The Benefits of Circuit Training and HIIT for the Average Person

When I train clients for an hour or two per week, I am diligent to ensure that they are getting the maximum benefit from their time with me. Because time is limited, I like to use circuits and HIIT to help maximize the calories burned and cardio benefit. I use HIIT to burn fat and increase cardio endurance, and also use strength circuit training within the intervals to help build muscle at the same time.

HIIT gets a bad reputation because it tends to be really intense (hence High Intensity Interval Training), but the way I see it, you can do anything for 60 seconds, and I build my workouts from there. Obviously, programming is created based on individual limitations, but the goal is to challenge everyone and get the most out of each workout. That being said, HIIT has been proven to burn a lot of calories in a short time, and also increase metabolic rate for hours post-workout.

If we all had endless hours to exercise via moderate intensity waking, that would produce a great cardio and fat burning result as well. Unfortunately, the biggest barrier to fitness that I hear as a trainer is time, and this is one way to maximize a finite resource.