healthier you today

There is a way for you to lose weight fast on a treadmill. It’s called HIIT. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. The great thing about HIIT is that your workouts are shorter, but the weight falls off faster. HIIT is also fun to do on a treadmill because it’s interesting and you can change up your workout routine.

The news of HIIT started circulating among treadmill owners over a decade ago after a study came out reporting how much weight, or fat, could be lost doing HIIT. Once treadmill owners saw the results themselves, HIIT began spreading like wildfire. The study was done over a five month period of time involving two groups of people. The first group did normal steady cardio for 45 minutes. This group began their study exercising at 60% of their maximum heart rate and worked up to 85% before the study was concluded.

The second group did HIIT for 30 minutes. Their workouts consisted of bringing their heart rates up to 70% of their maximum heart rates. Then for ten seconds they would back down on their workout intensity so their heart rates would fall. The group then did a 90 second period of working out that brought their heart rates back up again. Afterwards, they went back down into a lower intense workout so their heart rates would slow down, again. This was repeated throughout their 30 minute workout.

The study found that the second group who had done the HIIT worked out for less time overall, expended less energy and shed three times more fat than the first group. They also noted that the fat group two lost was mainly the fat beneath the skin, or subcutaneous fat.

So what makes HIIT so powerful for weight loss? After doing HIIT a person’s body goes into what is known as EPOC, or Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption. EPOC is what your body does when it needs more oxygen to return to a resting state. This means after doing HIIT your body is using more oxygen and burning more calories even hours after your workout is completed. One study that was done in 2002 reported that there was an elevated resting metabolic rate in participants even 48 hours later.

Treadmill owners love doing HIIT because it works for so many of them. The added bonus is doing HIIT on a treadmill lets people have a fun workout quickly. HIIT routines are intense, but they should last no more than 20 to 30 minutes. Start your workout warming up to your maximum heart rate range, then cycle in and out of lower heart rate zones and then raise your heart rate back up to it maximum rate, again. Repeat this throughout your workout doing as many, or as few, intervals as you like.

While HIIT is a very popular way to lose weight fast with treadmills, keep in mind that it is not recommend that you do HIIT more than two or three days a week. HIIT works and it does put your body under stress. You shouldn’t do HIIT day after day. But, don’t feel like you are cheating. Your body is still burning fat and calories long after your workout is over!