Why is HIIT such as successful way to burn fat. There are several reasons why. It is now commonly known that High Intensity Interval Training is the most effective way of burning fat especially in stubborn areas.
But why?
Firstly this has to do with the EPOC or Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. When you push your body hard for short bursts you cause the body to work harder to get the oxygen to the muscles so they can work faster and harder. This means that the body is then in an oxygen debt and has to replenish the resources to the body continuing to work hard to pump oxygen into the blood after you have finished exercising. The research shows anything up to 48 hrs after!
Long periods of exercise can cause extreme stress on the body causing the body to release the stress hormone cortisol. This hormone is there to protect us in our flight or fight response to keep us alive, obviously we rarely need use this hormone however many of us have heightened levels of cortisol in the body through over exercising and stress in our day to day lives. This hormones tells the body to store fat making it extremely difficult for the body to lose fat! Because HIIT is generally no more than 30 mins you are optimising your body burn fat.
You burn loads of calories in a short period of time. You don't need to spend hours in the gym, which for most people with busy lives is just not realistic for us to do.
So there's no excuse, you have time, you don't need a gym or loads of equipment, just you a mat and a bit of space.
