Rave: HIIT

Ok, so I told you that I will write when I feel inspired or need to share a rant or RAVE. Well, today's post is a RAVE. I am loving TurboFire's HIIT workouts. You've seen the infomercials with the blond bombshell who has energy through the roof? She's jumping around on stage with a blond pony tail whipping around? If not, watch this...Turbofire.


I'm loving the short-lived, long lasting HIIT workouts that she has. You can choose the 15, 20, and 25 minute HIIT workout. (I'm loving them all) The HIIT stands for -  high intense, interval training - perfect! They are short little workouts but very intense (you are definitely trying to catch your breath) So, every couple minutes, there is a siren sound and you know you are going to go INTENSE for a short amount of time (about 1 minute). Then, you recover for 45 seconds. So, you don't bring down your heart rate fully, just slightly. If I don't have an hour to hit the gym, I go downstairs and turn on the DVD player...I feel exhausted yet energized after a 20 minute HIIT. It's perfect! In addition, she has put a lot of time into choreographing the music to go along with the moves (Think: Jumping Jacks and as you land there is a whipping sound).


She raves about the benefits of intense training, as do many other trainers and experts. On shape.com, they state some benefits of HIIT training. They are:


1. Efficiency - Experts say if you put in an intense 15 minutes (you feel like you are going to die) is actually better than running on a treadmill for an hour. Say What?


2. Burn More Fat - you burn more fat apparently because you are kicking your body into overdrive all day long rather than burning only while running on the treadmill


3. Anaerobic Zone Benefits - when you push yourself to the max & and your pumper is going to die, this is called anaerobic zone - great for conditioning your heart (also builds stamina in athletes)


4. Lose weight, not muscle  - huge fat burner


5. Metabolism Raises! - HIIT taps the shoulder of your Human Growth Hormone Stimulation (slows down aging process & helps increase caloric burn)- increases up to 450% in the 24 hours after your workout


6. Fights Boredom - Ever get tired and bored of running on a treadmill? With HIIT workouts, you keep challenging yourself every minute or so. Time flies!


7. No equipment necessary


8. Anywhere, anytime!

So, next time you are walking or going for a jog - kick it up a notch by doing a little HIIT action. Run really quickly for the next 20 seconds and then walk for 2 minutes or so. Start off slowly and then decrease the time in between intervals. Look online or some HIIT ideas! And, if you can get your hands on Turbo Fire's HIIT workouts, give them a try! I'd love to hear your thoughts...


Till next time, HIIT it!