Choose The Right Exercise Intensity
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is the new black of fitness training. It has received a lot of media coverage in the last few years for being a quick fitness fix for anyone wanting maximum results in minimum time. It’s basically short, intense bouts of exercise broken up with short periods of rest. HIIT makes it possible to torch far more calories than steady state cardio because you can push your heart rate over 85% again and again. The HIIT effect means you can get up to nine times the fat loss of regular cardio training and you can continue to burn calories for hours after your workout. It also amplifies benefits of cardiovascular exercise for metabolic and heart health.
But HIIT isn’t a one-size-fits-all-fast-track-to-fitness for everyone. The key research demonstrating the benefits has focused on “healthy, active adults” – people without medical conditions or injuries who are involved in up to five hours of fitness per week. HIIT is for people who already exercise consistently and want to move up to the next level. It’s designed as a twice or thrice per week substitute for regular cardio, not as a replacement for an entire regime. HIIT is a powerful tool but it’s a very specific one and not the only one available to you.
Intensity in exercise exists on a continuum and there are many ways to gradually tweak it upwards. Trying a different sort of exercise will likely increase the intensity of your session. For example, if you’re used to your weights program you could make it more intense by interspersing a two minute row every couple of exercises. This will burn more calories due to both the time spent on the rower and your heightened heart rate throughout the whole session. Your challenge need not be a short cardio blast, it just needs to be something new such as a different group fitness class. It’s important to change up your workouts for your body to create new adaptations, but the type and gradient of the changes is up to you.
Too much intensity too soon can be counter-productive for weight loss. It can motivate you to pre-eat to perform in the session and over-eat afterwards to compensate for feeling shattered. It’s difficult to gain physical condition from high intensity training if you are under stress and not getting adequate sleep. If you come to intense exercise from a stressed state you are more likely to get injured or sick and it will take you longer to recover. I see many overweight gym members working at high intensity, having to rehab complex injuries, and never actually changing shape. Check out my article on overtraining if you think this might be you.
Exercise is there to enhance your health and move you towards your goals. Overdoing it on the intensity can give you the opposite result. A sensible, gradual approach to increasing workload will give you the best value for the time you put in, and the most enjoyment too.
But HIIT isn’t a one-size-fits-all-fast-track-to-fitness for everyone. The key research demonstrating the benefits has focused on “healthy, active adults” – people without medical conditions or injuries who are involved in up to five hours of fitness per week. HIIT is for people who already exercise consistently and want to move up to the next level. It’s designed as a twice or thrice per week substitute for regular cardio, not as a replacement for an entire regime. HIIT is a powerful tool but it’s a very specific one and not the only one available to you.
Intensity in exercise exists on a continuum and there are many ways to gradually tweak it upwards. Trying a different sort of exercise will likely increase the intensity of your session. For example, if you’re used to your weights program you could make it more intense by interspersing a two minute row every couple of exercises. This will burn more calories due to both the time spent on the rower and your heightened heart rate throughout the whole session. Your challenge need not be a short cardio blast, it just needs to be something new such as a different group fitness class. It’s important to change up your workouts for your body to create new adaptations, but the type and gradient of the changes is up to you.
Too much intensity too soon can be counter-productive for weight loss. It can motivate you to pre-eat to perform in the session and over-eat afterwards to compensate for feeling shattered. It’s difficult to gain physical condition from high intensity training if you are under stress and not getting adequate sleep. If you come to intense exercise from a stressed state you are more likely to get injured or sick and it will take you longer to recover. I see many overweight gym members working at high intensity, having to rehab complex injuries, and never actually changing shape. Check out my article on overtraining if you think this might be you.
Exercise is there to enhance your health and move you towards your goals. Overdoing it on the intensity can give you the opposite result. A sensible, gradual approach to increasing workload will give you the best value for the time you put in, and the most enjoyment too.