Let’s be honest, there’s nothing more motivating than seeing results from your workouts. Hours have been spent in the gym; sweat has been spilled, and there may or may not have been a few tears… all in the name of becoming leaner, more toned, faster, whatever your goal is.

But let’s flip that victorious situation on its head: you’re not seeing the changes in your body, despite your best efforts. This is a surefire way to feel demotivated, helpless, and just a tad frustrated. You may even use it as a free pass to face plant that container of ice-cream you’ve been eyeing off. But before you throw in the towel and give up, there’s a fantastic method called HIIT that you can introduce to seriously shake things up.

High-Intensity Interval training is a cardiorespiratory training method. It’s a proven way to drastically increase the intensity and results from your gym time. It alternates periods of speed and rest to get more bang for your buck, in a shorter amount of time. Basically, you’re giving a certain exercise your all for, say, one minute, then recovering for the same amount or slightly longer. These types of workouts lead to increased metabolism and fat burning, as well as improving your overall athletic and aerobic ability. You can slash your usual workout in half by exercising at about 90% of your capacity for the speed sections, rather than just hovering around 65% for the entire session. Not only that, but you create some serious afterburn in which your body continues burning calories at a faster rate for hours beyond the gym! Win-win.

So, how do you do this HIIT thing? Well, I’ll give you an example to get you started. Keep in mind that you can perform this workout on the treadmill, on a spin bike, or even doing things like burpees and jump squats! The possibilities are endless.

- 5 minute warm-up (level of perceived exertion = 3)
- 1 minute speed (level of perceived exertion = 9)
- 1 minute rest (level of perceived exertion = 6)

- Repeat this process 10 times

- 5 minute cool down (level of perceived exertion = 3)

This pattern gives you a fantastic 30 minute HIIT workout, with a total of 10 minutes high-intensity and high-speed work.

Give high-intensity interval training a go, it might just be that thing you’re looking for to amp up your routine.

Happy HIIT-ing!

(See more at the author's blog site: http://runningshoeschocolatemousse.com)