HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) - BEST CARDIO!

I have spent a lot of time over the past few days telling people on the forums about HIIT cardio (High Intensity Interval Training). There are still a lot of people who don't know about it. So I wanted to make a thread about it for people to refer to.

All the time, I see people on various forums complain about lack of progress with cardio, despite the fact that they are doing hours and hours of it religiously. I used to be in the same boat. I did cardio religiously 5-6 times a week for 45-60 minutes a session. While I did lose some weight, my bodyfat % stayed pretty much the same. The whole point of cardio, other than cardiovascular fitness is to get rid of bodyfat and get lean. So why wasn't this happening when I was doing so much cardio? When you do cardio at a steady state for an extended period of time, two things happen. The first is that the body adapts to what you are doing. The second is that it begins to feed off muscle instead of the fat. So you need to do cardio that targets bodyfat, and spares muscle. This type of cardio is HIIT.

Performed 2-3 times a week on non-lifting days, HIIT mixes fast, short bursts (10-30 secs) going as hard as you can, with recovery periods at a slower pace (40-90 secs). You can do HIIT on any piece of cardio equipment. It gives you a far superior cardiovascular and endurance workout because you are expending much more energy and your metabolism is sped up considerably for hours and hours (somtimes days) after you finish. This means that you are burning calories while you are resting. After doing regular cardio, your metabolism goes back to normal after a few hours. 

A sample routine (Sprinting outside) :

A three minute warmup, followed by sprinting for 15-20 secs, walking briskly for 40-60 secs, and then switching off from sprint to walk for 20 minutes. Then you finish with a 5 minute cool down. So as a whole, you end up doing cardio for 28 minutes, three times per week that burns bodyfat and lets you retain muscle.

* Make sure that you give yourself a good 10 minutes to stretch before you start. With how intense the exercise is, you need to make sure you are loose so you don't cramp up or get injured. Also make sure to always do your warm up and cool downs.

* Starting out, you may have trouble going the whole 20 minutes because it takes awhile to get used to. So you just do as much as you can and eventually work up to 20 minutes worth of intervals. Just keep at it and be persistent. It works!

Hopefully this information is helpful to people.

Thanks for this very clear explanation.  Since you're  good at explaining stuff, maybe you can help me on another beginner's question.  I saw a reference on another thread to the difference between HIIT and interval training.  What's the difference?  Thanks.

Mary

Original Post by mcdh1:

Thanks for this very clear explanation.  Since you're  good at explaining stuff, maybe you can help me on another beginner's question.  I saw a reference on another thread to the difference between HIIT and interval training.  What's the difference?  Thanks

 The difference is HIIT is a higher intensity level then interval training. Both are pretty close, but with HIIT you REALLY push yourself to the max on your sprints, Heart rate at like 90%. Interval training is still running faster for your push phase but not as much as HIIT, Heart rate could be 80%. You can do interval training for longer too.

HIIT is the best cardio... for what?

thank you... I think its time to add this into the routine. :)

Why is it important to do it on non-lifting days? What if you CAN'T go to the gym every day?

Original Post by smurf37:

Why is it important to do it on non-lifting days? What if you CAN'T go to the gym every day?

 If you do your HIIT right you should be too tired to lift when you are done and vice versa.

Edit:  FWIW I think you should be able to both with a little recovery time in between but I wouldn't do HIIT and Legs on the same day.

In NROLFW, Cosgrove has you do some HIIT on lifting days (although I never do, mostly cause I'm lazy too tired to move).

Original Post by trhawley:

Original Post by smurf37:

Why is it important to do it on non-lifting days? What if you CAN'T go to the gym every day?

 If you do your HIIT right you should be too tired to lift when you are done and vice versa.

Edit:  FWIW I think you should be able to both with a little recovery time in between but I wouldn't do HIIT and Legs on the same day.

 I just posted the same question 15 minutes ago.

tr and amethyst, I certainly am tired right after HIIT but, after a few minutes, I can push myself to do my weights.  I'll admit, sometimes me legs feel "jelly-ish", but I'm careful to keep proper form.  Am I messing up then?

