Would you like to improve your overall fitness more efficiently and effectively? Pay attention to the intensity of your workouts and moves.
Many newcomers to fitness are intimidated by how hard a class or activity may be, especially when they’re just starting out. But if you commit to working out as best as you can at your own level, you can help protect yourself and enhance your fitness at the same time.
Ramping up intensity or dialing it down to suit you and your specific needs means adjusting any workout to work for you. The technique doesn’t have to add extra time to your fitness regime. In fact, adjusting intensity may save you time by helping you become more fit and efficient.
Verna Chan, B.C. Recreation and Parks Association (BCRPA) Certified Personal Trainer, teaches High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) classes and skills at her fitness studio, The Garage, in Gibsons. She notes that this kind of training is very personal and a great way for anyone to build more stamina.
“What’s considered high intensity is a variable, adjusted to your fitness level,” Chan says. “One person’s high intensity is not the same as another’s.”
To work out in high intensity mode simply means to push yourself to 60 to 80 per cent of your maximum energy expenditure for short bursts of time. Often, in HIIT workouts, a four-minute regime is divided into 20 seconds of high intensity activity, followed by a 10-second rest, repeated for eight sets. HIIT workouts are intense but short, lasting anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes.
In HIIT mode, everyone works at their own individual pace. The only consistencies are the type of activity and the buzz of the interval timer. Skipping rope, jumping jacks, burpees, lighter weight and resistant band moves (with good form) and abdominal crunches are some typical activities.
In her HIIT workouts, Chan cycles participants through all the muscle groups, balancing upper and lower body work, using opposing muscles and incorporating body weight exercises that can also be replicated at home. She recommends downloading an interval training app on your phone to prompt and time your HIIT sets.
Runners can also benefit by using HIIT training methods to pace their runs and workouts.
“You can simply run really fast for 20 seconds then jog for 10 seconds and repeat,” notes Chan.
High intensity interval training has proven to be a game changer in the fitness industry and Chan has been advocating it for years, incorporating it into her private personal training, group classes and time-efficient HIIT classes. You can also find HIIT classes and methods used at many of the private and community fitness facilities on the Coast, often integrated into boot-camp style and full-body workouts. Try adding some high intensity intervals next time you work out.
