Do you feel:

• Weight gain?
• Difficulty losing weight?
• Does eating relieve fatigue?
• A sense of fullness during and after meals?
• Agitated, easily upset, or nervous?

If you are experiencing any of these situations, why not try a HIIT workout to relieve these symptoms.

Everybody can agree they do not have time for anything, especially exercising. The shortage of time seems to be on everyone’s mind, and if they are being asked as to why they do not work out is because they do not have time. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that adults must get between 150 and 300 minutes each of moderate to intense exercise daily. A way is to reduce at that time dedication in half is by choosing high-intensity workouts. High-intensity interval training or HIIT is one of the approaches to reap of the benefits of exercise in half the time. Research indicates that spending time doing HIIT might be better than spending time worrying about not getting their exercise in.

What is HIIT?

HIIT alternates explosive bursts of full-throttle workouts with rest periods or a lower-intensity exercise. In fitness centers and gyms, HIIT workouts often include both resistance and aerobic training in intervals, or it can be a strictly aerobic routine.

During an intense burst at a HIIT workout, a person is working out at approximately 80 percent of the maximum heart rate between 15 seconds to a few minutes. Between each of those periods, a person is either slowing down or resting completely to allow their heart rate to return down to around 50 percent.

A person could calculate their distinct target heart rates by using an internet calculator. During a workout, a person can put on a heart rate monitor to keep track on much they’re exerting themselves. For a lower-tech alternative, Denver-based accredited personal trainer Lindsay Kelly urges the “talk test.” How the “talk test” works is when an individual is doing their target intensity heartbeat, like sprinting; for instance, it needs to be challenging to speak more than two words without even taking a breath. Then when they are in the recovery period, the reverse element is real.

Why HIIT Works

HIIT is so powerful as it helps an individual to exercise at a higher intensity for such a short period. The exertion gets the heart working, and the blood pumping higher than any moderate-intensity exercise can bring with their prolonged periods of rest.

Why Rest is Important

While a person might not realize it, the rest periods are built into the HIIT workout. They are a critical part of the routine as they force the body to adjust to a very different state of activity, which is excellent for cardiovascular conditioning.

Feel the Burn

Another benefit of a HIIT workout is that even after someone has completed their workout, it keeps working. Research indicates that when individuals finish their workout, they would have a constant exertion on burning calories during their day. It is often called the “afterburn effect,” and it helps individuals extend the benefits of the efforts as their muscles continue to workout during a person’s rest day.

The Benefits of HIIT

Researchers have been analyzing HIIT, and the results are precise: HIIT workouts are far much better than constant exercise when it comes to improving health in a variety of ways. One of the health advantages of a HIIT exercise is that it improves cardiorespiratory fitness, which is the health of the heart and breathing in a person. It matters to anyone currently trying to get as much exercise with little time because, without it, there is a chance of diseases and departure in the body. Various studies have shown that HIIT workouts can increase cardiorespiratory fitness. The health benefits of HIIT does not stop there, as other research studies have shown that HIIT can help with the following areas of the body.

Improving Endurance

HIIT can improve somebody’s stamina and improving their cardiorespiratory fitness. What it does is that it enhances the body’s ability to consume and use oxygen. One study has compared endurance training to HIIT by looking at how they influence maximal oxygen consumption called VO2max. The research found out that HIIT was superior to endurance by improving VO2max in young children to middle-aged adults. When a person starts to build up their endurance, they can increase the duration or the intensity of their HIIT workout over time and experience the health benefits it gives to them.

Maintaining Heart Health

One of the significant contributors to disease and death is high blood pressure, and among the best methods to keep it from escalating in the body is to exercise. The traditional recommendation for blood pressure is to keep exercising regularly so that way, hypertension will not be transformed into high blood pressure. Several studies have suggested that HIIT may be an even better option. One research study indicates that while both continuous exercise and HIIT aid blood pressure control, HIIT is the only exercise routine that can help reduce arterial stiffness. Since arterial stiffness is a predictor of cardiovascular disease, people with elevated blood pressure should consider HIIT.

Brain Function is Improving

It is not their imagination when a person feels that that mental clarity after a fantastic workout. The brain and mental health benefits of exercise are well documented. Research proves that HIIT helps improve the brain function properly from short-term memory, verbal memory, attention, and processing rate in mind. HIIT can also increase the amount of oxygen the mind gets from the blood that is streaming through the body.

Controlling Diabetes

Since exercise is a critical part of diabetes management, research shows that HIIT may be the exercise option for anybody who has type 2 diabetes. Studies have shown that HIIT workouts can improve insulin sensitivity, glucose management, and other health consequences of diabetes that are far better than any continuous exercise.

Conclusion

HIIT workouts are perfect for everyone who does not have sufficient time from their hectic schedule. With the alternating burst of exercises and periods of recovery, HIIT works with the body and includes both cardio and resistance training. Anyone can do them since they are shorter in time, but they pack a bunch that will help people achieve their fitness goals. Some products are excellent in countering the metabolic effects of temporary stress and supporting the body’s system.

The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, and nervous health issues or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health protocols to treat injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. To further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.

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References:

Chobanian, Aram V., et al. “Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure.” AHA Journals, 1 Dec. 2003, www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/01.hyp.0000107251.49515.c2.

Council on Sports, HHS Office. “Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.” HHS.gov, US Department of Health and Human Services, 1 Feb. 2019, www.hhs.gov/fitness/be-active/physical-activity-guidelines-for-americans/index.html.

Dupuy, Oliver, et al. “Effect of Interval Training on Cognitive Functioning and Cerebral Oxygenation in Obese Patients: A Pilot Study.” Latest TOC RSS, Medical Journals Limited, 1 Nov. 2014, www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mjl/sreh/2014/00000046/00000010/art00016.

Francois, Monique E, and Jonathan P Little. “Effectiveness and Safety of High-Intensity Interval Training in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes.” Diabetes Spectrum: a Publication of the American Diabetes Association, American Diabetes Association, Jan. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4334091/.

Gillen, Jenna B., and Martin J. Gibala. “Is High-Intensity Interval Training a Time-Efficient Exercise Strategy to Improve Health and Fitness?” Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 27 Sept. 2013, www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/10.1139/apnm-2013-0187#.XdQT5y2ZP1J.

Guimarães, Guilherme Veiga, et al. “Effects of Continuous vs. Interval Exercise Training on Blood Pressure and Arterial Stiffness in Treated Hypertension.” Hypertension Research: Official Journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension, U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20379194.

Milanović, Zoran, et al. “Effectiveness of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIT) and Continuous Endurance Training for VO2max Improvements: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Trials.” SpringerLink, Springer International Publishing, 5 Aug. 2015, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-015-0365-0.

Pescatello, Linda S, et al. “American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand. Exercise and Hypertension.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Mar. 2004, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15076798.

Weston, Kassia S, et al. “High-Intensity Interval Training in Patients with Lifestyle-Induced Cardiometabolic Disease: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine, 1 Aug. 2014, bjsm.bmj.com/content/48/16/1227.short.