HIIT training has become a very popular form of fat burning exercise, not only athletes but also the working professional who wants a great body but doesn't have the time to spend hours in the gym at a time.
If you think of HIIT cardio as a condensed fat burning session, which also combines muscle sculpting properties, it becomes very apparent as to why this will appeal to the masses. In just a 20 minute Kettlebell HIIT training session an athlete can burn in excess of 250 calories, as a Kettlebell is used to perform the exercises the muscle repair stage post training can burn an additional 150 calories equalling a 400 calorie consumption workout for only 20 minutes spent in the gym.
There truly is no comparison for calorie burning, with perhaps the exception of uphill cross country skiing but how many of us have time to do this on a daily basis?
The nature of the Kettlebell and the directional pull of the weight directly below the handle engages the full set of core muscles throughout each and every repetition, this is not the case with Barbells and dumbbells which is why Kettlebell HIIT is so much more effective as an exercise session when compared with your traditional body pump and body combat group training sessions that are so popular throughout gyms.
High intensity interval training has a few variation with some extreme classes simply being made up of 8, 30 second extreme all out circuits totalling a 4 minute workout. Whilst evidence does suggest this to be effective, the more popular 30 sets in 20 minutes Kettlebell exercises HIIT tends to produce the best results.
As the kettlebell itself allows no resting mid repetition the muscular tissue remains contracted throughout the HIIT training and the muscle sculpting results of this type of training can be very impressive. It is almost the dream training sessions, short, intense,. Fat burning, muscle sculpting and also with the factor of improving your cardio vascular system. In fact, high intensity interval training has been shown to dramatically increase your Human Growth Hormone levels slowing down the ageing process, improving your immune system and also helping to improve an individual's mental health.
HIIT may not be for everyone as many people enjoy hitting the pavements first thing in a morning with their music blazing into their ear drums and runner's euphoria (an increase in endorphins) solving a lot of problems and reducing an athlete's stress levels but if you are not willing to replace your cardio sessions at least introduce HIIT training to your workouts as this will keep your training fresh and interesting and keep your body guessing which is something we all have to do to keep our bodies improving.