Should You Do HIIT More Than 3 Times Per Week?

By Russ Hollywood


While many exercise lovers adopt HIIT into their workout plans, very few take the time to prepare for their sessions accordingly. There are a couple of risks involved in using this popular technique.

Whether it's using creatine supplements without researching, or trying weights without learning the correct technique, the gym can be a dangerous place if you don't learn the ropes.

Before you try something as intense as interval training it would make sense to look at the things which other people get wrong and ensure you learn from their mistakes. []

The overwhelming majority of gym users who wish to adopt this method into their workout program are more interested in the potential fat loss benefits it could yield. However, it would be foolish to jump in without first addressing the two most common risks. They are:

1) How many times per week should you perform interval training?

2) Learn how to protect yourself against niggling injuries with one simple step.

One of the biggest myths of the gym is that more training means better results. This myth was born in the early 1980's with the rise of the aerobics home workout phenomenon. People would perform long, drawn out cardio workouts every single day. If you adopt this approach here, however, you will damage your own results.

Given the already intense nature of interval training, you certainly don't want to put yourself in a position where you stand to gain no results from all of the hard work you're putting in on the gym floor. Aim for no more than 3 hit workouts in any given week and you should stay well within the guidelines here. Another reason it is highly important that you allow for sufficient rest between these sessions is of course the afterburn effect. This is the process by which your body continues to burn of fat at an accelerated rate for up to 14 hours after you leave the gym. If you're back in there for another session the following morning you are cutting this process short.

Injuries are part and parcel of training but those performing high intensity interval training are a little more at risk than mos. This is of course down to the very intense nature of each workout and it usually comes to to people simply skipping their warm-up exercises in a bid to save a little time. If you went straight into sprints without warming up your muscles, you can say goodbye to your hamstrings!

A warm-up need only take five minutes and the benefits are clear. However, we live in an impatient world where folks want to get in and out of the gym as quickly as humanly possible and this sometimes means skipping the warm-up and cool-down sessions. Much like if you tried using whey protein or creatine supplements without researching them first. this only comes back to haunt you and your hiit sessions will suffer as a result.




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