5 Reasons You Need High Intensity Interval Training In Your Life

The Bottom Line

High intensity interval training increases muscle mitochondria, improves insulin sensitivity, protects strength gains, decreases calorie intake, and improves memory better than moderate-intensity exercise.

Summary

I know I should, but I don’t have time to exercise. Sound familiar? What if I told you there is a workout you can do for as little as 20 minutes twice a week that is incredibly effective? Enter high-intensity interval training or HIIT.

Any cardio activity (running, cycling, elliptical, etc.) can work with HIIT training. Just pick your favorite. HIIT consists of an all-out burst of effort (100% maximum effort) followed by a brief recovery period. Continue this cycle for the duration of the workout. For example, a typical beginner HIIT workout would include a 5-minute warm-up followed by 60 seconds all-out effort, 60 seconds rest, 60 seconds all-out effort, etc. Adjust work and rest intervals according to your fitness level.

So what are the benefits of high-intensity interval training (besides a shorter workout)? Increased muscle mitochondria, improved insulin sensitivity, strength improvements, decreased calorie intake, and improved memory.

5 Benefits of High Intensity Interval Training

More Muscle Mitochondria

Mitochondria are important signaling organelles and your body’s energy producers. The more mitochondria you have, the more energy you have and the better you function. Furthermore, increasing mitochondria content in muscle cells is a necessary adaptation that leads to improved strength and endurance, precisely what you want from your workouts.

While any exercise will benefit your mitochondria, there is one, in particular, that will give them a boost, high intensity interval training. Plus, there is no need to spend hours exercising to get these crucial adaptations. High-intensity interval training for as little as 20 minutes twice a week can increase muscle mitochondria (Little et al. 2010).

Improved Insulin Sensitivity

Insulin is a hormone that controls blood sugar levels. Your pancreas releases insulin when you eat food containing carbohydrates. This insulin signals to your cells to take up the sugar in your blood so your cells can use it in all sorts of biochemical processes and to produce energy. Keeping blood sugar levels on the low-end of the healthy range is vital for overall health and longevity. Insulin sensitivity refers to how responsive your cells are to insulin. The higher the sensitivity, the better, and the more stable your blood sugar levels will be.

While all exercise can improve insulin sensitivity, high intensity interval training is more effective than moderate-intensity, steady-state cardio. Most noteworthy, this study found that high intensity interval training not only improves insulin sensitivity but also lowers HbA1c, a measure of blood sugar levels over time (Jelleyman et al. 2015). Furthermore, an additional study found that high intensity interval training improved both liver and adipose insulin sensitivity, helping to prevent type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (Marcinko et al. 2015). Better results with less time working out, I will take that!

Protects Strength Gains

It is not easy to improve endurance capacity while building muscle and increasing strength. Endurance training and resistance training workouts activate different signaling pathways in the body. Resistance training activates mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin). mTOR promotes muscle growth, precisely what you want from a resistance training workout. However, endurance training activates AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase), a signaling pathway that increases the growth of mitochondria (a good thing), but that also inhibits mTOR. This cross in signaling pathways is why it takes careful planning of workouts to be sure cardio sessions don’t interfere with strength gains.

A recent study found that combining strength training and endurance training is possible with high intensity intervals. Most noteworthy, the study found similar strength improvements from resistance training alone and in combination with high intensity interval training. These results show that you can improve both strength and endurance at the same time as long as you time it correctly and pick the right type of workout (Sabag et al. 2018). For best results, perform high intensity interval training first and wait at least 3 hours before resistance training.

Decreased Calorie Intake

Have you ever finished a killer cardio session only to be left starving and eat everything in sight? Say good-bye to this problem with high intensity interval training. A recent study found that HIIT can decrease both hunger and desire to eat compared to moderate intensity, steady-state cardio (Alkahtani et al. 2014). Furthermore, this study found that HIIT decreased overall calorie intake while improving your lipid profile and decreasing body fat, helping to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease while improving body composition (Khammassi et al. 2018).

Improved Memory

Researchers at McMaster University compared the effects of a moderate intensity, steady-state workout to a high intensity workout. They found that those who did the higher intensity workout had better improvements in memory than those who did moderate intensity workouts (Kovacevic et al. 2019).

How To Implement

20-minutes twice a week is all it takes to experience the benefits of high intensity interval training. Your body will need time to recover between sessions. Be sure to rest at least 24 hours between high-intensity workouts.

Which exercise you choose and how long your work intervals are is not important. Each study had a different workout protocol, and all showed results. If you are new to working out, start with equal work and rest intervals (ie: 60 seconds all-out effort, 60 seconds rest). As your fitness improves, you can either lengthen the work interval or shorten the rest interval, or both. Most important, pick an exercise you enjoy. You will be more likely to stick with it. If you don’t like running? Try the elliptical. Don’t like the elliptical? Try cycling. Or simply use your body weight.

One of the best things about this style of workout is that you can do HIIT workouts at home. The combination of bodyweight movements plus plyometrics will get your heart pumping while challenging your muscles. Best of all, you only need about 20 minutes to complete most of these workouts.

10 Best HIIT Workouts At Home

Are you looking for a beginner workout? High intensity interval training workouts are perfect for beginners. They take less time and provide better results. Plus, research shows people find them more enjoyable and are more likely to stick with them.

3 Quick And Easy HIIT Workouts For Beginners

Ready to give your overall fitness a boost? Try my 30 Day Fitness Challenge. It will show you how to plan your workouts to hit all the different types of workouts while incorporating enough rest to keep you feeling strong and energized. It is the perfect way to take your HIIT workout plan and fitness to the next level.

Furthermore, on the interval workout days, feel free to do whichever type of interval-style workout you like best. It can be a Tabata workout, a sprint interval workout, or a combination. The more variety, the better.

13 Best High Intensity Interval Training Workouts

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