HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) has received a lot of good press for being a very effective fat loss workout. If you understand why HIIT is so good for fat loss, then this will help you to design a HIIT training programme to enable you to achieve your fat loss goals.
HIIT is so effective for losing excess body fat because it produces excess post-oxygen consumption (EPOC). EPOC is the increased rate in oxygen used by your body following hard physical activity.
EPOC is used to restore the body to its resting state. It also helps your body to adapt to the exercises that it has just undertaken.
The key for fat loss is that EPOC also increases your body’s demand for energy. It therefore enables your excess fat stores to be broken down and burnt as fuel. The duration of this increased fat burning state can be up to 38 hours after the physical activity has concluded.
The advantage of HIIT over aerobic exercise, is that even though aerobic exercise generally burns more energy during the actual exercise sessions itself, the EPOC of HIIT for the 38 hours afterwards is higher when compared to aerobic exercise of the same duration. Therefore the total energy expenditure from the start of the exercise session through to 38 hours post exercise is greater for HIIT. This is why the effects of HIIT have historically been referred to as ‘afterburn’. Your body is literally burning it’s energy stores for an extended period of time even at rest for a long time after the exercsie session has bee completed.
Now that you understand why HIIT is so effective for fat loss, you can now start to design a HIIT training program for fat loss with workouts that deliver the maximum EPOC effect.
