FAQ – Is HIIT best for Fat Loss?

When trying to lose fat, it’s essential to burn off more calories than you consume. Interval training is an extremely effective way to do this.

What does it do?

High intensity interval training (or HIIT) is a form of anaerobic exercise and is very efficient at burning calories; during a 30 minute burst of interval training you can expect to burn up to 400kcal.
It also raises your metabolic rate well above normal for up to 24 hours after, meaning you’ll be burning more calories than normal even when you’re sat on the sofa!

HIIT is a period of work, followed by a period of recovery. An example being 20 seconds all out rowing followed by 60 seconds recovery (repeated 10 times).

What’s the point?

The goals of HIIT are to increase your heart rate to near maximal levels during the work period, recover as much as possible, and then take it back up to maximum again.

In my experience, the most efficient ratio of exercise to recovery is 1:2, so for a 30 second interval there should be 60 seconds rest. The key to interval training is pushing yourself hard!

Using the treadmill, a good template to use would be…
30 seconds running at 14 kmph
60 seconds walking at 6 kmph
Repeat for a total of 20 minutes.

The options for interval training are endless, just choose an exercise you can do safely and that gets you working as hard as possible. Here are a few ideas:

– Sprints (outside or on the treadmill)
– Cycling
– Skipping
– Kettlebell swings
– Battle ropes
– Prowler pushes
– Marching on the spot/High knees
– Burpees
– Bodyweight Squats
– Power walking

Remember these are just ideas, the exercise should be difficult to perform for the allotted time, if it feels too easy…make it harder!