Looking to eliminate boredom, burn more calories, and add some intensity to your workout? The perfect answer could be high-intensity interval training or HIIT for short.  Everydayhealth.com explains why.

High-intensity interval training requires interspersing bursts of intense activity into your regular fitness program. “It’s a form of fitness training that alternates high-intensity work efforts with low- to moderate-intensity ‘recovery’ efforts,” explains

Leigh Crews, a spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise.

How Interval Training Helps

Adding interval training to your fitness program has both mental and physical benefits:

• You lose weight faster.
• By varying the intensity of your exercises, it changes things up.
• Interval training requires no special skills — the only thing needed is more effort on your part.
• You increase your fitness levels.
• You spend less time exercising, but you burn the same or more calories as with your normal
  routine.

Anyone can add interval training to a fitness routine.  If you are a walker or runner, find markers along the way.  Increase and decrease speed at each light pole you pass.  Or change up your speed each minute.  If you want to apply interval training to make your strength training workouts more intense, simply shorten the rest time in between sets. Not only will your workout time will be reduced, but you also will keep your heart rate up.