Do you know about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)? It’s not “new” per se, but is definitely experiencing a spike in popularity right now due to more people desiring noticeable fitness results within a busy, time-crunched schedule.

High-Intensity Interval Training: The Ultimate Guide

HIIT primarily involves doing calisthenic (body weight) exercises at full intensity for relatively short amounts of time. This type of training is popular for people trying to tone up the midsection, one of the hardest areas to target. The key to “high intensity” is engaging and flexing all your muscles as hard as you can while performing each exercise.

Metering rest times between exercises is also important in HIIT, as you have to keep your muscles moving and heart rate up the entire time for your workout to be truly effective. With this kind of training, for example, you would do as many controlled, perfect squats as you can in 20 seconds before resting a short time and moving on to the next exercise. It’s much faster and more effective than just doing a slow set of squats by itself.

In short, it’s agony. But hey, only 15 minutes of agony!

7 Reasons To Try High-Intensity Interval Training

Cross-training being essential to good muscle formation (and avoiding injury), I’ve decided to try out a HIIT program to supplement my half marathon training. Right now I am still on the lower-mileage runs so I have plenty of time and energy to do these interval workouts at home or at the gym.

My boyfriend showed me this 30-day HIIT program from The DareBee Resource, and I have to say it’s laid out in a very organized manner, easy to understand for the beginner! I get bored easily with repetitive exercise, so I like that this training plan gives you a clear look (with graphic support) at what I’ll be doing each day so I can just get it overwith.

The DareBee website has tons of different free resources available for multiple sports and lifestyles; I highly suggest you check them out if you like effective, training-tested, minimalist training plans or meal plans! 

Meanwhile, I’ll be crushing this 30-day program and be sure to provide an update or two along the way and afterward with my results and observations.

Anyone use any other apps or resources for HIIT?