HIIT confusion, quick question.

If im going maximum level all i can for a while, until i can barely keep myself up anymore, and then lower the speed and intensity for about 2 minutes, and go back up to the fullspeed, would that be considered HIIT? Or just working out vigorously?

Thanks.

Edit: Even if i push myself to about 2-3 minutes, then have like 5 minutes of recovery? As in going much slower so my HR goes from 175 to like 160-155, for some reason it wont get lower unless i like completely stop..

What you're doing sounds like HIIT to me.  Check out this site for a training plan: http://musclemedia.com/training/hiit_table.as p

It fits the description, but you may want to give your routine a little more structure...  the link runyourlife provided is a good one... or you can check this one

HIIT routines

Sounds like HIIT to me. I alternate a 60-120 seconds of sprinting with 60 seconds of jogging for 20 minutes.  It is one of my favorite treadmill workouts since it goes by quickly and isn't horribly boring.  Good luck!

"I alternate a 60-120 seconds of sprinting with 60 seconds of jogging for 20 minutes."

To the OP, it sounds like HIIT.  But to the post above, I do not believe this is considered HIIT because you never let you heart rate come all the way back down.  There are 2 part to High Intensity INTERVAL Training.  The first part is the sprinting intervals and the second is the recovery intervals.  If you don't fully recover, I don't think you get the same results...

In HIIT you want to keep your sprint intervals relatively short (15-20 seconds) because after 20 seconds or so you begin to lose steam even though you think you are still going at 100%. A good rule of thumb starting out is to have your recovery interval be three times as long as the sprint. I like using 15 second sprint and 45 second recovery because each overall interval comes out to be a minute. So if I do 10 intervals, I know I have done ten minutes. It makes it easier to keep track of how long you have gone.

Hope this helps.

HIIT is anything that eleveates your heart rate to the 85+ target heartrate zone, in other words, anything that requires a vigorous effort is HIIT

be careful with overdoing high intensity training tho tho.  Too much HIIT cardio can be awefully catabolic (aka the break down of lean mass due to overtraining), SPECIALLY if you are on a calorie restriction diet, which im assuming most people on this site are.

trust me, i been there, it isnt a fun place to be at. try to keep your HIIT workouts to like 2 times a week so you dont overtrain your leg muscles. listen to your body, when u think uve reached your limit, then just push yourself a little bit more that bit more of intensity, but dont over do it and your body will thank you.

Original Post by lt_jesus:

HIIT is anything that eleveates your heart rate to the 85+ target heartrate zone, in other words, anything that requires a vigorous effort is HIIT

be careful with overdoing high intensity training tho tho.  Too much HIIT cardio can be awefully catabolic (aka the break down of lean mass due to overtraining), SPECIALLY if you are on a calorie restriction diet, which im assuming most people on this site are.

trust me, i been there, it isnt a fun place to be at. try to keep your HIIT workouts to like 2 times a week so you dont overtrain your leg muscles. listen to your body, when u think uve reached your limit, then just push yourself a little bit more that bit more of intensity, but dont over do it and your body will thank you.

 Actually, I think you're incorrect.  I can sustain a heart rate of 88 to 92 percent of my max (both as recorded by my HRM) for 30+ minutes, but that doesn't make it HIIT.  It might be HIT (High Intensity Training), but it's missing the Interval part, and is steady state cardio.

Clint

its still high intensity tho so it serves the same purpose  :)

To OP, yes, that would be considered vigorous or high intensity workout. Just remember that all high intensity workouts are not HIIT. The Interval training part of HIIT is the important component and as mentioned above if you do not recover completely then it is not technically HIIT. On the other hand, high intensity or vigorous training is the best form of cardio, no matter if it is HIIT or some other program. Don't sweat the small stuff, just try to stick to a program that works for you and you will see the results.

couldn't have said it better myself.  however i wouldnt call it the best form, because its also important to incorporate lower intensity days, specially if you lift weights with intensity, the muscles need adequate time to recuperate and lower intensity cardio can help with the removal of lactic acid and with better distribution of nutrients

Original Post by lt_jesus:

its still high intensity tho so it serves the same purpose  :)

 I disagree with on this, too.  HIIT is a fat burning tool that emphasises fast twitch muscle fiber (think sprinter).  Long bouts of steady pace cardio emphasize slow twitch fiber and building endurance.  You're not going to train for a marathon or triathlon by doing 20 minutes of HIIT 3x a week, and you're not going to become a 100m sprinter by doing an hour of steady cardio.

