15 Best Ways to Balance HIIT Workout With Strength Training
1. What is a HIIT Workout?
High Intensity Interval Training is a type of workout involving physical exercises which increase your heart rate. It consists of intense exercises with shorter time intervals and shorter resting periods.
1.1. Why Do a HIIT Workout?
HIIT workouts can be done for many reasons such as weight loss, muscle building, boosting metabolism, and decreasing the likelihood of contracting cardiovascular diseases. The most important reason for HIIT workout is for strength training. It makes muscles strong and efficient.
2. Why is it Important to Balance HIIT with Strength Training?
As HIIT training involves shorter rest periods, it is easy to become fatigued quickly. Many athletes become too exhausted to maintain a schedule, resulting in skipped workout sessions. A way to avoid this is by balancing a HIIT workout with strength training.
Strength training involves exercises that focus on building muscle strength. Balancing a HIIT workout with strength training works the muscles and helps people stay in peak physical form. Basically, it develops great physical strength.
3. 15 Best Ways to Balance HIIT Workouts with Strength Training
3.1. Warm Up Before You Work Out
Even if you are suffering from chronic fatigue, totally refraining from HIIT is not the solution. You must reduce your pace a little bit, instead of abandoning HIIT. Warm up before your workout, make sure to warm up first. Start with less intense exercises that do not quickly increase your heart rate within seconds. A few examples of simple workout exercises include lunges and lifts. After you are done, transition to muscle-strengthening exercises to increase blood flow. Doing warm-ups will help improve your performance and reduce the risk of injury.
It will make your workout more effective. You can start by marching forward and backward on the same spot. You can lift your arms and knees simultaneously.
It is a simple warm-up before your workout which will balance your heavy HIIT workout.
3.2. Tabata Training
Tabata training is more strenuous than HIIT due to being 4 minutes of intense exercises with only 10 seconds of rest in between.
- During the first 20 seconds of Tabata, you exercise intensely giving 80-90% of your power and then rest for 10 seconds
- Repeat the same exercise for 20 seconds then rest for 10 seconds
- Do these exercises at least eight times within 4 minutes and you have completed one Tabata.
It will make a huge impact on your workout.
3.3. Cardio
It is possible to do cardio even if you are exhausted by HIIT since it does not require a lot of energy to complete. It will only increase your heart rate to a level where you will not exhaust so much. You can go for a treadmill.
You must do cardio exercises for 30-60 seconds, then rest for 30-60 seconds. Perform several circuits of the same exercise. Incorporating cardio in your HIIT workout will increase your body temperature and heart rate.
3.4. Focus on Your Breathing
Breathing rate can be increased by taking deep breaths and increasing your lung capacity, you will be able to take in more oxygen. You can also increase your lung capacity by holding your breath for longer durations. Belly breathing is a type of breathing where you engage your diaphragm and inhale until there is as little air in your lungs as possible.
3.5. Strength Training
Strength training consists of those exercises which help increase muscle strength. Unlike weight training that focuses on lifting heavy weights, Strength training helps improve flexibility and balance, lowers the risk of injuring your muscles, helps with weight loss, improves mental health, and reduces the risk of cognitive diseases.
Squats
Squats involve working every leg muscle when bending your knees and raising your upper body. Squats help keep the lower body fit without injuring your ligaments, tendons, bones, and muscles do not get injured.
Abdominal Crunches
Abdominal Crunches are performed to shape the core muscles of the human body. These exercises also improve body posture and increase the functioning of muscles. They are also great for shredding unwanted body fat.
Most appropriately, they are great for the muscles of the abdominal cavity which includes the spine and hip muscles.
3.6. Short Rest Periods
High intensity exercises have a higher risk of injury and can result in sore muscles. Rest periods in HIIT workouts are very short. To create a balance between this heavy workout so that an individual does not suffer from chronic fatigue, it is best to increase the duration of your rest breaks so your muscles have time to relax and recover.
It will not put more pressure on the muscles and will let them relax. So, in the next workout, you can function properly.
3.7. Goal-Oriented Workout
When planning a workout, make sure to set a realistic end goal. It will not divulge you from your objectives and helps you focus on your workout. For example, if you want to balance your HIIT workout more manageably, set a goal that focuses on those less intense exercises which minimize your intensive training such as squats or abdominal crunches.
3.8. Go for a Walk
Walking can also be a part of a high-intensity HIIT workout with shorter rest intervals. But if you wish to make your HIIT workout more manageable, you can slow down your walking pace. Each round you go walking can be shortened or done at an average speed to keep your muscles from becoming sore. Walking can help maintain cardiovascular fitness. It is also good for increasing muscular endurance and improving your sleeping habits.
3.9. Cycling
Indoor and outdoor cycling can improve your muscles’ flexibility and enhance their strength. Cycling works for almost every major muscle group and has little risk of causing serious injury, Almost all the major muscles in the body are involved during cycling. It is also very healthy for aerobic fitness.
3.10. Be Mindful of Protein Intake
To ensure better performance, you must have a balanced protein intake in your diet. To avoid exhaustion during a HIIT workout with strength training, your average protein intake should be 0.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight. Strength Training will include many exercises which can exhaust individuals if they are not taking a nutritious diet.
Sufficient protein intake will help facilitate a speedy recovery and help you build strong muscles. Alongside protein, you must also consume enough carbohydrates to get your vital nutrients. Though protein can help provide energy for intense exercise, carbs are the primary source of energy for the body. Since you sweat a lot when doing intense exercises, proteins provide energy for intense exercises.
Intensive exercises can cause the individual to dehydrate. You must drink a sufficient amount of fluids before, during, and after your workouts. Due to sweating, electrolytes are lost during workouts.
3.11. Mind-Body Exercise
This exercise relaxes the mind. Yoga is a perfect example of a mind-body exercise since it involves maintaining good body posture, controlling your breathing exercises, and maintaining the balance between physical and mental health.
3.12. Sprinting
For building muscles for strength training, sprinting is adopted. It involves running across short distances at fast speeds as quickly as possible. Though often avoided due to fear of injury, sprinting can help improve physical fitness and muscle strength.
3.13. Rowing
Rowing is a full-body workout that works your arms, legs, and core muscles. This exercise can improve endurance, physical strength, and weight loss without having to drastically increase your breathing rate. In addition to increasing physical strength, it also helps in weight loss.
3.14. Swimming
Swimming is a full-body workout that can improve stamina, strengthen all the major muscle groups, and coordinate between your mind and limbs. For swimming, you can choose the pace that you train, gradually increasing the difficulty as you see fit.
3.15. Meditation
Meditation must not be infused with yoga. Yoga involves physical exercises whereas meditation focuses on calming the mind and relaxing the nerves of individuals and does not let them miss the workout routine. It broadens their view to focus more on their goals.
4. Conclusion
A HIIT workout is an intense form of exercise that can be balanced with strength training to make it more manageable. Strength training helps build up physical strength, help you control your breathing, and gradually allows you to exercise longer without becoming fatigued.