What the HIIT?!

HIIT... have you heard of it? “High Intensity Interval Training” is what is stands for, but what is the reasoning behind it? When did steady state cardio become insufficient?

Well, the reasoning behind HIIT comes from a science of course and also plays a big role on how many athletes stay lean year-round. WE ALL WANT THAT! HIIT actually plays a big role on not only burning calories during your workouts but burning calories after as well. This is all because of one specific thing that we can all leave gratitude towards: the EPOC effect.

EPOC (Another acronym to learn) stands for “Excess Post Oxygen Consumption”.

Excess Post Oxygen Consumption is mainly caused by homeostasis, a mechanism our body functions to maintain its levels within its normal limits. During HIIT we exert more energy which causes our heart rate to be heightened causing a higher oxygen demand. That feeling of trying to catch your breath we get when we’re doing intense intervals is caused by this. This is our body mechanism of homeostasis! Our training causes a heightened heart rate, loss of oxygen and a toss off of our normal levels. So, when we are finally done training, our bodies still feel like they’re working... because we’re trying to recover all of the oxygen we just expended. This extra work our bodies exert, to take in extra oxygen, after our workout keeps our metabolisms heightened and keeps us burning calories. THIS IS EPOC!

Ultimately, HIIT and it’s effect on the body proves to be a more efficient way to burn calories than steady state cardio or other training options. Continuously burning calories even after your workout? Who doesn’t want that!