- By FitOrbit Trainer Adam Kipling

That's right, "HIIT" stands for High Intensity Interval Training.

What exactly is it and how does it work? Let me explain.. but first let me use an example. When you’re in your car, when do you burn more gas, when you're going 70 mph on the highway, or when the light turns green and you go from 0 to 60 mph? That's right, you burn more gas when you step on the gas! It's the same with our bodies. We burn more calories when we step on the gas. 

So in other words, we want to add sprinting to our cardio routine, and INTERVALS. An interval is a period of time while doing cardio that you push your body almost as hard as it can go, but then the key is to slow down and let your heart rate go back down. The reason we want your heart rate to go back down, is so we can raise it again. You burn more calories bringing your heart rate from 90 to 180, than you do from keeping a steady pace with a heart rate at 155.

The key is to confuse your body. Jogging for an hour will not confuse your body. With each interval you have 3 variables you can play with to confuse your body; Speed, incline, and duration. With each interval you do, you should change one or 2 or maybe all three of these variables. Depending on what type of shape you are in, your intervals should be between 30 seconds and 3 minutes. Let's say you do your first interval for a minute at a speed of 7.0 and an incline of 2.0... a good idea for the next interval could be keeping the speed and incline the same but doing it for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Or you can keep it at a minute but bump the speed up to 8.0. And the same goes for the incline because the incline makes it tougher as well!

Besides the fact that HIIT has been proven to get amazing fat burning and incredible V02 level increasing results, you can also get it done much more quickly. You can perform interval training for between 10 to 25 minutes. You can go longer if you want to, but 25 minutes is all you need. If you are pushing yourself harder and harder, you can make 10 to 25 minutes really count!

I can't stress enough how important it is to confuse your body. By adding HIIT to your routine, you will be gaining better results from your low intensity long duration cardio training. Your body will get confused going from one day jogging for 45 minutes to doing intervals the next day for 20 minutes. Keep your body guessing in all you do and I promise you will get the results you've been working for!

Adam Kipling is AFAA certified in Personal Training, Group Fitness and Kickboxing and is a trainer at Equinox West Hollywood and for FitOrbit. FitOrbit gives you a real personal trainer online and everything you need to get into the best shape of your life. GoRecess readers get an additional 10% off any plan by entering this code: GoRE10