Here is a great HIIT workout thats easy to follow.

I got this treadmill workout out of Oxygen magazine. It is great because it gives you the whole thirty min calorie burn before you really get into sprinting. I am putting up the intermediate and advanced  workout, I suggest trying the intermediate one first to gauge where you are. I adjust the advanced one a little for my taste, but this is how the mag has it. The intention with the sprinting is to totally wear yourself out and to get a great after burn. You can follow up with a 30min steady state cardio if you like or even lift weights before the treadmill work( not legs you wont be able to sprint well).

Intermediate                     Advanced

Minutes      Speed

1-5             3.0                  1-5      3.0

5-10           4.0                  5-10     5.0

11-13        3.5                  10-11     5.0

13-14        6.0                  11-13     4.5

14-16        3.5                  13-14     6.0

16-17       6.5                   14-16     4.5

17-19       4.0                   16-17      7.0

19-20       6.5                   17-19      4.5

20-22       4.0                   19-20      7.0

22-23        7.0                  20-22      4.5

23-25        4.0                  22-23      8.0

25-30        3.0                  23-25      4.5

                                        25-30      5.5

                                        30-30.30   8-9  I start at 8 and each interval increase.

                                        30.30-31   rest. From here to 40min you sprint for 30 seconds and then rest for thirty seconds. I just step on the side boards of the treadmill instead of messing with the speed, then get back on after thirty sec. Good luck

Good luck with that.

sounds like a nice challenge. maybe i'll try it tomorrow. thanks!

In all honesty, the routine you listed just sounds like regular interval training. The first clue is how long the routine is. Anything over 20 minutes isn't HIIT. HIIT stands for HIGH INTENSITY interval training which means you are pushing yourself 100% the whole time and not just on the tail end of the workout. If you are doing true HIIT and really pushing yourself on every sprint interval, you shouldn't be able to last more than 20 minutes at the most. Really effective HIIT routines, only last 10-15 minutes. The most intense (Tabata training) only takes four minutes doing 20 seconds @ 100% and only 10 seconds rest.

Next time you do HIIT, try doing it this way. Warm up for 3-5 minutes. Then for 15 seconds go 100%. I mean as fast as you can go without losing your balance on the treadmill. This should be at least a 10.0 or higher on speed. Then for 45 seconds go at a slower pace. For the next 15 minutes or so, keep switching off between your true 100% sprint @ 15 seconds and a slower 45 second pace. By the time 20 minutes hits, you should be dead tired. You can make it even more challenging by using a 1:2 ratio (20/40) or a 1:1 (20.20).

Original Post by vyperman7:

In all honesty, the routine you listed just sounds like regular interval training. The first clue is how long the routine is. Anything over 20 minutes isn't HIIT. HIIT stands for HIGH INTENSITY interval training which means you are pushing yourself 100% the whole time and not just on the tail end of the workout. If you are doing true HIIT and really pushing yourself on every sprint interval, you shouldn't be able to last more than 20 minutes at the most. Really effective HIIT routines, only last 10-15 minutes. The most intense (Tabata training) only takes four minutes doing 20 seconds @ 100% and only 10 seconds rest.

Next time you do HIIT, try doing it this way. Warm up for 3-5 minutes. Then for 15 seconds go 100%. I mean as fast as you can go without losing your balance on the treadmill. This should be at least a 10.0 or higher on speed. Then for 45 seconds go at a slower pace. For the next 15 minutes or so, keep switching off between your true 100% sprint @ 15 seconds and a slower 45 second pace. By the time 20 minutes hits, you should be dead tired. You can make it even more challenging by using a 1:2 ratio (20/40) or a 1:1 (20.20).

 I agree, true HIIT is going all out, as fast as you can go for a short period of time, then recovering. Not by stopping all together but by bringing the speed down. The bring it up again to all all out pace. What is posted is interval training which is good but different than HIIT.

Next time you do HIIT, try doing it this way. Warm up for 3-5 minutes. Then for 15 seconds go 100%. I mean as fast as you can go without losing your balance on the treadmill. This should be at least a 10.0 or higher on speed. Then for 45 seconds go at a slower pace. For the next 15 minutes or so, keep switching off between your true 100% sprint @ 15 seconds and a slower 45 second pace. By the time 20 minutes hits, you should be dead tired. You can make it even more challenging by using a 1:2 ratio (20/40) or a 1:1 (20.20).

