Dieting the Paleo way can be addictive for a mom-cum-inventor-cum-restaurant-owner who eats a lot and hates exercising. I know what you must be wondering.
Where does she get all that energy from? How does she manage it all?
So here’s my secret: I am in love with HIIT.
Not unlike the rest of my HIIT brothers and sisters who follow the Paleo diet in tandem with the mindful eating practice of yogis.
For those who don’t know what it’s all about, don’t worry. I’m not going to leave you hanging or push you to follow workouts and exercises without knowing what benefits you should be keeping an eye out for! I didn’t with Paleo shopping, right?
It’s a step-by-step transformation, the only difference between our journeys being that I’ve done all the homework for you, highlighted and simplified the essentials so that you can get going on your fitness too.
So what exactly is High Intensity Interval Training apart from being a buzzword among the health conscious. In plain words, it’s a series of short, high-intensity workout intervals in addition to short “recovery” intervals.
An example to consider can be fast running for a minute then resting for two minutes. Now, this makes just one set; repeat according to your individual stamina.
You’ve considered eating like your ancestors, haven’t you? But a diet isn’t the only constituent of what their lifestyle was like, is it? What about movement? Were they too cooped up in their air-conditioned homes, not taking in enough sun, not walking or hunting or being practically involved in physically oriented tasks? To them it was life, for us that’s exercise.
Our rather monotonous and sedentary lifestyle has increased the risk for nearly all contemporary, degenerative diseases, particularly heart disease for which the risks for an average person have increased by 1.5-2.5%. We know that fad diets don’t work or at least aren’t the long term solution we are seeking for ourselves. Similarly, fitness craze and all the leisurely efforts to slim down by jogging ceaselessly for countless hours isn’t of much help when it comes to healthy weight loss.
HIIT, on the other hand, is what the body’s been adapted and evolved for. In a nutshell, the focus is on longer periods of low-intensity movements, with smaller ones of higher-intensity activity.
With HIIT, you can
One of the best qualities of these workouts is that you can do them anywhere. Literally. You don’t need a lot of money to purchase a gym membership and hence you’re not time-bound or location-bound to try these out. Indoors, outdoors, at the gym, home, whatever time and space suits or is conveniently available to you.
But then how does it ensure that you’d be motivated enough to follow? Well, that’s the trick. You see, the workouts are challenging by nature. So, you can obviously not do them while reading a book or watching TV or playing video games. You do need to be committed and you do need to be focused if you want to get good results and feel better.
Besides, you always have the upper hand in this instance by changing the intensity of the exercises to avoid boredom from the same routine.
Another aspect that will be a delight for individuals following HIIT is that you don’t have to overdo it. And that’s a rule. This is because, as pros will tell you, it’s easy to keep pushing with HIIT and missing recovery intervals, so much so that you begin to skip them altogether. YOU are not to do that.
HIIT training understands the need of the human body to rest. Unlike traditional – or rather more hip techniques that make you spend hours and hours on the treadmill without making you more fit than before – HIIT ensures you don’t place your body under oxidative stress and muscular fatigue.
The very thing that makes HIIT effective is also the biggest challenge. Since it’s difficult and challenges your physical capacities, it may end up challenging not only your will power but also force you to take some precautionary measures, especially if you have a heart or joint problem, which you may otherwise not be comfortable with. You may even have to consult your doctor first before doing these physical activities.
Secondly, as stated above, overtraining in this program may lead to injury and other problems like blood polling or dizziness. One reason why overtraining has such a greater probability is because most people believe that short intense episodes of activity are not enough to get them in proper shape and form. Another is because of unqualified instructors.
There are researches that support how great of a cardiovascular training program HIIT is. In fact, it is 50% more efficient at burning fatty tissue than any low-intensity exercises. But, that may not exactly be the most ideal for some people.
Such people include:
Contrarily, it’s perfect for:
Don’t integrate these “functional and multi-directional challenges of agility, power, and balance” with Paleo unless you are ready. True, the workouts gained popularity and joined mainstream fitness because it fetched the dramatic workout results as quickly as most of us want it to. But if you cross the line and take it too far then you won’t be enjoying the many benefits as much as you should be!
The questions that commonly come up for anybody who’s following the caveman diet and working out at high intensity include (a) whether it’s the best diet to accompany the workout, and (b) does it provide the right nutrients that your body needs to function?
According to one study, the subjects of which worked at high intensity and had high protein intake, experienced less psychological stress and comparatively better recovery than those individuals who were kept on a normal protein diet.
While I’m not against the benefits of a protein diet, I do need to stress the fact here that you need the appropriate energy for a HIIT workout and that cannot be supplemented by proteins. You also need carbs to metabolize the group and get nutrients to your muscles. Plus, to point out one misgiving in the Paleo diet, you’d benefit more if your meal includes dairy products like Greek yogurt and fat-free milk.
Nevertheless, going Paleo and eating a close to earth diet means you’re eating healthy in the long run. Feel free to adjust the serving sizes as per your needs and the eating plan to complement the training.
HIIT workouts are designed to stress the body and cause the muscles to adapt and grow stronger, it pushes the cardiovascular system’s efficiency to improve. But the stress can quickly switch to distress. Common sense would tell us that the more work we do at higher intensity, the more recovery is due for our body.
The thing is, you can’t exactly compare your needs with another’s. Like the diet stuff, you have to see what’s ok for you, considering factors such as other training sessions you might be involved in etc.
Following are what I preferred in my workout.