How Hiit Results In Weight Loss
So you know HIIT workouts burn fat better, but how? Studies show that High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) improves insulin sensitivity by anywhere from 23-58%. This is crucial because insulin sensitivity helps boost fat loss. If you become someone who is insulin resistant, such as a diabetic, your body has more and more trouble losing fat. HIIT increases post-exercise energy expenditure, also known as Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (E.P.O.C). Oxygen consumption and caloric expenditure remain elevated as the working muscle cells restore physiological and metabolic factors in the cell to pre-exercise levels. This translates into higher and longer post-exercise caloric burn.
In simpler terms, this means that after a HIIT workout, your body will continue to burn more calories than it would after a lower impact, steady state exercise, such as walking or jogging. Not only that, but HIIT workouts cause a spike in two key hormones: epinephrine and norepinheprine, which play an important role in fat loss. These two hormones (sometimes referred to as adrenaline and noradrenaline: the fight or flight hormones) are responsible for driving lipolysis, which is the breakdown of fat. HIIT may play an especially key role in decreasing abdominal fat stores—that visceral fat that surrounds the organs in your stomach, and coincidentally, the area so many of us struggle to lose weight around.
Therefore, if you’re struggling to lose excess weight and you feel like you’ve tried everything else—clean eating, consistent workouts, etc—it’s time to consider HIIT training. No one can spot-reduce their way to flat abs overnight, but it is possible to burn more fat more efficiently by incorporating High Intensity Interval Training if you’re currently just doing Low Intensity Steady State cardio or weight training.
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