I don't think you are messing up - you just won't get quite as much out of your lifting as you would if you did the opposite... but if you do weights first, you probably wouldn't get quite as much out of HIIT. I think it's more about priorities, than one being absolutely right.

Original Post by amethystgirl:

I don't think you are messing up - you just won't get quite as much out of your lifting as you would if you did the opposite... but if you do weights first, you probably wouldn't get quite as much out of HIIT. I think it's more about priorities, than one being absolutely right.

 I agree.  You can't "mess up" but you might improve less quickly.

Original Post by amethystgirl:

I don't think you are messing up - you just won't get quite as much out of your lifting as you would if you did the opposite... but if you do weights first, you probably wouldn't get quite as much out of HIIT. I think it's more about priorities, than one being absolutely right.

 

If the goal is fat loss, the priority should be the weights then?

Yes, I think weights are the priority for fat loss, but HIIT is right behind that. But if people have cardio goals that they want to work towards concurrently with fat loss, then HIIT might be more of a priority for them.

Original Post by smurf37:

If the goal is fat loss, the priority should be the weights then?

If the goal is fat loss priority number one is to create a daily calorie deficit because this is the only way to lose fat, period. 

Priority number two would be to do resistance exercises, like lifting weights, to preserve muscle mass and bone density and burn some extra calories to help create your deficit.  One hour three time a week is plenty.

Priority number three would be to do as much cardio as you schedule allows.  Cardio burns calories which allows you to eat comfortably while maintaining or increasing your deficit and also builds heart health, lung capacity, and aids in disease prevention.  If you are limited in time make your cardio count by keeping the intensity high.  If you only have 20 or 30 minutes then do HIIT.  If you have more then 30 minutes back down the intensity to a level that you can maintain for the duration of the activity.

Priority number four, make sure that the activities that you choose for exercise are enjoyable to you so you will want to make them a part of your ongoing lifestyle.

Yep, sorry - trhawley is right - diet is number 1 (and probably numbers 2, 3, and 4, at least).

I love HIIT cardio.  

aaahhhhh - yes, yes, yes, priorities - that's right.  It keeps coming back to that, doesn't it?  What are your goals? What are you trying to achieve?

Ok, I'm definitely discovering the importance of the ALMIGHTY CALORIE - not very forgiving, is he? I am keeping track of the calories.

As far as the workouts go, I think I'm doing ok. I'm on wk 7 of an 8-wk HIIT program - so, for now, I'm going to complete the program. I'll keep in mind everything that was said and figure out what I'm doing next - gonna look into the NROLW (or something like that).  Thanks.

Aha!  Maybe THIS is why I haven't been losing anything the last few weeks.  I've been working out 3+ times a week, alternating "interval" cardio and weight machines for 3 weeks now, eating approx. 1300-1400 calories per day, and have not lost one single pound or any inches...VERY frustrating.

I did not realize there was a difference between interval and HIIT.  I have been using the "interval" program on the elliptical, which is just a mix of high resistance/high incline for approx 1 minute and then lower resistance/lower incline for 1 minute.  (On the lower I usually push myself pretty hard)

In your article you said sprint for 15-20 secs, then walk for 40-60 seconds, and repeat.  In the walking part, how should a person determine if they need to do 40 seconds or 60 seconds, or somewhere in between?  Although 20 seconds isn't that long of a period of time, over the whole 20 minutes of doing this, you would end up sprinting a few more times if you were walking for only 40 seconds versus if you only did sprinting every 60 seconds.

Help!  :)

jewels - I think its something you work up to.

for instance, start with 20 sec sprint/90 sec walk, then slowly work it up to 30 secs sprint/30 secs walk. I plan to see how my body feels about the whole thing when I try this in the morning! It may slap me. hehehe

check out this site for a detailed program in HIIT:

http://www.intervaltraining.net/Lose_Belly_Fa t_Fast.html

HIIT is a love/hate thing - you'll hate doing it, but you'll love the "buzz" you get from having conquered it - you'll amaze yourself!

That website looks awesome!  I'm going to try that.  Thanks for the link.