I hear a lot about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) these days. It has become a popular alternative to long duration low intensity cardio like walking, jogging or elliptical machine work. The basic premise is to do shorter bursts of very high intensity work like sprinting or running up stairs. This requires low intensity rest periods like walking or no movement at all in between each burst.
The question I get most often is “how often can I do HIIT?”. I think it’s possible to do it as often as you like, as much as 2 sessions per day for advanced athletes.
I recommend beginners start at 2 sessions per week working up to as many as 5-6. Anywhere between 3-5 sessions per week is great for the average gym going woman looking for fat loss and fitness benefits.
This style has many advantages to longer duration cardio such as:
-It will take you less time to burn more calories burned
-Not as boring
-Will increase muscle tone more than low intensity cardio
-It will increase your muscle endurance
-Increases muscle strength
As you can see there are many advantages to doing HIIT instead of low intensity cardio. I am such a strong advocate of HIIT I use it to train all of my varsity athletes in preparation for their competitive seasons. And I have used HIIT with great success in fat loss programs, like the ShapeShift program I helped design for [http://www.grrlathlete.com]
If you haven’t already tried HIIT training I recommend adding it to your workout for the next 4 weeks and see how you feel. Try adding 2 sessions per week and progress from there, I’ll bet you will be happy with the results.
