HIIT Training: Get Fit Fast with High Intensity Interval Training

Published:  04/24/2021

What is so great about HIIT training is that you can get fit fast! And I am talking minutes a day. So, if you are short on time and want to get in shape and improve your health, consider trying HIIT training.

So let me tell you about HIIT training, what the benefits are and how you do HIIT training correctly and what my favorite way to do it is.

HIIT Training Offers Big Benefits:

  • HIIT training is a time efficient way to improve fitness.
  • It may burn the same amount of calories you would with longer aerobic workouts.
  • It raises metabolism and keeps it elevated hours after a session.
  • It lowers body fat, resting heart rate and blood pressure.
  • It helps lower blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.
  • Hunger hormones are suppressed after a workout.

Considerable evidence has shown that interval training models can provide similar health and performance benefits to moderate intensity cardio, despite less time commitment. PMID: 34281138

HIIT workouts provide similar fitness benefits as continuous cardio workouts, but in shorter periods of time. This is because HIIT workouts burn more calories than traditional workouts, especially after the workout. The post-exercise period is called EPOC, which stands for excess postexercise oxygen consumption. This is about a 2-hour period after an exercise bout where the body is restoring itself to pre-exercise levels, and consequently using more calories. Burning calories for free!

What are ways to do HIIT? 

You can do HIIT cardio training on a bike, running, stair climbing or a step fitness machine. But my favorite way is to use the Xiser machine.

Having the Xiser machine means you don't need a gym. It's so portable that you can take it with you and do your HIIT training in your office, apartment, dorm, boat, RV, van or camper.

You never have to miss a workout!

Want one? Here is a discount $15 off promo code for the Xiser. 

Follow this link to the retail site and use the discount coupon code maria35 in the shopping cart for a $15 dollar discount on each new Xiser Stepper you purchase.

How To Do High Intensity Interval Training

HIIT training involves short high effort exercise for 30 to 60 seconds followed by one-to-two-minute active recovery periods.

So go as hard as you can for 30 to 60 seconds hard and then actively recover for one to 2 minutes.

Repeat to accumulate 4 to 12 total minutes of the high effort segments.

And how hard should you HIIT? As hard as you possibly can. You should feel like the work interval is "hard to very hard". It's tough but we can handle anything for 30 to 60 seconds, right? *See your doctor before beginning a program. 

This is a great protocol to follow when you are first getting into HIIT. Keep in mind that there are multiple protocols for performing interval training, each designed for different training objectives. If you purchase an Xiser, let me know and I will send you some bonus workouts! Maria@MyActiveNutrition.com

Starting Out with HIIT Training

Before beginning HIIT training I encourage you to establish a base fitness level of consistent aerobic training (3 to 5 times a week for 20 to 60 minutes per session at a somewhat hard intensity) for several months.

Let's use using walking and running as a HIIT workout example. You want to start out with an easy walk as a warm up for 5 to 10 minutes to gradually rev up your cardiovascular system and increase blood flow to your muscles. Once you are warmed up move from a walk to a fast run. Now this is relative to you, so for you, that might be a jog or it might be an all-out sprint for 30 to 60 seconds. Then you'll actively recover as you slow it down and walk for a minute or two. Repeat this until you accumulate 4 to 12 total minutes of running.

If you are new to doing this type of exercise gradually build up the amount of time you spend doing your high effort segments. You want to do a HIIT workout 3 to 5 days a week.

See how you can do HIIT training in just a few minutes a day? And studies have demonstrated that HIIT truly is effective.

So let me explain how to do this using the Xiser. You do not want to bounce up and down. To do this correctly bend your knees slightly with your hips back a bit. Feel the tension on the front of your thighs. Push through your heels always keeping the pressure on the front of your thighs and don't fully straighten the legs.

If you want to make this harder you can add in an upper body movement with or without dumbbells and you'll get even getting more of a balance challenge, toning and core work. You will get a lot of exercise in one short session.

Discount Code for the Xiser Portable Stepper Machine



So, if you are short on time and want to get in shape and improve your health, consider trying HIIT training.  

If you are interested in purchasing an Xiser, here is the product website and a $15 off promo code. This is the best price available.

Save $15  for each Portable Stepper purchased from Xiser

Follow this link to the retail site and use the discount coupon code maria35 in the shopping cart for a $15 dollar discount on each new Xiser Stepper you purchase from Xiser Industries.

Free Workouts When You Purchase an Xiser Using My Discount Code

There are multiple protocols for performing interval training, each with different training objectives so variations on work intervals and active rest.  Each workout designed to specifically to improve the different energy systems of the body. If you purchase an Xiser, let me know and I will send you some bonus workouts! Maria@MyActiveNutrition.com

*Check with Your Doctor
And, of course, it makes sense to check with your physician to make sure they think HIIT training is a good idea for you. Medical clearance from a physician may be an appropriate safety measure for anyone having any medical conditions.


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