HIIT Training: A Fat Burning Furnace

If you want to burn some serious calories, interval fitness training may be just what you're looking for.

High intensity interval training is a type of cardiovascular workout that involves alternating periods of near maximum exertion with periods of lower intensity work.

This technique has been used by sprinters and long distance runners for years and is now quite popular in gyms across the country. Studies have shown the caloric expenditure with HIIT training to be superior to those of a steady state, or constant pace cardio routine.

The principle of high intensity interval fitness training can be applied to almost any of the traditional cardiovascular exercises: running, cycling, stair climbers, elliptical machines, rowing machines, etc.

Combining HIIT training with a solid workout routine is a killer fat-burning combo.

How Interval Exercise Works

The premise is that after a sufficient warm up, you would achieve a maximum effort for a short period of time, say 30 seconds. This would be followed immediately by a period of low intensity, say 60 seconds. You would then repeat this cycle for the duration of the training session, say 30 minutes, and follow it with a cool down period.

These type of fat burning exercises take advantage of a phenomenon known as EPOC, or excess post exercise oxygen consumption. Have you ever noticed that immediately after an intense cardio session it takes a few minutes to catch your breath? This is your body's way of repaying the oxygen debt that you created.

During your low intensity periods, the heart rate remains elevated and fuel (calorie) consumption is magnified. So, you will burn a large number of calories during both phases.

So even if you were at maximum exertion for only 10 out of your 30 total minutes, you would be getting a much larger benefit than having used a steady state routine for the same period of time. The effect has also been shown to burn additional calories for several hours after the interval fitness training workout.

In addition, heart and lung function will improve, allowing you to perform at even higher levels over time, thereby burning even more calories. Interval exercise is also a great way to break up the monotony of cardio.

Have you ever been in the middle of your cardio workout and thought to yourself, "When is this going to end?" With interval training, you always have something to look forward to. Cardio can get rather boring sometimes (no matter what's in your ipod), and interval fitness training is a great way to spice things up.