fat in your body and replace it with rock-hard muscles if you combine the above exercise routine with a proper diet!!. Sounds amazing, doesn't it?

So the question is: If this training is so effective, why is everybody not doing it? The answer, as it turns out, is very simple. If done exactly as prescribed above, it's freaking damn hard. Think of it this way: If you have not puked your guts out at the end of the session, you haven't done it properly. Even if you did not puke, your heart rate would have shot through the roof and you will be gasping for breath nearly an hour after the workout is completed.

You can vary the number of times (anything between 6 to 12 intervals is fine), and the duration (20 seconds to 1 minute should be the range) to keep your workouts varied and interesting. For example, you could run hard for 1 minute and recover for 2 minutes and repeat this for 8 times. It all depends on your fitness level and the torture you are willing to submit your body to.

Since the runs need to be exactly timed, a dedicated timer designed for HIIT sessions is a good investment. I purchased the Gymboss timer from Amazon. It's pretty easy to setup and allows you to define the number of intervals you wish to run, the duration of each run and the recovery period after each run. It's a tiny little gadget that clips to any part of your clothing.

Once it is setup, you do your warm-up run and hit the big button. It will emit a loud beep to indicate the start of your intense run and give another beep to tell you to recover and so on.

If a timer is not your thing, and you prefer to listen to customized music with orders barked to you through the headphone, you can try Workout Muse which creates customized HIIT audios.

The ideal place to do HIIT workouts is on an athletic field track or an open stretch of running area, that allows you to speed up to your maximum potential. Some people do HIIT workouts on treadmills or cross-trainers but these are not true HIIT workouts because it takes time for a treadmill to get up to speed and running at maximum speed on a treadmill is a disaster waiting to happen.

HIIT would be an excellent choice for me; to achieve my objectives for a six-pack, so you may ask me why I am not doing HIIT workouts. Well, I gave it a try. And as I mentioned above, it is just too darn hard. The risk of injury (running at 100% of your effort level) increases greatly. At my age, that risk is not acceptable.

I suggest HIIT workouts for younger people who are already is good shape and want to improve their strength and endurance without any muscle loss.

For the rest, a better alternative is Interval Training (which is what I do). I will explain about Interval Training in the next article. Interval training is a perfect balance between the extremes of HIIT workouts and sedentary jogging at a steady pace over a long duration.

Enjoy this fine example of a HIIT workout.