Quickest Workout Ever: HIIT

As much as I’m sure you all love spending 3 hours a day in the gym, there’s a much faster way to gain the same cardiovascular benefits.

I’m talking 15 minutes fast.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is not an exercise, but rather a way of exercising that jam packs all the effort you’d normally use over 1-2 hours of working out into 15-30 minutes. It involves:

5 minute warm-up

15-60 seconds of going all-out, followed by

30-120 seconds of rest (e.g., if you’re sprinting, rest would be walking)

Repeat the exercise/rest cycle 6-8 times

5 minute cool down

That took, at most, 35 minutes. And I swear, you will feel crushed by the end of it (if you’re truly going all-out, that is).

Sprinting is a great HIIT exercise.

The Benefits

For one, this is a super fast workout. The above was 35 minutes, but you could easily get in a legitimate HIIT workout down to 15 minutes.

Another biggie is fat oxidation. HIIT significantly increased fatty acid oxidation (the use of stored fat for energy) in three separate studies.¹ That means that, when compared to continuous endurance training (exercising at the same pace for a considerable amount of time), HIIT burns more fat and fewer carbohydrates. Good for fat loss.

HIIT, like weight lifting, also increases your Excess Post-Exercise Consumption (EPOC).¹ 

That means that once you’re done with your workout, your body continues to burn calories in order to repair your muscle cells. Work out for less time, burn more fat and calories? I’m in!

For those concerned with cardiovascular health, HIIT has been shown to increase left ventricle heart mass and cardiac contractility at a comparable rate to continuous aerobic exercise. 

In addition, in a study comparing HIIT to continuous training, HIIT increased VO2max (maximal oxygen consumption, a clear indicator of cardiovascular health and function) by 15% compared to 9% in continuous training.¹ Boo yah.

Other benefits include increases in mitochondria (the energy factory of the cell), increased cardiac muscle mass and increased expression of fatigue-resistance slow twitch muscle fibers. 

All good things.

The Best Part

Anyone can do this with any exercise as long as they truly put all their effort into those 15-60 seconds of the exercise. This could be anything from walking quickly, to doing pushups, to kicking in the pool. Sprinting, swimming, biking, climbing stairs. You are shooting for whatever your maximum effort is. It doesn’t matter at all what other people do.

But for reference, my routine involves a warm-up of jogging.

Then I sprint on the treadmill at level 9.5-11, or better yet, outside on the pavement, for one minute.

Then I walk for one minute.

I repeat 5-8 times, then cool down by walking and stretching.

By the end of this, I’m pretty much of pile of useless sweat on the floor, and that’s how it should be.

HIIT is not meant to be a complete replacement of steady cardio. Rather, throw in 2-3 HIIT workouts a week, combined with 3-4 days of lifting and 1-2 steady cardio sessions. You’ll be a well-rounded athlete, and your body will thank you for it!

Questions? Concerns? Just want to chat? Hit me up at katy.hajzer@gmail.com. (Notice the change in email. That’s not a typo. We’re going all married name now!)

Lift. Eat. Love. Repeat.

1. https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/HIITvsCardio.html