What If I told you there was a way burn more calories, lose more fat, and improve your overall fitness levels while spending even less time in the gym than you already are? If you're already spending an hour or more at the gym per day chances are you're either a glutton for punishment, or you've never learned the secrets of high intensity interval training. High intensity interval training (also known as HIIT) is a form of training that involves short periods of high intensity combined with periods of low intensity.

For instance, sprinting is a great way to perform HIIT. All you need to do is warm up for five minutes by jogging, and then sprint 30 seconds with every single bit of effort you can muster. Following that thirty second bout of high-intensity you would jog moderately for 30 seconds while your body recovered. Repeat this step five or six times and then end the session with another five minutes of moderate intensity jogging in order to cool down. This is just one of the ways that you can use a higher intensity level to increase the results you get whenever you work out.

Here are just a few of the benefits of HIIT. It increases the amount of calories you burn after exercise because it takes a longer time for your body to recover from each session. HIIT also makes your body more efficient at burning fat. Another great benefit of high-intensity interval training is that it limits the loss of muscle that normally occurs with weight loss especially when you compare it to traditional cardio exercise that lasts a lot longer. But in order to get these benefits of HIIT, you really have to push yourself. You have to push yourself past your own aerobic zone and allow your body to step into the anaerobic zone during the intervals of high intensity.

The thing you have to remember about high-intensity interval training is maximum effort. You don't have to sprint to do HIIT. All you have to do is pick a few exercises that involve using as much of your body as possible, and put forth as much effort as possible, in a very short period of time. One such exercise is the squat. A back squat performed for 30 seconds, even without any weight on your shoulders, can be a very challenging exercise for a lot of people. Simply set timer for 30 seconds and proceed to do as many squats as you can with good form in a thirty second period. For the next 30 seconds simply walk around the room to keep your heart rate but allow your body to recover from your squats. Repeat this process at least five times and in a very short period of time you've burned many calories and have conditioned your body aerobically and anaerobically. It's like bootcamp workout without the drill sergeant!