17th November 2020
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High Intensity Interval Training is great for people who find continuous training monotonous. The constant change of pace means that you are kept engaged throughout your workout and should never get bored! It’s particularly beneficial if you’re prepared to work hard enough to compensate for the reduced time you spend exercising.
Essentially, HIIT training consists of short bursts of intense exercise with periods of rest and recovery or lower intensity exercise. Since HITT training made its first appearance in the fitness industry, there have been many variations using the same ethos. Here are just a few of these training styles explained…
This workout style, named after the Japanese exercise Scientist who invented it, features 20 second work intervals, followed by 10 second rests in 8 cycles. Yes, in just 4 minutes you will definitely feel the benefit! Why not try a 20 minute TABATA workout by choosing 4 exercises which you perform for 8 cycles, giving yourself 1 minute rests between the different exercises.
An example of a 20 minute TABATA workout you can do at home with no equipment necessary would be:
An acronym for every minute on the minute, EMOM workouts challenge you to complete an exercise for a certain number of reps in less than 60 seconds. The remaining time within the minute serves as your recovery. This rest time helps your body reset and prepare for the next round of exercise. At the top of the next minute you perform a different move. As you get more tired, it will take you longer to perform the set number of moves and your rest will get shorter. This will burn calories during your workout and is also effective at keeping your metabolism raised after your workout – burning even more calories. So it really is win win!
The beauty of an EMOM workout is that you can make it as long or as short as you like and either concentrate on one or two exercises that you keep repeating or do circuits of more exercises. Be creative and every workout can be different.
An example of a 15 minute EMOM workout you can do at home with no equipment necessary would be:
Repeat this circuit 5 times
An acronym for as many reps/rounds as possible, this workout can be beneficial to anyone at any fitness level, as you can make it as simple or complicated as you wish and you can choose any duration.
Essentially, you give yourself a set amount of time to complete as much work as you can. This can be either performing as many reps of a single exercise as you can or as many rounds of several exercises as you can in a pre-determined time frame. AMRAPs can be as hard or as easy as you make them; the harder you work, the better the results. It is recommended that you start with 6 to 8 minute workouts, building up to 10 to 15 minutes once you can achieve a sustained effort at the shorter workout time.
Another benefits of AMRAPs is – they’re great to check how much progress you are making. Record the results of your workout, and as you repeat it, you can see if you manage to achieve more reps or rounds.
An example of a 5 minute AMRAP workout you can do at home would be seeing how many rounds of the following exercises you could fit into 5 minutes:
