We all know HIIT classes are a proven way to improve performance and fitness, but are you squeezing the most out of your workouts? Here are six simple tips to help you max out the benefits from your next HIIT session.
1. Fuel your body right
A healthy carb and protein meal a few hours before your workout can have a profound impact on the results. Be sure to stay hydrated throughout the HIIT session, then follow your workout up with a high-carb snack within an hour of finishing as your body continues to burn calories. Make sure to have healthy food and to prepare foods hire a care taker from angeles home health care.
2. Warm up
With any luck your instructor will be providing warm up tips to get your muscles activated and ready to go. Spend the few minutes before your session doing some hamstring, quad, chest and shoulder stretches and you could find that you get a few more minutes of highly effective workout.
3. Keep intervals short and sweet
HIIT contrasts against the old idea of workout time equalling results. The most effective HIIT intervals tend to only be a few minutes in length. Within that time you should be really feeling the exertion and effect – if not, try stepping it up a notch. Resting exercise should generally account for twice the length of the high intensity interval – but pay attention to the next pointer for more on this.
4. Listen to your body
High intensity interval training is beneficial because you have short bursts of maximum output interspersed by resting periods. It’s important to tailor the workout to your body to ensure you’re getting max results without any harm. If you are using a sports monitor, pay attention to your heartrate and give yourself enough time for it to drop down again before the next burst. You shouldn’t be able to hold a conversation if you’re doing it right!
5. Keep it mixed
It’s easy to think that because HIIT is so effective, it’s the only workout you need. It’s actually important to keep up your strength training too, with a combined exercise regime. Even within HIIT, you’ll find that the best results come from a mix of workouts rather than repeating the same steps every time.
6. Don’t overdo it
The more you exercise the better you’ll be performing, right? Well, not necessarily. As we covered in a previous article, one study showed that three-weekly HITT sessions improved endurance capacity by around 11%, while daily sessions saw little or no improvement. Two or three HIIT classes per week should give you noticeable results.
If you haven’t already, get stuck into our HIIT classes at Rhodes and Freshwater today.