In recent years, high-intensity interval training (HIIT for short) has become a buzzword in the fitness world. HIIT workouts have taken the world by storm, offering an effective and efficient way to lose weight, build muscle, and improve overall health. Unlike traditional exercises and workouts that demand considerable time, HIIT workouts promise dramatic results with short 30-minute sessions. The benefits of HIIT workouts are almost too good to be true — but they are true and backed by tons of research!

If you’re wondering, “How does HIIT help lose weight,” you’re not alone. The promise to lose weight with 30-minute exercises may lead to skepticism. But the science is solid — this article describes how HIIT workouts help you lose weight.

How does HIIT help you lose weight?

If you’re wondering how HIIT helps you lose weight, let’s start with some basics of weight loss. The only effective way to lose weight is to maintain a caloric deficit for extended periods. To maintain a calorie deficit, you need to burn more calories than you consume, so you need to eat less and exercise more.

Traditional aerobic and steady-state exercises usually burn 200 to 300 calories in 30 minutes. That’s insufficient to help you reach a caloric deficit while eating sufficiently. When engaging in steady-state cardio, most people must exercise for over an hour at least 4 to 5 days a week. And since steady-state cardio doesn’t focus on strength training, you may also need additional strength training sessions to maintain muscle mass. This format is unsustainable — it leads to burnout, and most of us don’t have the time.

HIIT workouts, however, allow you to burn more calories faster while also building your muscles. The HIIT format combines quick bursts of high-intensity exercise with longer periods of low-intensity recovery. The high-intensity periods increase your heart rate, and the low-intensity periods cool you down and allow you to sustain your efforts. Studies have shown that HIIT can burn twice as many calories as steady-state cardio at the same time. And since you spend less time in the gym, you can easily squeeze it into your schedule.

HIIT workouts can include elements of strength training. Some of the most common HIIT exercises include jumping jacks, burpees, push-ups, bicycle crunches, and jumping lunges. All these exercises target various muscle groups in your body, helping you gain a full-body workout while burning many calories. And since HIIT workouts also increase your metabolic rate, your body continues burning calories and losing fat long after the HIIT class is done!

Because of the aforementioned reasons, HIIT is one of the best exercise formats to lose weight.

Can HIIT reduce belly fat?

Let’s bust one myth about weight loss — spot reduction. Some people believe that specific exercises can target the fat cells in specific areas, such as the belly. But that’s not how weight loss works. When you burn calories, your body loses overall weight, but you can’t spot reduced fat from targeted areas.

However, HIIT workouts allow you to burn more calories in a shorter period. That means you can sustain a calorie deficit and lose weight more easily, which eventually leads to the reduction of weight from the belly as well. That’s a roundabout way of saying, yes, HIIT can reduce belly fat.

How many minutes of HIIT should I do to lose weight?

You should ideally do 30 to 45 minutes of HIIT workouts to burn enough calories to maintain a calorie deficit and lose weight.

How often should you do HIIT to lose weight?

You should ideally do 4 to 5 HIIT workouts weekly to lose weight. Each HIIT class should target different parts of your body, such as the lower body, core, and upper body.

Is 30 minutes of HIIT a day enough to lose weight?

30 minutes of HIIT workouts can accelerate your fat-burning capabilities. But the only way to lose weight sustainably is to combine regular HIIT workouts with a good diet and lifestyle.

Join SWEAT440 today!

SWEAT440 is a group of fitness centers specializing in 40-minute HIIT workouts. Our group fitness classes can be entered anytime. No matter when you walk into the fitness center, you can rest assured that a class will begin within 10 minutes. Our HIIT workouts are structured around four fitness stations, each lasting for a total of 10 minutes. This rotating format ensures that a new fitness station is freed up every 10 minutes, allowing new participants to join.

Furthermore, SWEAT440 offers strategic HIIT workouts that target all elements of fitness — aerobic exercises, strength training, weight training, cross-training, core training, and more. We have a schedule that ensures you target all muscle groups at least twice a week. If you attend SWEAT440 HIIT workouts regularly, you don’t need to worry about attending other classes. If you want to lose weight and build muscle while burning more calories than traditional exercises, please visit your nearest SWEAT440 fitness center.