You must have heard about High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and its capability to build muscle, increase aerobic fitness, and burn fat.
You have the option to customize HIIT following your body’s needs by including running, strength training, or both.
There are many options to choose from for doing HIIT training, but it might lead you to injury and fatigue if you do not do it correctly. And the result will be—you will not be able to attain your goals.
Therefore, it makes sense for you to know the common mistakes and how to avoid them:
Skipping Warm-Up or Cooldown
As you have your unique needs and pains, you need to adhere to a proper warmup and cooldown. Bear in mind that you need to stretch as much as possible as it prepares you to undergo high-intensity exercise. Also, it reduces muscle soreness and helps in post-workout recovery.
When you undergo HIIT, you do intense cardio movements like jumping. It can injure your joints, so do some stretching beforehand to avoid potential injury.
Not Eating Beforehand
HIIT workouts are hard to do if you lack energy. If you do HIIT with an empty stomach, you will only see a decreased performance. Moreover, there are chances that you might feel sick and off-balance as your body will crave energy.
Long Intervals
Ensure that your HIIT intervals do not last more than 30 seconds. You should stay within the 20-30 second range.
During your HIIT practice, you are likely to go hard and fast during intervals but keep the intervals short so that you can complete them before hitting fatigue or failure.
Wrong Form
HIIT is a rigorous workout and calls for a big energy burst and effort. So, it happens many times that the practitioner forgets to maintain the proper workout form due to a strong emphasis on hard work. That is why it is advisable to do fewer reps but do them correctly rather than making the wrong moves. Bad form can put too much strain on your body that might lead to injury.
If you find a workout very challenging, then the best thing to do is modify it. Instead of opting for the wrong form of exercise, pick up a version you can perform most effectively.
Whatever you do, you can consider doing a great workout as long as your heart rate is up.
Intensity Not High Enough
HIIT means the workout is intense. As such, do not fall behind in performing workouts with high intensity, which will not allow you to attain your goals. If you are serious about HIIT, then push yourself out of your comfort zone.
HIIT can transform your health dramatically, and what you need to know about the ways of transformation is what you find in the infographic in this post.
