Belly Fat

Hello!

I hope you all had a good start to your week! The weather has been a bit… dreary here in Chicago recently, which Molly can attest to:

Since snow and ice have kept me away from the lakefront (a few other reasons as well), I’ve been doing almost all of my runs on the treadmill. I actually LOVE doing short runs on the treadmill because I can mess with the speed and make it more fun. Last week I put together this HIIT run for you all!

Why would you want to do an HIIT run versus a steady state run? Well, there are 7 main benefits to HIIT running:

1. Efficiency – You can easily shave 5 – 10 minutes off a run by adding in sprints to your regular “easy” pace, depending on the distance of the run.

2. Burn more fat – HIIT running increases your after burn, so you’re burning more fat for a longer period of time after the run.

3. Healthier heart – adding sprints into your routine increases your anaerobic capabilities, which helps your heart health.

4. No equipment necessary – you can do all kinds of cardio HIIT workouts (think burpees, jump squats, etc) with out equipment. To make it easy for running, alternate between jogging and sprinting for a certain time period or distance.

5. Lose weight, but not muscle – research shows that HIIT cardio exercises don’t cause you to lose muscle, which steady state can do.

6. Increase metabolism – HIIT cardio increases the production of Human Growth Hormone in your body after your workout. HGH is responsible for both increased caloric burn.

7. You can do it anywhere – HIIT running just requires somewhere to run, but if you do other cardio moves for an HIIT workout, you can do it anywhere from your apartment to a hotel room, or outside in a park! Great workout for traveling.

So now you know you should incorporate HIIT workouts into your routine, but how should you do it? Check out my 3 Mile HIIT Run!