Fit 4 Life | A HIIT for the summer

The summer heat won't be leaving any time soon. Since the temperatures will stay the same over the next few months, to protect yourself from heat-related illnesses, you might have to tweak your fitness programme a bit. Besides hydration, clothing and weather, there are other factors to consider; for example, time and intensity.

The duration, time of day, and intensity of exercise are things we can change to make exercise safer without cutting its effectiveness during periods of hot weather.

Long, intense exercise sessions in hot weather can be dangerous, especially in the absence of proper hydration. Breaking up long sessions with hydration breaks every 20 minutes on hot days is a good practice.

Sure, the hydration is important, but a short break will give your body some time to try to lower its temperature before going at it again.

SHORTER MORE INTENSE SESSIONS

Another approach for managing duration is to replace long training sessions with shorter more intense sessions. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is the perfect candidate for this. Long cardio sessions can be replaced with short early-morning high-intensity sessions, thereby reducing exposure to the dangerous mix of exercise and high temperatures.

A HIIT routine that can be done with minimal equipment and which can be done in small spaces – such as an air-conditioned living or bedroom?

Fit 4 Life took on the challenge to develop such a routine.
Another requirement this routine had to meet was to be low impact, that is, easy on the joints. That requirement was added as a follow-up to the joint health series from earlier this year. As a result, the exercises are easy to follow, hard to get wrong and safe for the average person.

Try it out.

Do four reps of each of the following move without rest. After completing all exercises, rest for 15-25 seconds and repeat. Complete seven sets.

THE MOVES

a. Superman

b. Toe touch

c. Figure-eight

d. Power knee

e. Med ball swing

f. Squat press

- Marvin Gordon is a fitness coach; email: marvin.gordon@physiqueandfunction.com; yourhealth@gleanerjm.com