In terms of just burning fat, the idea is that HIIT > HIT with regards to efficiently burning fat.  That's kind of the whole point to doing it.  You can push your body a lot harder/faster for 30 to 60 seconds than you can for 30 minutes.  Either one will burn calories (and therefore fat), but one is supposedly a more efficient use of your time.  Personally, I do the long steady cardio, not HIIT.

Clint

Like Vyper said, you can only sustain maximum effort for a short period.  When we say maximum effort, we mean lung busting sprinting as if your life depended on it.  You'll be hard pushed to sustain that kind of effort for any longer than 20 seconds.

I am in agony after last night HIIT workout.

I usually use a 1:3 work ratio (15 second sprint/45 second recovery)

I decided to really push myself and do 20/40's. I usually cycle between sprinting, jump roping, or using a stationary bike. However, I wanted to do something different. So I decided to do body-weight squats. On each 20 second set, I did each squat deep, and with 100% intensity. I was toast six minutes in, but I forced myself to go for 10 minutes (10 sets of 20/40's). Afterward, I felt like I wanted to puke, my legs were on fire, and I could barely breathe. I always feel a bit of DOMS after doing squats. However, nothing like this. Mainly because when I am doing squats, I do 5 sets of 5 reps, and then one 20 rep set later in the week. So for a total I am doing 45 reps for the week. With 10 sets, I must have done close to 150 reps of body weight squats.  My legs haven't felt this sore/weak since I was a freshman in high school and I had to do lunges from foul pole to foul pole on the baseball field. If my legs are this sore now, I don't even want to know how they will feel 1-2 days from now. I am going to do this twice a week (Tues/Sat) until I can do it for 20 minutes. Then I will lower my recovery, until I can do Tabata training.

I can't even imagine what people feel like when they do Tabata training (20 second sprint and only 10 second recovery).

So, please enlighten me. If I do 5 minutes at 85-90% and then 5 minutes at 70-75%, repeating for about an hour (including warmup and cooldown), that does not count as HIIT. But is it better than steady state? In other words, between the workout above and a hourlong workout where my HR is steadily in the 80-85% zone, which one would be best in terms of burning fat? If I understand the theory correctly (and I am not sure I do), the whole point of intervals is that your body can adapt to steady state. Please oh wise ones enlighten me! (yes, I do HIIT too, and yes, I do lift weights 2-3 times a week).

Original Post by gunnercade:

So, please enlighten me. If I do 5 minutes at 85-90% and then 5 minutes at 70-75%, repeating for about an hour (including warmup and cooldown), that does not count as HIIT. But is it better than steady state? In other words, between the workout above and a hourlong workout where my HR is steadily in the 80-85% zone, which one would be best in terms of burning fat? If I understand the theory correctly (and I am not sure I do), the whole point of intervals is that your body can adapt to steady state. Please oh wise ones enlighten me! (yes, I do HIIT too, and yes, I do lift weights 2-3 times a week).

 You are definitly doing a form of Interval Training in that your alternating between periods of higher intensity and lower intensity, but HIIT is different.

HIIT refers to intervals of all out sprinting (High Intensity).  You cannot sprint for a 5 minute period.  The sprinting interval will last for only 30 secs at most, you won't be able to keep up that kind of pace for much longer.  A HIIT session could be finished in as little as 10 minutes.

Yep, I do HIIT for a total of 20' and at the end I have to crawl off my bike :-) Thanks.

Remember to stretch at least 5-10 minutes before any HIIT session. I neglected to stretch long enough in the past, and had some pretty serious muscle aches afterwards.

I don't recommend stretching beforehand. Get your muscles warm by doing a fast paced walk or easy jog for 5 mins or some moderate pedaling, etc. Then start HIIT - do not include you warm up time in your HIIT workout.