HIIT Me! (H.I.I.T. Highly Intense Interval Training)

Oh, you don't know about H.I.I.T.? Well, don't feel badly, I just found out and I'm 48. Highly Intense Interval Training is simply this: specific exercises using greater weight than you are use to using. The idea (simplified) is to use the weight training specifically targeted to build certain muscle groups, i.e. the arms, the legs, the butt, the gut. (Can you tell I'm not an expert?) Now, I'm not a fitness trainer, I'm not a medical doctor, and I don't have all the answers, but it seems to me that if the U.S. Army can do this type of fast and furious training and get the results they've been getting -- I should at least give it a try.

Here's what I know: I go to a gym and I noticed a guy doing extreme weight training for a very short period of time. He didn't come back the next day, but he did come back the day after that. I asked him about it. I asked him why he did a 15-20 minute work out with heavy weights and lots of reps, and why he lowered the weight amount after the three set. He said it was the H.I.I.T. method and he said he felt kind of funny talking about it because there was a time that he was fired for telling someone about it.

See, the H.I.T.T. method has been used for years by professional and college athletes and the trainers in these professional and college level gyms are all but sworn to secrecy about it, or so he said they were. He told me that as a professional trainer in L.A. for 2 years he saw many people's lives changed by the method and he wanted to share this style of exercise and program so that others could lose more weight, burn more fat, and become healthier than they have ever been. His boss had other plans. By leaking out the secrets of the high-paying mega bodied celebrities and athletes to the common man/woman it put the gym at jeopardy. If someone loses the weight faster than usual they may leave the gym and there goes the mainstay of the facility. The celebrities and athletes were pulls, draws for clients to keep paying, but the trainers knew they had limited time with these people. The regular clients were told that steady 30-60-90 minute work outs with treadmills, bikes, laps, and crunches or classes were best for them.

Jake, the ex-trainer and now buddy told me that he's kept his weight down to what it is by using the H.I.T.T. method, and that he's shared the training program with about 10-15 of his friends who have kept their weight down and bodies in toned shape for years - but that telling the average person is hard because of all the things we've been told in the past. Sometimes people just don't believe that 15-20 minutes 3 times a week is all you need. But the physics prove it is.

I looked it up - - studied it and now am about to employ it. I encourage you to do the same. NOW, if you're one that HAS to have a book to look at, there is an e-book by a couple called the "15-Minute Fat Furnace" and you can download it for about $5.00. I just prefer doing the study myself and talking to Jake who I think I can trust - - at least I can physically see with my eyes that he's in shape; I have to trust what he says is true.

For 5 minutes you use as much weight as you can handle for a certain group of muscles. Let's say we're doing upper body today. Do the chest first, all the machines you can with as much weight as you can take for 20 second reps. Fast and hard reps for 20 seconds and then rest. Change machines during the 5 minutes is OK if you want to, but keep the area of the muscles focused. Rest between machines for about 30 seconds. 2 or 3 reps should do it per machine. Then target the arms for the next 5 minutes - again with as much weight as possible. Rep. rest. rep. rest. The last 5 minutes is done at a medium weight level and slower reps. It's sort of a cool down period. Again, focus on the chest for 5 minutes, and then the arms for 5 minutes. It takes 20 minutes total.

OK....and this is REALLY important. Shower. Take a shower or soak in the hot tub for a while to get the muscles loosened up. Over the next 24 hours your body will be screaming at you - literally shaken by the intense work you put it through, but that's OK. The nostrils and mouth are bringing in so much more oxygen than they normally bring in and you're body is burning so much more fat because of it. In most cases (I read) 9 times as much fat!

This workout is done 3-4 times a week. One day you focus on the top part of your body, the next time the lower half. Oh, and you have to eat sensibly. You know how to eat correctly, just do what you know to do and do it early enough. If you have to eat later in the evening eat fruits and vegetables or nuts. The H.I.I.T. method is real, and I can't believe I didn't know about it before; but I didn't. I do now, and I think I'll keep a journal to see the dramatic difference. Wish me good work, luck will have nothing to do with it.