Warmer weather has finally arrived and if you're anything like the Red team you'll be looking for tips and exercises that will get you moving more and feeling more confident come your summer holiday.
Which is why we've spoken to The Body Coach, aka Joe Wicks, about his fitness secrets, favourite moves and why that little thing called 'HIIT' is the by far the best and most effective way to workout.
In the first of a series of interviews, Wicks talks us through how to do HIIT (high intensity interval training), why it's so good for us and his tips for doing it anywhere and everywhere.
What is HIIT?
HIIT means high intensity interval training and the reason it’s become so successful in my plan is because you create such a calorie deficit, you burn lots of calories and in half the time, so if you’re really busy and you haven’t got time to spend an hour in the gym or 90 minutes on the treadmill, then you can do a really short, intense workout and get really quick results. And you’re changing your body composition.
Why should we be doing it?
Firstly, it makes you feel amazing. When you finish a really tough, intense HIIT session, you get a massive rush of endorphins after it. You feel good. Secondly it doesn’t take up much time. So if you’re busy, you can do it anywhere, anytime, with no equipment, in the gym or at home. And, thirdly you create a calorie deficit, because you elevate your metabolism for hours into the day. You burn calories not just during the time you’re working out, but for hours afterward, so therefore, you can effectively eat more food. If you love food and you really want to go out on a day and have a really nice big meal and treat yourself, then just do a little HIIT session in the morning and you can do that and stay lean.
So why is it more effective than other ways of working out?
If you just run on a treadmill at 10 miles per hour for half an hour, you’ll burn calories during that time, but you don’t get an after burn effect. But when you do HIIT, you really, really elevate your heart rate. If you run for 30 seconds, it’s a sprint, it’s as fast as you can go, and you basically ramp up your heart rate, it’s so high that you create an oxygen debt in your body, where your body’s basically repaying the oxygen debt and working to bring it back down to normal. Hours into the day you may not feel like you’re out of breath anymore, but internally there’s processes at play where your body is still metabolising calories and energy just to get back to its resting state.
How many times a week should we work out this way?
My clients do four to five sessions per week of 20-25 minutes and that’s going to really increase your cardio fitness and also help to stay lean and maintain your body fat a lot easier.
What other kinds of exercise should we be doing?
If you’re training really hard for power and speed, then you can still retain and gain lean muscle, but if you really want to build your glutes and build your legs, you need to do resistance training as well. Try doing 15 minutes of weights and then 15 minutes of HIIT, you’re still working out for a short time, but you’re going to build new muscle and burn fat from the HIIT.
Why is it so important to do the HIIT part of the workout last?
Because you need as much energy as possible, you need all the carbohydrates in your body, you need that strength and that stolen energy through heavy resistance, so if you’re going to do your HIIT and then try and do a heavy leg session and upper body workout, you’re not going to have the strength and energy to do it all, so always do weights first and then the cardio.
How can we do HIIT at the gym?
I would do treadmill incline spin, so put the treadmill up, if you’re on one of those curved ones, just run as fast and as hard as you can for 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds, and repeat that 15/20 times. You can do the same on a bike, so if you’ve got bad knees or you’ve got bad back, you can do it on a cross trainer or an exercise bike.
And what if we’re at home?
I post a lot of videos on YouTube that are really simple, like burpees, mountain climbers, running spots, star jumps, anything that gets your heart rate up is effective. So you might be in the garden, you might be just running on the spot in the living room, it’s all about elevating your heart rate. If you find mountain climbers too easy and it doesn’t get your heart rate up, then do burpees, because you know that will and, therefore, you get the effect. If you’re doing something that isn’t really as challenging and your heart rate isn’t getting really high, then you‘re not really doing HIIT, you’re just doing interval training.
Joe Wicks has teamed up with Fitness First to demonstrate how fitness, combined with healthy eating, can boost a person’s overall mood and wellbeing. See fitnessfirst.co.uk for more information and to sign up for an exclusive three-day Fitness First pass visit Fitnessfirst.co.uk/red3day before Friday 8th July.
