The Impact of HIIT Exercise on Metabolic Health

Exercises that involve high-intensity interval training are known as HIIT workouts. This style of training includes repeated bouts of high-intensity work followed by varying rest periods. Even if you enjoy the benefits of exercise, finding time to exercise might be tricky. That’s what makes high-intensity interval training appealing. It assures the finest workout in the shortest amount of time, according to the evidence. This type of exercise can provide several long-term advantages to metabolic health that include improved glucose processing and insulin sensitivity. However, you may notice that HIIT induces a short-term surge in blood sugar levels, implying that rigorous training may induce cellular damage. Even though neither is cause for concern, it is worth delving into the research. So here is the information you ought to know about the immediate and long-term implications of HIIT.

What are the benefits of HIIT?

HIIT training has been shown to improve:

-Cholesterol profiles

-Insulin sensitivity ( this helps the exercising muscles more readily use glucose for fuel to make energy)

-Cardiovascular health

-Blood pressure

-Abdominal fat and body weight while maintaining muscle mass

-Aerobic and anaerobic fitness

In addition to these benefits, HIIT training can:

-easily be modified for people of all fitness levels and special conditions like diabetes or being overweight.

-HITT can be performed on all different types of exercise modes, including walking, cycling, swimming, elliptical cross-training, and group exercises.

-HITT workouts have similar benefits to endurance workouts, but in shorter periods of time. This is due to the fact that HITT workouts tend to burn more calories than traditional workouts after the workout. This post-exercise period is called EPOC or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. There is a two-hour period after an exercise bout where the body is restoring itself to pre-exercise levels and thus using more energy- adding roughly 6 to 15% more calories to the overall workout energy expenditure.

Developing a HIIT Exercise Routine

Think about the length, intensity, and frequency of the work intervals as well as the frequency and duration of the recovery periods when creating a HIIT program. During the high-intensity work interval, your intensity should be around 80% of your projected maximal heart rate. A subjective indicator would be that your work interval feels “hard to extremely hard” . Using the talk test as a guide, it would be challenging to carry on a conversation. The recovery interval’s intensity should range between 40 and 50 percent of your estimated maximal heart rate. To aid in recovery and get you ready for your upcoming work interval, this would be a physical exercise that feels comfortable. Several studies indicate that enhancing the body’s various energy systems involves a particular ratio of exercise to recovery. A ratio of 1:1, for instance, may indicate a 3-minute period of intense activity followed by a 3-minute period of recovery. A particular ratio of exercise to recovery.  A particular ratio of exercise to recovery. These 1:1 workouts often last 3,4 or 5  minutes, accompanied by an equal amount of recuperation time. The “spring interval training approach” is a different well-liked HIIT training regimen. With this program, the exerciser does around 30 seconds of “sprint or near full-out effort,” followed by 4 to 4.5 minutes of rest. This exercise combination can be done 3 to 5 times.

How Many Times a Week Can You do a HIIT Workout?

Since HIIT workouts are more exhaustive than steady endurance workouts, a longer recovery period is typically needed. For example, begin with one HIIT workout a week, along with other workouts. Add a HIIT workout as you feel ready to spread the HIIT workouts throughout the week.

What happens to glucose and insulin after exercise?

The more intense the workout, the more fuel is used by the body and the longer it will take for the body to replenish those stores and restore normal blood sugar. Despite the short-term spike, it may cause, exercising can take some of the pressure off of the pancreas to produce insulin to lower glucose levels.

High-Intensity Interval Training improves insulin sensitivity for up to three days after exercise in people with and without a metabolic health condition to a study in the journal of. Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, and Obesity. This same study showed that HIIT improved fasting glucose and insulin sensitivity in as little as two weeks. Another study showed HIIT increased glucose metabolism in muscles and insulin sensitivity in those with Type II diabetes after just two weeks of HIIT.

Final Thoughts

Compared to low or moderate-intensity longer, duration training, HIIT promotes superior and faster adaptations in glycemic control and overall metabolic health, and these positive adaptations are even retained over more extended periods. The incorporation of interval training into a general conditioning program will optimize the development of cardiorespiratory fitness as well as numerous other health benefits. HIIT is worth a try!