HIIT, HIIT, HIIT and even more HIIT !

We can’t do HIIT everyday of the week - yes it can be “addictive” to get that sweaty out of breath feeling and being totally satisfied you’ve absolutely nailed that session leaving nothing in the tank!

Don’t get more wrong, HIIT training is fantastic and in my opinion 100% has it’s place in a training programme. When we exercise intensely our stress levels elevate and this is great as it can help (not solely) to burn fat which is exactly what we want, but there is something else to consider!

Yes an increase in stress during exercise is good, but what if we are already stressed, this is where too much HIIT/Cardio based workouts can have a negative impact.

Our body can only deal with so much stress at once, so if your stress levels have increased dramatically during your HIIT and you’re already stressed through work, lack of sleep, relationships, even homeschooling all this stress at once is just a powder keg ready to explode and our cortisol levels will rocket.

Chronically high levels of cortisol will suppress our bodies ability to burn fat, we’ll lose lean tissue, and it will effect our immune system and probably increase the chances of us picking up niggling little injuries (does this sound familiar with you)?

Imagine that daily, weekly, monthly - you’re hammering all these sessions out wondering why you’re body composition isn’t changing, you become stressed at that itself and start to train even harder, add more sessions in - worst thing you can do. Sometimes it pays to take a back step and to look and analyse other aspects of your life, not just the training!

Are you fuelling your body correctly, are you getting to bed early enough and getting in quality sleep, what life pressures / stresses have you and is there anyway to relieve them a little, can you cut back on your training, and can you replace a couple of HIIT workouts with Strength based workouts. All of these have a massive role to play and your worst decision would be to start adding in more HIIT/Cardio based workouts, training harder or more intensely.

This is the primary reason the strength sessions on this programme outweigh the HIIT sessions, for me it’s a smarter protocol to have - add in Yoga, Pilates, Meditation and Mindfulness I firmly believe its such a well rounded package that ticks all the boxes.

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Would love to hear your feedback on this - can you identify with the any of the above?