A HIIT workout at home can be as effective as going to the gym
Don't enjoy going to the gym? No time to go to the gym? Don't worry! Recent research has found that working out at home is as good as working out in the gym. It also saves time, cuts cost and access and increases adherence too.
Researchers conducted a study wherein they investigated a home-based high-intensity interval training (Home-HIT) programme and studied its benefits for clinically obese individuals with an elevated risk of heart disease. The study was published in The Journal of Physiology.
They wanted to find out if Home-HIT was a time-efficient strategy that helped reduce other barriers such as difficulty with access to exercise facilities due to travel time and cost. "An exercise regimen such as Home-HIT that reduces barriers to exercise such as time, cost, and access, and increases adherence in previously inactive individuals gives people a more attainable exercise goal and thus could help improve the health of countless individuals," said study author Sam Scott from Liverpool John Moores University.
For the study, 32 obese people completed a 12-week exercise programme. A range of health markers were measured in these participants, including body composition, cardiovascular disease risk and the ability to regulate glucose and it was found that home-based HIT was as effective as both the government-recommended 150-minute exercise and the supervised, lab-based HIT programme for improving fitness in obese individuals.
So don't waste any further time and follow this simple 20 minute HIT workout and lose all that weight:
A HIIT workout can be kept short but needs to be intense for it to be effective. This is an excellent workout to burn maximum fat in a short period of time.
Below are some popular and effective HIIT exercises that will burn maximum calories.
Always warm up before starting any workout session. Once you've warmed up and prepared your body you can start these exercises but remember to repeat the session in sets of 10, 15, 20 reps with a 15-20 sec rest between each exercise.
1. High knees - The aim is to get your knees as high as possible and it aims at your lower abs, quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves.try doing this at a high speed
2. Jumping jacks - These are the good old jumping jacks. It works at the calves, quads, hamstrings, shoulders, hip.
3. Rope jumping - This is done using the skipping rope and is a great full body workout.
4. Push ups - These too help immensely with the core and help tone the upper and lower abs, hamstrings, calves, butt, shoulder, bicep and triceps.
A HIIT home workout can help weight loss goals
Photo Credit: iStock
5. Butt Kicks - Stand with your feet apart and then begin with kicking your left feet into your left glute and then same with right. increase intensity.
6. Lunges - this is a single-leg bodyweight exercise that works your hips, glutes, quads, hamstrings, core, and inner thigh. Lunges can help develop lower-body strength and endurance and are quite effective in evening out muscle imbalances.
Lunges can shape up the calves, quads and glutes
7. Mountain Climbing - These help shape the core. get into a plank position and draw the right knee in towards the chest without lifting hips and bring it back to its position. repeat same with the left knee.
(With inputs from ANI)