How Much HIIT Per Week To Lose Weight 2024? Benefits Of HIIT Workouts

HIIT for weight loss, short for high-intensity interval training, can help you maximize your results for a slimmer waistline, improved body strength, and even better cardiovascular and respiratory health. How much HIIT per week to lose weight? What’s the best way to prevent weight gain on a HIIT plan? What can interval training offer you in terms of expedited weight loss? There’s a reason people are obsessed with this way of exercising. Here’s what you should know.

What Is HIIT Workout?

High-intensity interval training, HIIT, has less to do with what you’re doing for exercise. Instead, it focuses on the “how.”

HIIT workouts take ordinary cardiorespiratory (cardio) and weight training and break it down into intervals periods of high-expenditure activity and low-expenditure activity. Basically, this means you’ll spend bigger parts of your workout running for dear life and shorter periods recovering in between.

On the other side of the coin, steady-state exercise offers no structured variation in intensity, which can be fine, especially if you’re completely new to the world of fitness. We’ll get into some of the benefits of a HIIT workout below; they include adaptation in your endurance levels, a workout that’s often more engaging and enjoyable, and even more calories burned for your time.

How To Do HIIT Workouts?

You can apply this concept to any type of workout rowing, bench workouts, or anything you love to do. We recommend planning your HIIT sessions beforehand for maximum effectiveness.

The secret formula:

• Block your HIIT session out into intervals of 10 seconds to 5 minutes^[1] your goal for high-intensity intervals is VO₂ max at 90%, a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness^[2] that describes how much oxygen your body is able to take in and consume while exercising
• Start with a brief cardio warm-up, working your way into more intense speed and strength training; it can be really helpful to lay out your entire circuit before you actually begin
• Build yourself up gradually, stay hydrated through each station, and plan for a few extremely intense bursts of physical activity
• After anywhere from 8 to 15 intervals, match your warm-up at the beginning with a 5-minute cooldown on a treadmill, elliptical, or indoor trainer

The biggest tips for HIIT we can offer include maintaining a fun and varied menu of workout stations and giving it your most authentic self at each one. The best way to burn fat through cardiovascular exercise is to commit fully to each workout—a buddy or a virtual trainer can help you stay motivated while you sweat.

Is HIIT Good For Weight Loss?

There are so many reasons to choose a HIIT workout over a conventional workout:

• HIIT is more time-efficient than ordinary workout plans you can burn up to 30% more calories^[3] during the same amount of time
• HIIT is especially effective for losing body fat, targeting fat stores^[4], and improving body composition around the waist especially
• Exercising in intervals has been shown to increase resting energy expenditure, the calories your body burns at rest, for up to two hours^[5] after the workout itself
• As such, HIIT might make it easier^[6] to achieve a calorie deficit, losing weight without losing muscle mass
• HIIT is incredible for your cardiovascular health, as it’s better able to elevate your heart rate^[7] even if you’re not the most active individual
• In this vein, HIIT might even be able to help you lower your blood pressure over time^[8]

High-intensity activity is more than just a trendy fitness fad. If you’re serious about weight loss and losing fat, HIIT workouts are some of the most effective ways to pump your way to a sexier, slimmer you.

HIIT For Weight Loss – 5 Effective Exercises

If HIIT recovery is your concern, you actually have little to worry about. Training in intervals may actually prevent bodily injury, especially when you choose low-impact types of exercise like cycling. After especially arduous HIIT cardio and resistance training, a recovery period of 24 hours^[9] is the only thing stopping you from “HIIT” -ing it every single day.

Any type of exercise can be performed in intervals. Some of our favorite HIIT workouts for fat loss include the following:

HIIT Cardio

Any well-rounded high-intensity interval training regimen should include some form of cardio. Running on a treadmill, using a stationary bike, or even just jogging outside can all help keep you light on your feet.

Abdominal Work

Sit-ups, crunches, Russian twists, and jackknife sit-ups get your core moving. You may find them easy ordinarily, but in a HIIT environment, they become significantly more challenging, which you might like.

Plyometric HIIT

Plyometric exercises^[10] use your weight and the power of eccentric contraction to build muscle and endurance. Pop squats, box jumps, tuck jumps, and things like a lateral lunge to a runner’s jump can all be choreographed on a high-intensity, interval basis for an incredibly effective whole-body workout.

Tabata Training

This flavor of HIIT is often called one of the most effective for fat loss. You’ll do things like lunges, burpees, plank exercises, squats, and the like on a much quicker, briefer basis, maximizing fat burn.

Crossfit HIIT

You don’t need to join your local CrossFit box to earn the benefits of this highly-intense way of exercising. This article from Men’s Journal outlines several extraordinarily effective CrossFit routines you can do right from home. 

Resistance training^[11] is one of the most powerful ways to improve your body weight and target body fat above all else. Even if you prefer cardio training above all else, we encourage you to incorporate workouts of every type into your HIIT routine upper body, lower body, leg day, and the rest.

Conclusion

With dedication and a great accompanying diet plan, you may be able to see tangible results in as little as six weeks. This time period may end up being much shorter if you’re able to maintain a healthy caloric deficit without lapse.

You’ll begin to feel the other positive effects of HIIT long before you lose weight, though. High-intensity interval training is our top pick for improving your fitness levels overall in addition to everything it has to offer your weight loss journey.

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