The Best Low-Impact HIIT Workout For Skiers
You may have heard the acronym HIIT tossed around between members at your gym while discussing plans to change up their workout routines. Or you may have seen it printed on flyers advertising new intense exercise classes at your local community center. But do you know what it really means?
HIIT is high-intensity interval training, which is a particular style of exercising. With HIIT, you organize your exercise circuit to include working out at a high intensity for short periods. In between these bursts of intense exercise, you do low-intensity activity that allows you to rest before diving into the high-intensity periods once again.
HIIT workouts might sound intimidating, especially if you are new to working out or tend to deal with joint pain. The good news is that you can personalize a HIIT workout, so it works for you. If you’re interested in skiing fitness, you can create a great low-impact HIIT workout with Aeroski for a joint-friendly exercise plan that gives you all of the benefits of HIIT workouts.
HIIT Workouts 101
Before you get started with adding a low-impact HIIT workout to your exercise plan, take a look at what makes a HIIT workout, so you’re prepared to design the best one for you.
- Intensity — During the high-intensity portions of a HIIT workout, you’re meant to be working out very intensely. In the ideal case, you should hit the target zone of 80 to 95 percent of your maximum heart rate during a HIIT workout. You can try out apps or fitness watches to help determine when you’re in this zone and work your way up to this level if you aren’t used to working out at such a high intensity. If you have underlying health conditions, you should consult a doctor before considering workouts of this intensity.
- Intervals — Clearly defined intervals are key to HIIT workouts. When creating the HIIT workout that’s right for you, try to stick to a 1:2 ratio for high-intensity to low-intensity intervals. For example, you could do 30-second sprints interspersed with one minute periods of moderate movements. The intense sprints get your heart rate up, while the periods of moderate paced movements allow you to rest before sprinting again.
Explore the Benefits of Low-Impact HIIT Workouts
HIIT workouts aren’t just another fitness craze that only sounds cool or looks impressive. There are actually many benefits to HIIT workouts and a lot of research has been done on them. Low-impact HIIT workouts can be just as beneficial while also being kind to your joints.
Some of these benefits include:
- Burning Fat
- Building Muscle
- Endurance Gains
- Cardiovascular Benefits
- Long-Term Joint Health
Burn Fat More Quickly
HIIT workouts are often touted for their fat-burning health benefits. They’re considered to be more effective in burning calories and reducing body fat than other types of typical workouts. One study comparing different forms of exercise found that HIIT workouts were more effective at burning calories than workouts such as lifting weights or running.
A low-impact HIIT workout still involves high-intensity exercise and an elevated heart rate - two ingredients key to weight loss routines. An effective, intense workout doesn’t have to be hard on your joints. With Aeroski’s at-home skiing fitness machine, you can perform a low-impact, high-intensity workout that results in high oxygen consumption, promoting weight loss and calorie burning.
Build Muscle
Another plus to doing HIIT workouts is the strength and tone that your muscles will benefit from. A HIIT workout can be the answer if you don’t have room in your schedule for time-consuming traditional bodybuilding workouts with free weights.
And whether weightlifting isn’t your cup of tea or isn’t great on your joints, Aeroski is the perfect skiing fitness solution for a low-impact HIIT workout. Aeroski builds and tones muscle throughout your body by targeting all major muscle groups without putting stress on your joints, making it the perfect joint-friendly alternative to traditional weightlifting.
Improve Endurance
The benefits of HIIT workouts aren’t just reduced body fat or increased muscle tone in the short term. HIIT workouts improve your endurance in the long term. Some endurance athletes even use HIIT workouts to improve their overall fitness and performance.
A study from 2018 found that HIIT exercises were associated with improved explosive power, speed, and agility in participants after just six weeks. This study used Plyometric exercises as the high-intensity workouts for their participants.
Aeroski’s skiing fitness machine is based on Plyometric training, so it’s the perfect addition to a low-impact HIIT workout that can build speed and endurance. Traditional Plyometric exercise is both intense and high-impact, but Aeroski is a low-impact skiing fitness solution that offers you all of the high-intensity benefits with none of the stress on your joints.
Benefit Cardiovascular Health
HIIT workouts can also improve your heart health. Research has shown that HIIT workouts are at least as effective at improving cardiovascular risk factors and more effective in improving cardiorespiratory fitness in less time than moderate-intensity continuous training in obese adults.
This suggests that HIIT workouts can be more effective than traditional exercise routines in bettering cardiovascular health. If you are starting an exercise program and have any cardiovascular conditions, be sure to check with your physician before diving into HIIT workouts.
Long-Term Joint Health
Any exercise routine should prioritize both short-term gains and your long-term health. A low-impact HIIT workout will protect your joints so you can keep exercising and stay active for many years to come.
HIIT workouts can actually put you at greater risk for injuries, particularly in the knees, ankles and shoulders, due to overload or performing activities such as weight lifting with improper form. A low-impact HIIT workout is the best way to sidestep these kinds of common joint injuries. Aeroski makes safely and effectively performing a low-impact HIIT workout easy with a skiing fitness machine that uses your own body weight as resistance, so stress isn’t put on your lower joints.
Customize Your Low-Impact HIIT Workout with Aeroski
The best thing about HIIT workouts is that they are flexible and can be customized to your lifestyle and exercise needs. Whether you are a skier looking to perform HIIT workouts in the offseason or just a fan of Aeroski’s skiing fitness machine, Aeroski is the perfect addition to a low-impact HIIT workout.
Find the Time
If a busy schedule is keeping you from working out, HIIT workouts are the answer. HIIT workouts tend to range from 4 to 20 minutes. Squeezing a low-impact HIIT workout into your day is easy. All you need is five extra minutes.
You don’t even have to leave your house to get in a low-impact HIIT workout when you have Aeroski, the skiing fitness machine that is the perfect addition to your home gym. Whether you work from home or make a daily commute, having an Aeroski at home means a high-quality, low-impact workout machine is right at your fingertips, no matter how busy your day is.
Aeroski is a great, convenient way for skiers to stay in shape at home too. If you don’t have time to take a vacation and hit the slopes, you can still maintain your skiing fitness and reap all of the benefits of a low-impact HIIT workout with Aeroski. Aeroski is based on the motions of downhill skiing, so you get to work out the same muscles from your living room.
Get Started at Any Fitness Level
A low-impact HIIT workout can be an excellent option for those of all fitness levels, from avid exercise enthusiasts who still want to make fitness gains while recovering from a joint injury to those with recurrent joint pain who are seeking a joint-friendly way to build strength and muscle tone.
Aeroski offers beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, so you can choose how much energy you’re going to expend based on your workout goals and individual exercise experience. You can also go back and forth between resistance levels to customize your workout.
Add Variety to Your Workout
HIIT workouts come in many forms, but a lot of them are anchored in the gym and can become repetitive and even boring over time. Repeating elements in intervals is central to HIIT workouts, but a low-impact HIIT workout can be exciting with Aeroski.
Aeroski combines a skiing fitness machine with VR goggles and ski poles, meaning that you can experience alpine scenery while completing a low-impact HIIT workout. Immerse yourself in the VR world and forget that you’re even working out. Get an Aeroski machine for yourself and never be bored by HIIT workouts or any other type of workout again!