As part of the past six-week ‘shred’ fitness regime I have been doing weight training and on the other days High Intensity Interval Training- HIIT training for short.
The concept of HIIT training is fairly simple, you do short bursts of high intensity workout followed by a period of less vigorous activity. It is ideal if you are on a busy schedule (like me) or get in shape quickly, because you have have effectiveness in a period of time as short as 15 minutes. I am sure you have all seen on Facebook the ‘7 minute workout’ or ‘fit in fifteen’, well these are all HIIT training workouts.
With HIIT training you burn more calories and if you do it right you can continue to burn them- known as the ‘afterburn’.
Done properly you don’t need any special gym equipment (but some simple hand weights would help) and combined with the right nutrition you can burn fat but retain muscle mass (so you don’t lose weight, just get leaner).
Here are some examples of HIIT training sessions from my PT Mike Donnan Nutrition and Performance
If you want to start with something simple, find a local hill or set of steps and set yourself a challenge of running to the top of the steps and jogging back down, repeat ten times. Remember, you want to feel hot and sweaty and like you have really worked hard! This isn’t for the faint hearted!
Workout I
400 metre sprint (if you are using a treadmill use an incline minimum level 3, if you are outside aim for a hill sprint)
20 kettlebell swings
15 weighted burpees
15 bench press
20 lateral raises (or pulldowns if you are in the gym)
20 squat thrusters
12 press ups
Repeat 4 times
Workout II
1000m sprint
20 kettlebell swings
20 squat thrusters
800m sprint
20 press ups
20 high pulls with kettlebell
600m sprint
15 cable lateral pull downs (or lateral raises if you aren’t in the gym)
20 upright rows
400m sprint
20 Russian twists
15/15 side plank raises
200m sprint
20 reverse crunches
plank max hold
*You may wish to seek advice from a medical professional before attempting these workouts*