Palm Beach Health Center

These days, gym memberships tend to seem like a necessity – but how often do they get used? They can be pricey, intimidating, and difficult to fit into your schedule to maximize their value. We all know exercise is an important part of achieving true health – but does exercise require a gym membership? And even more importantly, what KIND of exercise should we be doing? More and more research is showing the efficacy of High-Intensity Interval Training (or HIIT) – where you intentionally go from maxing your heart rate to slowing your heart rate in regular intervals. This helps you burn more fat, build a healthier heart, and boost your metabolism. In fact, a study out of Quebec, Canada found that a regimen of HIIT cardio workouts helped people lose nine times more fat than those who trained the traditional cardio way of moderate speed for 20-60 minutes. Best of all – it’s FAST and CONVENIENT. No gym needed – you can literally do HIIT anywhere, no equipment is needed, and you can complete a fat-busting, metabolism-boosting workout in under 20 minutes!A typical HIIT routine includes 1 minute of intense activity, followed by 1 minute of less intense movement for 10 – 15 minutes. I’m not going to sugarcoat it - it’s challenging during your minute “on” – but completely doable because you know it’s only a short amount of time, and you’re going to get a break in less than a minute!Since we are fortunate enough to live in sunny Palm Beach, we LOVE taking our exercise routine to the beach. Not only does it provide a great backdrop, it tends to help take your mind off the physical challenge. If you’d like to view a sample HIIT workout that is completely doable on the beach without ANY equipment, visit this link.No time to get to the beach? No problem! Just take 10-15 minutes wherever you are to do some of the basic HIIT moves, including jump squats, skater lunges, mountain climbers, high knees, jumping jacks, burpees – basically ANYTHING that gets you moving and elevates your heart rate in a hurry. You can even just run in place as long as you’re getting your heart rate up to 85 – 90% of your maximum heart rate. (Find out your maximum heart rate by using this calculator: http://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/heartrate,.So, give HIIT a try – you’ve got nothing to lose but unwanted fat!!