The Science Behind Building Lean Muscle With HIIT Workouts

By Russell Howe


High intensity interval training is not usually a response you would get if you asked someone for tips on how to build muscle. Yet, today you are going to find out why HIIT is one of the most effective ways to build more lean mass in considerably less time than other training protocols.

Using HIIT as a form of resistance training may sound impossible, but it's not.

HIIT is very versatile. In the past few years it has been stereotyped as a cardiovascular workout, but in truth it can be applied to strength based training quite easily, too.

The earliest reports on this training protocol heavily featured resistance training, believe it or not. Coaches would often get their athletes to perform at nearly maximum intensity while in the gym to enhance their ability on the track. The fitness benefits are proven.

After all, interval training is essentially the same as weight training. Rest, lift, rest, lift...

Most people who are using intervals for fat loss results are doing so because they are chasing the fabled afterburn effect. This is the post workout recovery phase which follows an interval based workout, where the body can continue to burn calories and fat for a number of hours on autopilot.

Despite taking less time, interval based routines have been shown in various scientific research papers to burn off considerably more calories and body fat than straightforward aerobic activity.

But if weight training is essentially just another form of HIIT, why aren't most weight lifting gym members already seeing the full benefits of it? There are two reasons why...

They quite often lift loads which are too light to push their body to new results and they also rest for long durations of time between each set.

Failing to take care of those two problems will see any workout routine fall flat on it's own face. That's because the foundation of HIIT is low rest and maximum workloads.

Use the following tips to employ HIIT into any gym based resistance program...

Lower your rest periods to allow for no more than one minute of rest per set. As weeks progress, push yourself to even lower rest periods. This will greatly increase your fitness.

Your workouts will feel more like cardio than anything else, but your fitness levels will go sky high as a result.

If you are looking to use the latest scientific methods showing how to build muscle then you could do a lot worse than incorporating high intensity interval training in to your gym plan. The method is proven and time-tested, making it a great choice.




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