And How To Incorporate Heart Zones Training
As the inventors and developers of zone training, Heart Zones is passionate about transforming your high intensity interval training by incorporating personalized fitness methodology and technology. Are you asking yourself, what is high intensity interval training and how can I optimize it using the Heart Zones method? High intensity interval training, also known as HIIT, is an exercise routine that alternates between short periods of intense, hard redline-effort exercise and less intense recovery periods, training your cardiovascular, muscular, and metabolic systems to be responsive and more efficient. High intensity interval training exercises typically last 30-40 minutes, beginning with a warm up period and ending with a cool down period, letting you ease in and out of vigorous exercise. To get the most out of these workouts, incorporate Heart Zones patented method of 3 to 5 zones to monitor the effort and the progress one builds over their lifetime of fitness. Get started now and check out our favorite four types of HIIT exercises.
1.) Indoor Cycling
Intensity during an indoor cycling workout is often misunderstood. Many believe that increasing resistance in the gears is the answer to getting fit faster, but high resistance isn’t always the answer. The real key to effective high intensity interval training for cycling is to understand your heart rate and power zones, for both performance and efficiency. As you monitor your Heart Zones sensor(s) and get to know your zones, you can then tailor your intervals to maximize strength and cardiovascular benefits—for example, if you want to build endurance, an important component of your aerobic fitness is to adjust your interval time so that you can stay in the lower and moderate Yellow zone for longer periods of time. However, if your goal is to increase your cycling speed, try to reach the Red zone, Zone 5, with less time and more intense intervals. It’s important to keep in mind that your individual fitness impacts your choice of zones and goal. It is easy to get caught up trying to pedal the hardest or fastest when you’re surrounded by others doing HIIT indoor cycling, but you’re really competing against yourself, trying to do your personal best.
2.) Stair Stepping Machine
Anyone who has ever been on any stepper knows that it can be an intense workout that gets your heart working hard—that’s why we love it. For most people, high intensity interval training on a stepper consists of 20-40 second intervals that vary between a slow climb and a leg-burning sprint. However, at Heart Zones, high intensity interval training is all about using the patented zone method to strategically build intensity based on your personalized fitness and goals. While using stepping equipment and monitoring your Heart Zones wearable sensor, you can spend time in each zone to achieve different benefits. For example, spending long intervals in the Blue zone, the easy Zone 1, burns some calories and promotes wellness, while spending the majority of intervals in the Yellow zone burns a lot of calories and adds the key component to endurance. Finally, spending some of your interval time in the high-hot-hard Red zone burns the most calories and enhances athletic performance. Remember that it’s important to track your heart rate because everyone is different. Each person responds to doses of exercise intensity at different absolute heart rate numbers. Understanding your body’s response during high intensity interval training shows that sweat isn’t the only indicator of a good workout—the data is king.
3.) Sprint Run-Walk Intervals
A lot of folks like to take a traditional approach to high intensity interval training, alternating between walking and sprinting during their intervals. But Heart Zones knows there’s a better way to optimize this type of HIIT workout by using zones to personalize interval intensity. For example, tracking your heart rate using a Heart Zones Blink 24 or a Blink 3.0 ensures that you’re working effectively in the appropriate zone, delivering the results you want. Maybe you’re aiming to burn a lot of calories and make improvements to your athletic performance—so you’d incorporate more sprint intervals of hard effort, or high intensity, to reach the Red zone. Remember that the heart rate you reach at the top of the Red zone is your maximum heart rate. You cannot maintain maximum heart rate for more than about 10 seconds before your body demands and receives recovery. It’s important to keep your eyes on your personal, individualized data to enhance your training in a safe and healthy manner.
4.) AMRAP
AMRAP stands for “as many rounds as possible,” meaning that the goal is to complete as many reps of a particular exercise as possible during a specific period of time. During this type of HIIT exercise, folks often focus on the amount of reps they can perform, but Heart Zones focuses on individualized heart rate data to understand zones and maximize training efficiency. By using Heart Zones wearable sensors and ZONING method during an AMRAP, you can easily identify your current zone so that you can adjust intensity accordingly, ensuring that you spend time in each zone for the optimum amount of time. Keeping a close eye on your zones means that you’re keeping a close eye on your progress and that gets you what you want—results.
Increase your fitness and athletic performance, improve your health, and engage your body with high intensity interval training and Heart Zones individualized fitness data. When you optimize your usual HIIT routine to include ZONE training, you receive meaningful biofeedback that propels you toward achieving your personal goals while also motivating you to do your personal best in every HIIT workout. Shop for a Heart Zones wearable today, or check out any of Sally Edwards’ books on zone training for fitness, health, and performance.