A while ago a question had come up about how to reap the benefits of HIIT w/o any the high impact exercises typically used for HIIT.
And to clarify any confusion ahead of time, HIIT = High INTENSITY Interval Training, not high impact interval training, yet b/c the exercises which are often chosen for HIIT are usually also high impact, it's easy to confuse the two. The high intensity part of that means getting the heart rate up to 80-95% of maximum.
Also, the "Interval" part of HIIT is the key to reaping the benefits of HIIT - the HR doesn't stay elevated as in steady-state cardio, instead it goes up and down along w/ the active and "resting" intervals ("resting" meaning lower intensity - to allow the HR to drop below 80%, not meaning doing nothing). So, having active interval followed by resting interval, and repeating those is crucial - otherwise it wouldn't be HIIT, it would be steady state cardio (whether LISS, MISS, or HISS, haha ;)).
While yes, one can do low-impact mods of high impact exercises, in personal experience, other than Runners or Lateral Leaps, or going at a crazy-fast speed for much, much longer active intervals, the low impact mods of typical exercises used for HIIT are not usually intense enough to get the HR into the "high intensity" zone, especially for the very short Tabata-style 20/10 or 30/10 intervals often utilized.
An alternative way to acheive high intensity w/o high impact is using weights - the weights increase the intensity w/o needing to jump to get the HR up into the high intensity zone quickly.
There are 2 excellent, highly effective low-impact HIIT options, which can easily be overlooked when thinking of HIIT: Kickboxing and Kettlebell.
Overall, there are 29 Kickboxing and 23 Kettlebell FB workouts, compared to 185 HIIT workouts.
While many of the Kickboxing workouts use intervals which can make it work for HIIT, and Kickboxing is intense enough to acheive a HR in the high intensity zone very quickly, there seem to be only a couple of Kettlebell workouts that can work for HIIT. Six of the Kettlebell workouts are marked as HIIT, but of these, 2 use typical high impact exercises for the HIIT instead of using kettlebell exercises alone for HIIT, and 2 of them aren't intense enough to easily achieve a HR in the high intensity zone.
Kettlebell workouts aren't only for people who have a kettlebell. I don't have a kettlebell, so I use dumbbells or a big laundry detergent bottle which has a handle. I've also used a sturdy cloth bag w/ handles or a weighted pack. Creative solutions to not having equipment is only limited by one's imagination. :)
Kettlebell workouts are such an effective, joint-friendly, low-impact option for HIIT, it would be really wonderful to see new Kettlebell workouts created specifically for that purpose here, which can open up the benefits of HIIT to those whose joints or age or injuries don't allow for typical high-impact HIIT exercises or kickboxing! :)
All that to say, I would really LOVE to see some short 10-15 minute add-on Kettlebell HIIT workouts which can be swapped in for the typical high impact HIIT in other workouts and/or added onto strength training and other workouts. :)
Kettlebell HIIT?
A while ago a question had come up about how to reap the benefits of HIIT w/o any the high impact exercises typically used for HIIT.
And to clarify any confusion ahead of time, HIIT = High INTENSITY Interval Training, not high impact interval training, yet b/c the exercises which are often chosen for HIIT are usually also high impact, it's easy to confuse the two. The high intensity part of that means getting the heart rate up to 80-95% of maximum.
Also, the "Interval" part of HIIT is the key to reaping the benefits of HIIT - the HR doesn't stay elevated as in steady-state cardio, instead it goes up and down along w/ the active and "resting" intervals ("resting" meaning lower intensity - to allow the HR to drop below 80%, not meaning doing nothing). So, having active interval followed by resting interval, and repeating those is crucial - otherwise it wouldn't be HIIT, it would be steady state cardio (whether LISS, MISS, or HISS, haha ;)).
While yes, one can do low-impact mods of high impact exercises, in personal experience, other than Runners or Lateral Leaps, or going at a crazy-fast speed for much, much longer active intervals, the low impact mods of typical exercises used for HIIT are not usually intense enough to get the HR into the "high intensity" zone, especially for the very short Tabata-style 20/10 or 30/10 intervals often utilized.
An alternative way to acheive high intensity w/o high impact is using weights - the weights increase the intensity w/o needing to jump to get the HR up into the high intensity zone quickly.
There are 2 excellent, highly effective low-impact HIIT options, which can easily be overlooked when thinking of HIIT: Kickboxing and Kettlebell.
Overall, there are 29 Kickboxing and 23 Kettlebell FB workouts, compared to 185 HIIT workouts.
While many of the Kickboxing workouts use intervals which can make it work for HIIT, and Kickboxing is intense enough to acheive a HR in the high intensity zone very quickly, there seem to be only a couple of Kettlebell workouts that can work for HIIT. Six of the Kettlebell workouts are marked as HIIT, but of these, 2 use typical high impact exercises for the HIIT instead of using kettlebell exercises alone for HIIT, and 2 of them aren't intense enough to easily achieve a HR in the high intensity zone.
Kettlebell workouts aren't only for people who have a kettlebell. I don't have a kettlebell, so I use dumbbells or a big laundry detergent bottle which has a handle. I've also used a sturdy cloth bag w/ handles or a weighted pack. Creative solutions to not having equipment is only limited by one's imagination. :)
Kettlebell workouts are such an effective, joint-friendly, low-impact option for HIIT, it would be really wonderful to see new Kettlebell workouts created specifically for that purpose here, which can open up the benefits of HIIT to those whose joints or age or injuries don't allow for typical high-impact HIIT exercises or kickboxing! :)
All that to say, I would really LOVE to see some short 10-15 minute add-on Kettlebell HIIT workouts which can be swapped in for the typical high impact HIIT in other workouts and/or added onto strength training and other workouts. :)