Research has found that high-intensity interval training, known as HIIT, is effective at removing damaged mitochondrial proteins and helps to resynthesize new ones. This is very beneficial when it comes to aging because the mitochondrial proteins reduce slowly with age.
A HIIT routine you can try:
- 10-minute warm-up
- Four minutes of high intensity
- Three minutes of rest.
Doing a total of 4 of those HIIT cycles with a five-minute cool-down gives a total workout time of 40 minutes.
It’s important that people take time to work up to a routine by having a warm-up phase. This avoids the risk of starting at too intense of a level which would inevitably lead to injury. If you want to try HIIT, try starting at a lower intensity like a 1:3 ratio (1 minute of intense work followed by 3 minutes of rest). As you progress, you can then begin to increase the intensity or intervals throughout the workout.
The high-intensity intervals are performed at about 90% of a person’s maximal capacity. For a warm-up phase, it’s important to use a lower intensity of around 70% for the first couple of weeks, and then once you achieve a nice adaptation period, you can then go to those higher intensities of 90% or higher.
Incorporating HIIT into a personal workout can be a very effective choice for trying to improve your fitness level regardless of what point you are at. An example of its flexibility is if someone is not achieving their goals in a time that they’d like to, perhaps they look at the intensity, and by increasing the intensity, they can achieve goals more effectively.
HIIT is a fantastic habit to get into but it’s important to have a day off in between workouts. As well when you’re not doing HIIT you can maybe try a lower intensity exercise like yoga or incorporate in some weightlifting.