Usually, I just ignore these prompts as I don’t find anything of my interest. But, this topic is a bit interesting, so I decided to participate.
When, it comes to physical activity or exercising, I do engage in a certain workout or activity and invest 6 days a week to it. This regularity, worked wonders for me, and now I feel I am way more capable than I was at the age of 24.
Selecting the right kind of workout or exercise routine, that works for you is crucial and in this post, I’ll be talking about my favorite.
Favorite physical activities or exercises
I love doing HIIT. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. As the name suggests, it is high intensity, with moves that are high paced and have very short duration of breaks. This form comes under the cardio exercises, where you don’t necessarily use any equipment and perform the exercises back to back.
I used to do cardio even before pandemic, but during pandemic, I needed something that can be done at home with minimum space and equipments. That’s when I learned about HIIT and I started doing exercises that I was seeing on YouTube.
HIIT is very demanding, it requires, great amount of stamina, endurance and precision. I won’t be saying, I was a beginner, when I first started doing HIIT, because I was on and off with gym since 2016. And during pandemic, I started learning HIIT more and more.
Sometimes these sessions were of 30 mins, 50 mins etc. and these were very challenging, and you get very tired if you complete 1 session of 40–50 mins.
But, honestly, HIIT wasn’t helping me to lose weight during the pandemic. It was keeping me active, but I was getting lethargic and lazy about it and with a bad diet, I was putting on more weight and felt that HIIT was getting tougher for me.
I was reluctant to re-join the gym as I was not sure if it’s safe to go to gym after the lockdown was lifted.
I joined gym
When I re-joined the gym in 2022, I realized that I was lacking a lot. With much bigger place and more equipments, I realized that HIIT didn’t improve my stamina or anything. I continued doing HIIT, but I included weight training as well.
With a good diet and a scheduled workout, I am able to lose 28 kg. But, people also think that HIIT or cardio helped me lose that much weight. I would say Nah Nah.
Cardio did nothing, HIIT did nothing. Yes, it is my favorite form of workout, but for weight loss, you may need a lot more.
Why you may need HIIT or Cardio
There are 2 things to this.
First, you may need cardio at first if you have joined a gym. I have seen a lot of people at gym, who are clueless with dumbbells and machines, and they don’t know what they are doing. Cardio is for them, because it teaches them foundation. It teaches them basic of any exercise and for beginners it is safe.
If done properly, cardio is a great form of exercise. Whether you are skinny or fat, small or big, you may need cardio at first before immediately started lifting weights.
This is just my opinion, I could be wrong. But at gym, when you start lifting weights immediately and if you do it incorrectly, then you can injure yourself for life. That is why, cardio is great for beginners to learn and understand how various exercises works. Or, it could be for those who want to add something extra to their routine.
Cardio can include a lot of things, it could be body weight, or with band, ropes, machine like treadmills/runners, dance session, or with a lightweight equipment, but it is to build a foundation. I personally learned many complex exercises because I was comfortable with HIIT/cardio.
But, the second thing is, you may not need cardio at all.
Why you may not need HIIT or Cardio
Look, if you want to lose weight, and you think only cardio or HIIT can help you lose weight, then you are wrong. As I mentioned above, that people at gym thinks that high intensity exercise helped me lose weight, but they know nothing about me.
Yes, HIIT helps in burning fat, but after a point it stops working. If you keep doing that without weight training or plan, then you will see your body will not get into the shape you desired.
You may get loose skin, and after a point you won’t lose weight at all. I used HIIT for excitement and thrill, because it is fun. But, you may need a lot more to get results after a point.
I used to do HIIT 4–5 times a week, now I do HIIT 2 times a month or sometimes only once a month. Because, now, my body demands weight training. Plus, HIIT takes a toll on my body, now I don’t have stamina issues, but HIIT may be hard on joints, and it’s not for every age. I do feel 24 now, but I should realize that now at the age of 30, it’s the perfect time to take care of joints.
I will talk about how weight training could or could not be for you in a future post. I never promoted any specific form of exercise, and here I am not promoting HIIT or weight training. I would love to share my personal experience, so that people can enjoy workout safely.
HIIT may or may not be for you. I still enjoy it, because it gives an excitement. But, our goal should always be staying fit and active. In the next post, I will talk about why everyone should move their body.
Until next time, Keep smiling.
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