Graphic by Chiamaka Mgobji | Mercury Staff
Short workouts are key to a healthy college lifestyle
Between going to class, completing assignments and participating
in clubs, college students have a lot on their plates. With so little time,
spending hours at the gym to keep tabs on our health simply isn’t possible. But
before you decide to quit exercising altogether
to save time, I’d like to introduce you to the fitness scene’s leading trend: high-intensity interval
training, or HIIT. Completely free and able to burn over 100 calories in just
10 minutes, HIIT workouts are the perfect solution for college students seeking
to squeeze some exercise into their hectic schedules.
We’ve all been told
to study smarter, not harder. The same concept applies to HIIT: exercising as
effectively as possible in a limited amount of time. HIIT workouts feature
short bursts of intense exercise followed by rest periods. The actual
activities being performed can range from running and jumping to biking or
lifting, so it’s really just a matter of personal preference. A typical routine might consist of doing
cardio-intensive exercises like high knees, jumping jacks or burpees for 20-40
seconds then resting for 10-15 seconds, alternating between activity and
recovery for a total of 10 minutes. The exact amount of time you spend
exercising and resting depends on your skill level and how intensely you’re
seeking to workout, though.
According to the
American College of Sports Medicine, the high-intensity intervals are performed
from 80 to 95% of your maximum heart rate, and the recovery periods are 40 to
50%. Your hard work in the intense intervals is rewarded with a comparable amount
of rest. Despite how short the routines last, a study from McMaster University
found that HIIT workouts can yield similar gains in cardiovascular fitness as
compared to lengthier, more traditional cardio routines. In the experiment,
people who performed a HIIT workout three times a week for 12 weeks improved
just as much as those who did traditional 50-minute cardio sessions three times
a week.
Most strikingly
though, HIIT’s popularity can mainly be attributed to what’s called the
afterburn effect. Since highly intense workouts require you to consume more
oxygen, there’s a greater need for the body to repair muscle, remove lactic
acid and replenish itself with oxygen and ATP post-workout. Essentially, what
this means is that you can still burn calories shortly after your workout by
binge-watching “Black Mirror” (or doing your homework like a good student).
HIIT can also be done without any equipment in the comfort of your own
home. A yoga mat may make it more comfortable,
but as long as you have access to a routine on YouTube, you’re pretty much all
set.
Even though some
fitness experts advise novices to avoid HIIT due to its strenuous nature, it’s
been my experience that there are tons of beginner-friendly routines out there.
Everyone has to start from somewhere — it’s just a matter of knowing your
limits. It’s also important to note that HIIT shouldn’t be considered a remedy
for a bad diet, but rather a supplement to a good one. Clean eating is a
precondition to being able to work out effectively, so typical college student
meals like sugary cereal and packaged ramen noodles probably aren’t going to
cut it.
However, such
physically demanding exercise isn’t meant to be done every day, but rather
alternated with days of rest or less intense activity. It’s been my experience that doing HIIT 3-4
times a week and spending the other days either walking or resting is plenty
satisfying. Like everything in life, the key is to find balance, so staying
within your limits is essential. While at first glance the whole 10-minute
workout idea sounds like one typical of an infomercial, HIIT can help even the
busiest of college students HIIT their day off on the right note.