 I agree, true HIIT is going all out, as fast as you can go for a short period of time, then recovering. Not by stopping all together but by bringing the speed down. The bring it up again to all all out pace. What is posted is interval training which is good but different than HIIT.

Do any of you know if something like this would work in a ski machine like a NordicTrack?  I just inherited an old crosscountry ski machine from my mother-in-law and have been using it with pretty good results - I wanted to see if it would work for HIIT.  Has anyone tried it?  Would 15 seconds all-out followed by 45 seconds active recovery work as a first attempt? 

Original Post by cc31:

Next time you do HIIT, try doing it this way. Warm up for 3-5 minutes. Then for 15 seconds go 100%. I mean as fast as you can go without losing your balance on the treadmill. This should be at least a 10.0 or higher on speed. Then for 45 seconds go at a slower pace. For the next 15 minutes or so, keep switching off between your true 100% sprint @ 15 seconds and a slower 45 second pace. By the time 20 minutes hits, you should be dead tired. You can make it even more challenging by using a 1:2 ratio (20/40) or a 1:1 (20.20).

 I agree, true HIIT is going all out, as fast as you can go for a short period of time, then recovering. Not by stopping all together but by bringing the speed down. The bring it up again to all all out pace. What is posted is interval training which is good but different than HIIT.

Do any of you know if something like this would work in a ski machine like a NordicTrack?  I just inherited an old crosscountry ski machine from my mother-in-law and have been using it with pretty good results - I wanted to see if it would work for HIIT.  Has anyone tried it?  Would 15 seconds all-out followed by 45 seconds active recovery work as a first attempt? 

 You can do HIIT many different ways. The key is going all out for a period of time, then bring it back down for a minute or so to recover and then all out again. Read more here http://www.projectswole.com/conditioning/what -is-hiit-high-intensity-interval-training-and -how-should-you-use-it/

You can do HIIT many different ways. The key is going all out for a period of time, then bring it back down for a minute or so to recover and then all out again. Read more here http://www.projectswole.com/conditioning/what -is-hiit-high-intensity-interval-training-and -how-should-you-use-it/

 

Unfortunately it seems something is wrong with the website, because I can't get to your link (I even did a google search for projectswole.com and I get an error when loading the page).  I'll keep checking to see if it gets fixed...very interested to read it.

Regardless, shortly after I posted my question, I went downstairs to give the NordicTrack HIIT a try.  I did 20 seconds all out, followed by 40 seconds recovery.  I managed to do that that for 20 minutes (with a 5 min warmup) but was seriously struggling after minute 15.  I think it was a success, since I was soaked and dead afterward!  It was an excellent workout, and I'll definitely keep it in the mix.

Original Post by cc31:

You can do HIIT many different ways. The key is going all out for a period of time, then bring it back down for a minute or so to recover and then all out again. Read more here http://www.projectswole.com/conditioning/what -is-hiit-high-intensity-interval-training-and -how-should-you-use-it/

 

Unfortunately it seems something is wrong with the website, because I can't get to your link (I even did a google search for projectswole.com and I get an error when loading the page).  I'll keep checking to see if it gets fixed...very interested to read it.

Regardless, shortly after I posted my question, I went downstairs to give the NordicTrack HIIT a try.  I did 20 seconds all out, followed by 40 seconds recovery.  I managed to do that that for 20 minutes (with a 5 min warmup) but was seriously struggling after minute 15.  I think it was a success, since I was soaked and dead afterward!  It was an excellent workout, and I'll definitely keep it in the mix.

 

 See if this works

http://www.projectswole.com/conditioning/what -is-hiit-high-intensity-interval-training-and -how-should-you-use-it/

Sounds like you figured it out for yourself. 20 minutes is plenty for HIIT. And you should be spent when you are done. One of the nice things about HIIT is that is shortens your workout time.

littleshellys: Wow, thank you!  The link worked now. 

What an excellent resource!  I have definitely bookmarked the site and will be making my way through the different sections.  Thank you for sharing it!!

You're welcome. I have a ton of information on HIIT, sprinting, interval training and clean eating if you are interested in anything else let me know. Good luck.