3 Reasons why implementing ONLY HIIT as your main training style won’t get you the long term fitness and health and wellness results you are after.
Written by Sandra Sogrini (@getfitss)
Think only implementing HIIT is the answer to long term health and wellness and improving your body composition? Think again. In this blog I will dissect why only HIITing it hard is not the solution to building your best athletic body and I will share the secret sauce to long term gains.
My clients are coming to me from F45, Orange Theory, Beach Body and random youtube workouts because they have noticed that although they have seen significant changes and improvements in body composition they just can’t continue to improve after a certain point. This is very frustrating for my female clients who put in the work and expect to see gains. Sound familiar? Keep reading. On the verge of a plateau? Keep reading also!
After plateauing, my female clients are discovering that a strategic strength training program tailored to building the ultimate X Frame physique is truly the secret to their dream body. High levels of effort for a short amount of time followed by a period of rest, repeated for a certain number of intervals is what High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is.
Why HIIT? Why not HIIT?
- Rapid Stress Adaptation: HIIT puts a significant amount of stress on the body and we know that the body adapts and responds to stress. This is why we see significant changes (adaptations) or results very quickly. On the flip side this amount of stress can only be maintained for so long until it will negatively impact the body
- Short Term Results: Eventually the results stop and a plateau ensues. We begin to notice lost mental acuity and the development of compensatory patterns.
- Beneficial for Certain Athletes: Cross fitters, combat sports participants and marathon runners who need a metabolic response, need to perform in stressful situations and a boost to the aerobic system without a decline in power output can definitely benefit from HIIT. Females seeking body composition changes need to include strength training as their main training style and incorporate HIIT in a small amount as well.
Why is a Strategic Strength Training Program the Secret Sauce to achieve your dream body?
- Strength training builds muscle and muscle burns more calories than fat. Therefore, the more muscle mass you have on your body the more toned and sculpted your body will be.
- Strength training is one of the best ways to experience the afterburn effect (EPOC), excess post exercise oxygen consumption where your metabolism remains elevated even after exercising and you continue to burn calories even at rest.
- Strength training reduces body fat and increases muscle size and strength. The more muscle mass you have, the less fat mass you have.
- Strength training focuses on building the body for aesthetics and function. Building up the shoulders and lats creates the illusion of a smaller waist, building quads and calves and focusing on the abdominals will create the ultimate balanced physique.
The goal is always living your best life, and the objective of any fitness coach is to get results and teach long term sustainable health and wellness practices so that clients can experience improved health and wellness in the long term. Turn to a strategic strength training program to not only develop the dream body you desire but also achieve a high level of health and wellness. Ditch solely HIIT.