Hi I’m Fitness Coach Will Levin head coach at Older Guys Fitness here to talk about HIIT training. Let’s get started. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is popular these days. And for good reason. HIIT offers fat loss benefits in a way that traditional cardiorespiratory (cardio) training does not. In this article I will cover the origins of HIIT, the science behind the fat loss benefits of HIIT and then talk about the flexibility of HIIT workouts.
TABATA TRAINING: THE ORIGINS OF HIIT
Tabata training in 1996 Japan is considered the first form of what we now know as HIIT. Professor Izumi Tabata was tasked with creating an exercise protocol for Japanese Olympic speed skaters. Tabata training consisted of 20 seconds of very intense exercise (a burst} followed by 10 seconds of rest for 4 minutes. That’s 8 cycles. The Tabata method forms the basic concept of HIIT training, but there are an almost infinite number of variations. (I tried Tabata recently and it is very difficult. After all, I am not an Olympic speed skater. }
THE SCIENCE OF HOW HIIT CAUSES FAT LOSS
It has been proven that HIIT workouts stimulate fat burn up to 48 hours after the workout. How so? First off, HIIT is an anaerobic exercise, which is the first phase of the ATP (adenosine triphosphate) cycle. The ATP cycle describes how our cells (and muscles) get energy under various levels of oxygen consumption. In the anaerobic phase, known scientifically as glycolysis, our body simply does not have enough oxygen to provide energy to our cells (muscles). So our body taps into glucose (carbs) for energy.
Crucially, anaerobic (HIIT) workouts increase our heart rates dramatically during the burst phase, but during the rest period our heart rate decreases. It’s your heart beating super fast then slowing and then beating fast again that causes your body to burn fat faster than traditional cardio. On top of that, something called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) means your body needs to consume excess oxygen to return to normal which can take up to 24 hours. During EPOC your metabolism increases, which means you burn fat.
We talked about Tabata training, which is brilliant, but probably not the best option for men over 40. It’s just too intense. But the idea of short bursts of intense activity followed by even shorter rest periods is brilliant! The great beauty of Tabata is with that basic concept, we can do an almost infinite number of variations. It is not necessarily the specific exercise you do but the burst period and rest period that is important. Got it?
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FITNESS COACH WILL LEVIN’S HIIT WORKOUTS
I’m 61 years old and I incorporate HIIT into my exercise regimen. I want to talk about how I crafted my own HIIT workouts. Remember, you can get really creative with this. Because I am adept at skipping rope, I thought this would be a great HIIT workout. So here is my jump rope HIIT workout (keep in mind I am not an Olympic speed skater and I’m 61): skip rope fast for 30 seconds, rest for 45 seconds and do this 10 times. This takes about 12 minutes, which is a solid HIIT workout. What you see here is that I’ve modified the Tabata 20/10 protocol. And that is the beauty of HIIT.
My jump rope HIIT workout is for days I am not in the gym, but I also have one I do in the gym. This workout is a circuit. Before I start the circuit I hop on the exercise bike for 5 minutes to get my heart rate up. I perform five different exercises at 15 reps each. I pump out the reps as fast as I can while still being in control. I don’t rest between sets except to get to the next exercise, like moving from machine to machine. Once I complete the five sets I rest 30 seconds. I rip out five cycles. The exercises I perform are chest press, lat pulldown, step-ups, standing dumbbell curls and triceps pulldown. This might seem like you won’t get as winded as with my jump rope routine, but you do. By the 5th cycle you’re totally out of breath. And another benefit of this HIIT workout is improved muscular endurance.
So how often should you do HIIT workouts? That depends on your physical condition. Even for a guy of 30 in good shape, 3 times a week would be a max. I’m in great shape for age 61 and only do HIIT 1 or 2 times a week. I implement HIIT in the Older Guys Fitness 40+ FAT BURN program
If you have never done HIIT, you need to know it is somewhat painful. For me, as a college athlete running ten 40 yard dashes was brutal. It’s painful because you are seriously winded, hands on your knees sucking air. For my clients HIIT is optional, but I recommend it. If you want to burn fat, man up. If Jack Lalanne can do 1000 pushups AND 1000 pullups in 1 hr 22 min at age 45, you can do some HIIT, right? Right?