High intensity workouts can be some of the most effective fat burning and muscle retaining workouts out there.

The foundation for a regime of high intensity workouts is that they should be brief, intense, and infrequent.

That is, each session is shorter than your average cardio/weight training routine, the intensity is heightened to your personal limits, and the practice should not be daily.

A typical HIIT workout routine will consist mostly of cardio, while a high intensity workout could signify a weighlifting session, which is what we will be focusing on today.

If you are more interested in what HIIT is or want to check out a sample selection of interval training exercises, browse elsewhere on the site.

High Intensity Workouts

The premise behind high intensity training is to utilize less reps and higher weights in order to maximize efficiency.

Those who follow the high intensity weightlifting method have seen superior results in strength gains and building size over standard weightlifting methods, which may stress lower weights with a larger volume.

One unique aspect of high intensity training is the emphasis on “near exhaustion” and the use of negative reps (or lowering the weight to you) in order to fully exhaust the muscles.

Selecting the appropriate weight should be determined by your current condition and what you are able to handle at the time, ramping up as your results improve.

As an example, instead of doing 20 reps of 30 pounds, HIT workouts should consist of around 5-8 reps of the maximum weight you can handle.

It is up to you to determine this amount.

HIT sessions emphasize the smoothness and control of each rep; time should be taken to ensure that each rep is done properly, to avoid jerking and other motions that inhibit proper muscle gain.

As for negative reps, the idea is that although you may not be able to raise the weight for another full rep, you are certainly able to maintain (hold) the weigh “statically” (or still) for a further period of time.

So, for free weight chest exercises, one would not drop the weights if you could not complete the next rep, but instead hold the weights after you have lowered them to yourself and maintain their position until exhaustion.

Until all three (lifting, holding, and lowering) sections of a particular exercise can no longer be completed in a completely controlled manner, one cannot consider the muscle to be thoroughly exhausted or fully exercised.

As you can see, the philosophy behind HIT workouts is to place emphasis on absolute exhaustion and efficiency of  reps over the amount of reps being performed.

The typical high intensity workout will not look too different from a standard weightlifting procedure in terms of the exercises being performed, but rather the execution.

Keep these things in mind when doing your research and compiling your own HIT workout routine.