High intensity interval workouts (HIIT for short) can help women get the results they are after.  HIIT is a style of working out  in which low to moderate intensity intervals of  exercise are alternated with high intensity intervals.  For example, a HIIT workout might include alternating bouts of sprinting with brisk walking.

HIIT work outs are a departure from traditional forms of cardio exercise which encourage exercisers to workout out at a steady but moderate pace for extends periods of time.

There are many reasons for women to  be interested in HIIT workouts.  They can be adjusted to suit any fitness level and often take less time than a traditional cardio workout.    They are fast, challenging and can be done in a gym, at home or outdoors.  In addition to being very flexible, research studies have uncovered several ways in which HIIT workouts benefit women.

Research on HIIT workouts for women

HIIT workouts can improve your body’s ability to burn fat.  When women who did seven one-hour HIIT workouts over two weeks were found to have improved their whole body fat oxidation and capacity for skeletal muscle to oxidize fat.  The study’s results support the belief that HIIT workouts are effective at increasing leanness and athleticism.

HIIT workouts can help you build muscle while burning calories.  Medical Research published by the Journal of the American Dietetic Association indicated that HIIT workouts are superior to traditional cardio workouts when it comes to increasing your muscle mass.  The researchers divided women into two groups: one did HIIT workouts and the other did moderate intensity endurance training. The final results revealed that each group lost an identical amount of fat (5.0lb), but the HIIT group gained more than twice as much muscle mass.

HIIT  might be especially helpful to women who have diseases related to insulin resistance like diabetes and PCOS.  A study Published in the International Journal of Obesity found that HIIT workouts were more effective then traditional cardio workouts at reducing insulin resistance in young women.

The researchers asked one group of insulin resistant women to perform a 36 minute HIIT workout three times a week for 15 weeks and another group of similar women to do a 40 minute steady state endurance workout three times a week for 15 weeks. The HIIT group had a 31% decrease in fasting insulin concentrations compared to 9% for the steady state group.  The HIIT exercisers also lost on average 11.2% of their fat mass while the steady state group did not lose any fat.

HIIT workouts have a positive impact on a women’s health and waistlines. This flexible, time-saving training method would be an ideal addition to any exercise regiment.