High-Intensity Interval Training which stands for HIIT has been sparking interest among health experts for a long time. It’s among the few workout techniques that can be implemented almost anytime and anywhere and is an efficient way of keeping your overall health on the watch. But, does HIIT burn belly fat?
Experts claim that HIIT is the most efficient way of burning calories through workout. HIIT succeeds in reducing your overall body fat deposition along with your belly fat. HIIT will push your metabolism to its limits and trigger an internal calorie burning process after a workout.
In easy words, HIIT is exactly what you might be looking for if you want to lose some belly fat. However, there’s a lot more to know about HIIT regarding how it should be done and how it can affect your body. Hence, I will be talking about HIIT cardio a bit more in depth.
Does HIIT Burn Belly Fat?
In easy words, yes, in scientific terms, it’s a bit more complicated than just a simple yes. High-Intensity Interval Training is an efficient way of pulling off effective workout sessions within a short amount of time.
These workouts will surely result in an overall loss of calories, however; they won’t necessarily target your belly region when it comes to reducing fat.
According to experts, no workout is specifically targeted towards reduction of stubborn bulk of belly fat. Rather, they are specialized in removing overall fat deposits along your body. This also includes your belly fat.
The entire process of reducing body fat depends on your calories intake and burning ratio. The more calories you burn, the fewer calories you consume, the better. Now how does HIIT come between all this and your desire to reduce belly fat?
HIIT is suggested to be an intense calories-torching simulator that excels in not just burning your belly fat but your overall body fat.
Proper implementation of HIIT every week will eventually result in a very high loss of abdominal fat, however, your dietary changes are to be controlled as this will be a major player in deciding belly fat reduction.
Therefore, this makes HIIT one of the most effective methods of reducing abdominal fat in particular due to their already high percentile of calories-burning success. The overall burning of body fat goes hand to hand with decreasing abdominal fat according to the claims of researchers.
Hence, coming back to the original answer, technically and literally, HIIT does reduce your belly fat as a result of an overall body fat reduction.
How Does HIIT Work?
Let’s dive into how HIIT biologically enables your body to become a calorie-burning machine after the end of each session. This will also act as a stepping stone in understanding the biological complexities involved when you are trying to burn belly fat from your body.
HIIT was implemented in the first place to preserve time for people who can’t indulge in regular cardio exercises like cycling, swimming, jogging due to busy life schedules or other restrictions.
HIITs are meant to consume little time but pack strong intense exercises that will keep pulling your body to a state that will be forced to burn immense amounts of calories.
Each of the exercises that are considered in the HIIT workout list are a pretty straight-forward means of gaining a quick adrenaline rush and get your body pumping to actively rid itself of body fat.
The most popular takeaway that HIIT offers is how each successful session will trigger an after-burn effect which will keep torching excess calories even after you’ve stopped working out!
This phenomenon is called Exercise Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). It can also be described as a post automated internal calories-burning machine.
This passive process will keep burning calories for up to 24 hours after your last HIIT workout session. This after-burn effect is activated after you go all-in, as the harder you’ll work out during the sessions, the more oxygen and energy will be consumed during the process.
Long after the workout session is over, your body will keep burning calories and using oxygen to return the system to its natural equilibrium state.
This effect will also cause your metabolism to become high for about 48 hours. As your body will work internally to regain its usual functioning conditions, oxygen will keep being used while you’re at rest.
Think of your body as an automated fat burning factory which gets jump started after every intense HIIT workout. All the work is done internally while you’ll be resting or doing something else.
This period is called the recovery period and the chemistry between workout and recovery period is what makes HIIT so effective at losing belly fat compared to most other methods.
How Many Times a Week Should I do HIIT to Lose Fat?
Experts claim that jumping onto a 7-days-a-week HIIT session will not be wise as it’ll be too straining and stressful for your body and its internal functions.
You have to give your body some resting time after each intense workout for its natural state recovery process to begin safely. As these after-burn effects last for about 24-48 hours, take some time off before starting again.
Hence, you are carefully suggested to assess your capabilities. On average, 3-4 HIIT workout sessions lasting about 20-45 minutes every weak with proper breaks in between are told to be the optimum number that should be met for your body to cope up as well as lose belly fat.
Another important factor is to keep an eye on your diet as mentioned previously before. Try to lower your calories consumption but raise your workout intensity and then relax comfortably after each session.
Keeping these points in mind will almost certainly show promising results. You can also include weight lifting in your sessions to burn more calories.
Try to figure out your optimum HIIT workout configuration on the internet or ask for advice from different apps, trainers, etc. You can even customize your own HIIT workout that focuses on your agendas. Some of the most basic workout configurations to lose belly fat include:
- 30-min Tabata HIIT Workout
- 20-min no equipment full-body HIIT Workout
- 30-min Lower body HIIT Workout
- 30-mins Basic HIIT Workout with Dumbbells
- 25-min Running HIIT Workout
Some common exercises that’ll meet in most of your workout configurations include: High knees, Jumping jacks, Plank Jacks, Jump squats, etc.
Note: Make sure you do some warm-up before to get your body pumped and in shape to avoid injury during more intense sessions. Try to maintain your work to recovery time ratio at about 1:4 to 1:1.
What Other Ways Can HIIT Help You With?
Other than its obvious benefits of helping you lose your belly fat and keeping your body fit, there are other advantages that HIIT has to offer in the long run.
Here are some of the ways HIIT can help your body and general health in ways other workout methods can’t. All these factors revolve around HIIT’s core agenda rather than specific workout configuration sets.
Muscle Mass Stays Intact
Unlike steady-state cardio which promotes obvious loss in muscles, HIIT seems to allow dieters and bodybuilders to conserve their hard-earned muscle mass while losing their body fat.
This unique benefit of HIIT definitely makes it stand out from other workout techniques.
Accessibility and Versatility
Guess what’s the usual time and place for your HIIT workout sessions? Well, the answer is anytime and anywhere, whenever it’s convenient for you. As many configurations don’t involve the need for gym equipment.
Hence, the possibilities of pulling off an impulsive HIIT workout session at a random time of the day is encouraged.
Efficiency in Time and Results
HIIT is not a very heavy bearer on your schedule either. HIIT sessions being only 20-45 minutes long at most means even the most health-conscious busy people can make some time.
Its impressive results within a short time generally inspire dieters to stay loyal to their workout routine and work more towards their health goals.
Improves Your Heart and Cardio System
HIIT, as suggested, will keep your adrenaline pumping thanks to the sudden burst of intense workout sessions that will make you familiar with anaerobic exercise.
Though you’ll be left gasping for breath after each workout, however, consistency will soon lead you to have higher stamina and a more active heart.
It’s exciting, challenging, and overwhelming
This is one of the leading reasons why HITT is considered fun, rather than long and tedious compared to other methods. HIIT will have you at the edge of your feet with the intensity it packs, you will have your enthusiasm at its peak after every successful HIIT interval.
Your mood will be more relaxed and you will feel a sense of accomplishment after you start noticing changes soon enough. These exercises may be short but you’ll have to go all-in with all you might to make the most out of it. No pain, no gain!
Conclusion
So, if your question still persists whether choosing HIIT burns belly fat or not, the bottom line is it certainly does and more so better than many other workout methods which are longer and less effective. They are up until now proven to be the most effective and efficient way of targeting loss in belly fat and houses several other benefits in comparison as well.
All things considered, that’s all I had to say about HIIT and belly fat loss. I hope this article helped you learn a new thing or two and I wish you all the best in your future ventures! Stay Healthy!
