High intensity workouts should not be started off immediately because it takes time for the body to get used to it. Start off with running or cycling build your endurance for a month before you build up on the intensity, as soon as you gain the endurance step up the intensity to gain the maximum mileage out of your workout.

Interval training is all about challenging yourself over and over again.

This particular workout — which comes from Michael Banks, certified personal trainer and owner of Body by Banks Corporation in Salt Lake City — uses a treadmill. If you’re already fit, you can add dumbbells for an extra challenge.

1. Warm Up: On the treadmill, with the incline set at a challenging angle, power walk at a speed of 3-3.5 for 7 minutes. Keep your elbows up above your heart. Stop, get off the treadmill, and stretch.

2. Sprint: Drop the incline to 0, increase the treadmill speed, and sprint hard for 30 seconds. Aim for 90% of your maximum heart rate. To recover, bring your speed down to 3 and walk for one minute.

3. Squats: Get off the treadmill and squat, with your bottom out to the rear and your legs slightly apart. Then jump from the squatting position into the air, landing in the same squat position as before. Do this for one set of 15 or 20, working your quadriceps. If you’re already in good shape, hold dumbbells by your sides.

4. Overhead Presses: Do 15 or 20 overhead presses with the weights, pushing them straight up and directly over your shoulders.

5. Sprint: Get back on the treadmill and sprint for 30 seconds (no incline). The goal is to be at 80% of your maximum heart rate. To recover, decrease your speed to 3.0 and walk for one minute.

Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training;

Builds endurance, burns fat, increase muscle strength and performance! Not to mention the great feeling you get after completing it! Leaves slow-paced exercises in the dust.

Not only do you burn more calories during a HIIT workout, but the effect of all that intense exertion kicks your body’s repair cycle into hyper drive.

That after 8 weeks of doing HIIT workouts, subjects could bicycle twice as long as they could before the study, while maintaining the same pace.

Anyone who has been on a diet knows that it’s hard to not lose muscle mass along with fat. While steady state cardio seems to encourage muscle loss, studies show that both weight training and HIIT workouts allow dieters to preserve their hard-earned muscle

Human growth hormone is not only responsible for increased caloric burn but also slows down the aging process, making you younger both inside and out.