Sweet friends,
We hope February is off you a great start for you! We have some exciting things going on in the studio this week for Valentine’s Day, so make sure you’re following us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date!
We wanted to share the importance of High-Intensity Interval Training and how HIIT can help you reach your goals and transform your body, mind, and spirit! Each of our TransFormer sessions in the studio this month will have multiple High-Intensity Intervals throughout the strength workout and we have dedicated sessions for HIIT Cardio workouts every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30!
High-intensity interval training, or HIIT for short, was named one of the top fitness trends in the world for 2019, based on an annual survey by the American College of Sports Medicine. HIIT is comprised of short, hard bouts of cardio exercise—anywhere from 10 seconds to 3 minutes in length—broken up by brief recovery periods.
How hard is hard? That depends on the interval length and your body, but the key is to go as hard as you can for the duration of the effort. So, you’re working in your VO2 max zone, or about 90-95% of your max heart rate (or a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10) for the duration of the high interval.
Then you recover - your bring your heart rate down.
How much recovery you take between intervals depends on your goals. Short intervals are usually paired with equally short or even shorter recovery periods so your body can adapt to repeated maximal efforts. And because your heart rate stays elevated during the recovery periods, your aerobic energy system gets a training benefit, as well.
New studies on the benefits of HIIT make the news regularly. Take, for example, this one from the November 2018 issue of American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. Researchers found that just two minutes of sprint interval training (in this case, four 30-second max-effort sprints followed by four and a half minutes of recovery for a total of 20 minutes) improved mitochondrial function—when your cells can change fuel to energy quickly—just as well as 30 minutes of moderate exercise in a group of active men and women. In other words, going ALL out for two minutes of really hard INTERVAL training can give you the same fitness benefits as a 30 minute steady, moderate pace workout.
No surprise, HIIT training is outstanding for your cardiovascular system. Research shows, depending on how fit you are when you begin, HIIT can boost your VO2 max (how much oxygen you can use) up to 46 percent in 24 weeks. It can also increase your stroke volume (how much blood your heart pumps out per beat) by 10 percent after eight weeks of training and significantly lower your resting heart rate. ♥️
It also makes your body a furnace of a fat burner. 🔥HIIT fires up production of your body’s growth hormones that help you maintain muscle and burn fat for hours after you’re done, and it lowers insulin resistance for better blood sugar control.
And it does more than benefit your body! HIIT is amazing for your mind. Research shows that high-intensity workouts improve cognitive function and increase levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) more than an easier exercise. BDNF is essential for learning, memory, and mood regulation, and your brain uses it to repair and maintain brain cells.
3 Ways HIIT Can Help You Live Transformed:
Lose abdominal fat: In a study of sedentary women, 20 minutes of HIIT were compared with 40 minutes of steady-state exercise, and the HIIT subjects were the only ones who lost fat— primarily excess abdominal fat!
2. Protect your heart: A study of nearly 5000 people with heart disease showed that HIIT did more to protect them from future heart problems than moderate workouts.
3. Recharge your cells and boost your hormones: HIIT is proven to make more proteins for your energy-producing mitochondria, which helps slow down aging and boost youth hormones!
Check out our NEW Transformer HIIT workout! The photos throughout post demonstrate different high and low intensity exercises on the workout below!
Try this Transformer HIIT workout to revive your metabolism and live heart healthy this February! No matter your age or activity level, YOU can do some form of a HIIT workout — your body is a temple! You can still get the benefits of HIIT just by adjusting whatever exercises you do!
View all of your exercise as a form of worship and get moving today!
Click the button below to see us a video of us doing this workout on our YOUTUBE!
Don’t forget to sign up for this month’s lunch and learn! It is on February 22nd from 12-1 pm and we’ll be doing a self defense class taught by Borders! Spots in this event are limited so sign up on our app HERE before they run out! Cost is $15 to cover lunch from The Pine.
We hope you will join us in the studio for any of our sessions to transform. Let us know how we can serve you! Email us at transfitathens@gmail.com if you have any questions!
Blessings,
Team TransFit
