There are many ways you can work out and get healthy. By going to the gym, you can enjoy workouts based on sports or the latest trends. You can even decide to simply exercise in your home using online tutorials. However, the problem with regular workouts is that they can use up too much of your time. Regular workout routines commonly take two hours to complete. Even jogging will take up too much of your time.
This is where high-intensity exercise can help. In this article, you’ll learn the important benefits of high-intensity exercise for your reference.
What Is High-Intensity Exercise?
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) involves intense routines done in short periods. This would allow you to do important routines in a shorter duration.
Here are the benefits of high-intensity exercise:
1. Time-Efficient
Because it utilizes shorter intervals between large bursts of energy, it doesn’t need to burn fat and calories slowly. Hence, you can schedule your workout routines for as fast as 40 minutes while having better results. Furthermore, you can do this at home or the gym.
Doing HIIT in the gym will encourage you to finish each session as you’re with other HIIT enthusiasts. You can continue reading this to learn how you can maximize your time when exercising in a gym.
2. Burn More Calories
Compared with jogging or running, doing high-intensity workouts lets you burn more calories even after the regimen. As muscles are broken down, they heal themselves and become better and stronger. This is the result of the intensity of the workout itself. During this process of healing and restoring, you’re burning your calories as well.
3. Improve Cardiovascular Health
During a high-intensity workout, your heart rate changes from high to low consistent intervals. During these states, your heart is trained to maintain healthy blood pressure and heart rate levels. Thus, the HIIT helps your cardiovascular health.
Furthermore, if you do HIIT regularly, you’re training your blood pressure to flow better. Hence, making HIIT the ideal workout for individuals looking to better their cardiovascular health is an excellent option.
4. Maintain Mental Health
People forget the mental aspect of exercising. Like all sports and exercises, working out can further strengthen a person’s mental well-being. An HIIT pushes you to endure longer runs or heavier weights, pushing your mind to adapt to the difficulty and to increase tolerance level.
Furthermore, HIIT can provide stress relief because the workout itself releases chemicals to the brain which helps maintain a positive emotion throughout the day. This is especially true when you’ve accomplished goals and landmarks during your regimen. That’s why you may want to start your HIIT workout before you start your day.
The mental effects of working out are even enhanced during HIIT. Individuals who undergo high-intensity workouts have lesser chances of developing a mental illness because you release chemicals and proteins linked to cell repair, cognitive function, and mood regulation. Even those currently diagnosed are recommended to use HIIT as it has shown signs of improving physical and mental aspects of health.
With a high-intensity workout, the bar is set higher, increasing the need to focus and finish the workout without giving in.
5. No Equipment Required
Most exercises will require you to invest in new equipment to utilize the benefits fully. Unlike those, a high-intensity workout utilizes what you have in your household or office such as resistance bands and jump ropes; no big equipment. As the exercise is a method, not a specific movement, you can use simple actions and exercises.
By increasing the intensity of your movement at set intervals, you can reach the exercise’s goal to make your heartbeat reach its maximum limit without needing any equipment.
6. Increase Metabolism
At the end of workouts, your body increases the number of hormones responsible for metabolism. This will result in high rates of metabolism, depending on the type and intensity of the workout.
With HIIT, the methods provide high metabolism rates that are four times faster than normal. Also, the high rate of metabolism maintains throughout the day. Not only is it a great exercise to strengthen muscles, but it can also help you lose weight and maintain a good diet.
7. Build Endurance
The best effect of high-intensity workouts is to make your body stronger. Since HIIT uses a lot of oxygen and strengthens the muscles, it results in a body with high levels of endurance because you produce a high need for oxygen to cope with the workout’s high intensity.
As a result, the body will crave more oxygen as the workout continues. Besides, the longer you make the workout your everyday routine, the higher the intensity becomes—increasing your endurance. This takes a shorter amount of training compared with regular endurance training regimens.
8. Lose Fat, Not Muscle
If you’re not careful, you could be doing the wrong type of exercise as other forms reduce the amount of muscle a person holds, making the individual leaner instead of bulkier. Depending on what you want, you should be careful with the exercise regimen you choose.
You won’t have to worry about losing body mass with HIIT as it strengthens and creates muscles. It targets fat and uses it as fuel to heal torn muscles while making them better and stronger.
Conclusion
A high-intensity interval workout is a challenging workout at first. Due to the amount of effort and dedication it needs, not everyone could do it. However, you can quickly feel the results of the workout after just a few exercises if you have the right fitness goal.
These results can sometimes double or triple the result which conventional exercise brings. If you want to truly change and become better at the end of your workout journey, opt for HIIT. In addition, you won’t even need to invest too much in equipment and gear. All you need is to give 30-40 minutes of your day and your commitment to the regimen. Commit to high-intensity exercise today and see the results you want for your body.
Author Bio:
Carl Davidson is a fitness trainer. He is specialized in strengthening and endurance training. His passion for his craft prompted him to conduct free video tutorials and post helpful fitness articles in various fitness-related online publications. Carl also enjoys extreme outdoor adventures and watching action movies.