Is High Intensity Workouts Good For You

These days high intensity workout methods are popping up like mushrooms after the rain, what leaves many of us wondering, is high intensity workouts good for our health?

Well, high intensity workouts are very good for you as it induces a longer calorie burn while working out for a shorter duration. Moreover, high-intensity workouts have all the other health benefits of different training methods, such as strengthening your heart and muscles, improving sleep patterns, lowering blood-related problems occurrence, and many other health effects.

What is considered to be high intensity workout

High intensity workout basic rule is having a short period of intense bursts of activity with fixed resting or low-intensity periods in between these bursts. In a nutshell it is called interval training. For example, running fastest up the stairs as the high intensity activity, then going down the stairs slowly as the low intensity activity.

Those high intensity workouts are simple to manifest as far as your imagination goes. Running could be spiced up with intense bursts of short sprints, while strength workouts can include high intensity periods in it too just like in Crossfit training for example where you may do 10 repetitions in 1 minute and then rest the following.

The high intensity bursts of activity are what this training method is all about, and if you wish to practice it there is a wide range of possibilities of addings to your current workout routines.

What are the leading high intensity workouts today

Today the fitness and health market is full of many different training methods that fully or partly include high intensity work. 

The famous of them all is HIIT and Crossfit, both highly known for their benefits of high intensity training while Crossfit is also known to have wider training upsides as it involves more fitness disciplines into the method.

Apart from high intensity intervals, Crossfit as a training method also includes other factors such as weightlifting and gymnastics elements. One might say that Crossfit is a far wider training method than just high intensity training as many Crossfit workouts also include long and moderate intensity. We highly recommend that you check both Crossfit and HIIT to get a better sense of your preference.

If you find yourself wondering about Crossfit training read our post Is Crossfit good for beginners to understand better whether it’s your cup of tea.

Apart from these two, you might consider other functional training methods like cross-training, running groups, athletics, and even swimming. All those trainings can include high intensity intervals as part of training and as such will benefit your health as the above methods do.

For the dancing lovers among us, a proper Zumba class can also be taken into consideration  under the understanding that the instructor has the ability to escort you through the pace changing and the right shoes are on your feet.

How does a 20-minute high intensity workout compare with other workouts

Researchers have shown that high intensity workout lasting for 20 minutes will burn the equivalent amount of calories that a 50 minute low to moderate workout will. This means that it is 2.5 times more efficient than regular and long cardio training.

A more important factor is the time-saving element of these workouts, as time is lacking for many of us, having the ability to get optimal results in the time we do have is crucial.

In addition, due to the intensity of the workouts, our body increases its metabolic rate for hours after the training session ends. This leads to prolonged fat and calorie burn. On that matter, researches have shown this benefit could be impacting the body for 24 hours after the workout.

Regarding muscle gain, a 20-minute high intensity workout isn’t the best way to gain muscle as these training methods are primarily oriented towards fat, weight loss, and endurance. 

In order to gain muscles, one should be doing strength work such as weightlifting or calisthenics training as part of the routine. We gain strength through slow and deep work rather than rapid high intensity one.

Either way, involving high intensity parts into your training routine is highly recommended as you gain more for less (time in this case).

Health benefits of high intensity workouts

When choosing a certain type of workout to stick with it is important to understand how it is going to impact your health, since the major goal in fitness is a healthier body and mind.

High intensity training has a great impact on heart health, as many studies have shown this type of training is far superior to moderate training in this department. 

Better blood flow, strengthened heart and blood vessels, stronger durable pulse in and outside the training frame and peaceful sleep that enables our heart ease while night work.

The factor that determines heart and general health for that matter is “VO2 max”. This factor is described as the maximum volume of oxygen that the body can use. It has been shown that the more oxygen your heart can pump the less you will feel fatigued and out of breath – meaning a higher level of endurance.

In the book The One Minute Workout, the ability to run, swim, bike and train for longer is shown to be a crucial factor in better heart health and in preventing heart disease. This has been approved by this research from Japan as well.

Another benefit from this type of training is the happiness it brings and the good mental state that follows. As many of us feel stressed during the day, a short fast and intense training session can release negative energy that influence our cells and tissues. 

As this process happens it makes our mind calmer and the expenditure of physical energy brings the post training euphoric feeling that releases the happiness hormone Dopamine.

This will also make us less susceptible to illness occurring by external hazards such as air pollution and will aid with decreasing of various internal threats as well as autoimmune syndromes.  

Does it burns more calories than other types of training

Many of us are introduced to training through our desire to lose weight therefore we wish to find the highest calorie burn training possible in the least time preferable. However, action speaks louder than words and the truth is, it isn’t that simple.

You might think that high intensity training will do the trick, when in fact it has been shown that the calories burn is rather similar to other workouts! Shocking I know. If you wish to lose weight, maybe try longer high intensity intervals (meaning, more than 20 minutes HIIT train).

One more thing worth mentioning is that with training one must adjust more suitable dietary habits to achieve one’s goal. It is one thing to put yourself out there in the gym and another to eat unhealthy processed food along with it as damages the effect of the sport activity in general and in weight loss in specifics.

I personally recommend putting the whole calorie burn into perspective. If you wish to burn a lot of calories you should train as long and as much as you can. However, as we all have that time limitation we must stay realistic about it and get the most out of our training time.

For that matter, Crossfit, HIIT and other short, fast, high intensity training will help burn calories faster with some consistency, sense of achievement and relative joy. Overall you will be able to lose weight if your eating habits will change alongside your training routine.

Keep training, keep inquiring, eat healthily and become a happier curious human being.

Until next time

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