HIIT as key to weight loss

Hey I'm new here, just discovered this site/forum from searching on the web. I used to participate on a powerlifting forum for three years, then I decided to move away from just dedicating myself to strength gains, and now I'm fully focused on weight loss and conditioning. I usually jog a couple times a week at the beach (I love being by the water it's peaceful.) But what I usually focus my time on now is HIIT. This has been the key to my weight loss, I usually follow this routine.

I find it to be the most effective and rewarding way to gain endurance, stamina, and just a good boost to my morale. I thought I would join here, the community seems really awesome. Lots of helpful people : ) I want to learn some new things for my diet and training. Hope I can also be a good helper.

I read a article that you don't have to HIIT to the point of nausea or passing out according to studies that have been done.  Just do intervals of maximum capicity and recovery.  An example is sprinting.  You run as hard and fast as you can for a minute or two, then walk it off, then do it again.  I use a mini-trampoline, right now.  You can do it with any cardio machine or a jump rope, too.  No way am I going to make myself sick over anything, so I was glad to see that article.

I just tried HIIT last week.  Did it two days with regular cardio on alternate days.  All I can say is I have only been averaging a loss of pound a week, but last week I tried HIIT and lost 3.5 pounds!!!  My daily calories are between 1700 and 2000 and I am a 43 year old female.  I am going to move outside with sprints and jump-rope when the weather gets nicer.  Anyway, I am sold on doing at least two HIIT sessions a week!!!

Don't forget, you still have to warm up and cool down.

I have done regular interval training with weights in between, but not with HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training.  Now that might make me feel like passing out!  ;-)

Congrats on your weight loss Redrock.  I just starting doing HIIT and love the way I feel afterward. 

I'm in for 2 HIIT sessions per week also! :)

I tried HIIT for the first time this morning, using my stationary bicycle...interesting! I ended sweating just as much during the 26 minute workout than I usually do for an hour of regular cycling with intervals.

It required more effort than my regular workout, but I think more people would be doing HIIT if not for the fear mongering that I have seen when I researched it more this weekend (after having been introduced to the concept via this thread); even a guy here on the last page expressed a reluctance to do it for fear of vomiting, passing out, etc.

To be sure, you do have to push it during the Work portions; if you dfo not, you will just be doing regular Interval training and will not get the benefits of a HIIT workout.

As an absolute beginner I started with a 1 minute Work to 3 minute Rest ratio, repeated five times, without much of a problem, so I think those of you who have been scared away from HIIT by the fear mongering should give it a try.

I will try doing a HIIT session every morning this week; if it kills me, I will let you know.

Don't over do it, ayeguy. =p

Someone asked what the benefit of HIIT is to regular workouts.  I think the main point is it makes your body burn calories more efficiently the rest of the day - or at least it will burn more calories long after you've stopped working out.  Anyone thats my thoughts on this.

" As an absolute beginner I started with a 1 minute Work to 3 minute"

If you are able to do a full minute at max effort  I wouldn't call you a beginner.

I think ayeguy was referring to me in his post. Yes, the first time I did it I thought I was going to die! I have done it a few times since then and each time it is better. I have lost another 3 pounds this week and I think HIIT is an awesome help to what I am already doing. I never try things just once and give up because they are hard! I think everyone should try this at least a few times to see if it might work for them.

I wasn't flaming you, logman...I just though that such talk might turn people off doing HIIT, if it gave the impression they would be throwing up because it was so intense. Although I've done lots of cardio over the past three years, I haven't done anything to get me breathing this hard yet. While climbing a big, steep hill on my street bike might get me huffing and puffing, once you get to the top there might not be another hill and greater effort for quite a while, so it can't compare to HIIT. After I finished my workout, showered, ate breakfast, got dressed, and headed out to my car, I was still sweating! Then I got to the train and had to sprint to get on before it left!

******

Speaking of the train, I have another question:

It has been said that HIIT "makes your body burn calories more efficiently the rest of the day - or at least it will burn more calories long after you've stopped working out"...when I get on the train, I will read for a bit, then just sit back and relax, and doze off sometimes...the ride takes almost an hour, so will this period of very little activity cause my body to shut down and stop burning calories at the elevated level I got from the HIIT session?

I'm envious, one minute of all out on the stationary bike!?  Geez, it's killing me at 30 seconds *lol*

I'm doing the 30 second / 1 minute thing, it busts my butt :)

I'm not completely sold yet on HIIT, but I haven't been doing it but for a week - It does get you sweating alot, but it's the increased metabolism part afterwards I'm not sure I buy ( then, I'm not a scientist ).

I know ayeguy! I just wanted everyone to know that I had posted that before I had really given it a chance. I think it is an awesome workout once you get over the first couple of times.

I've come to the conclusion that I do better right now with about a 1:3 ratio. I'm doing 30 seconds intense, then 90 seconds recovery, and as that gets easier, I'll start 'shifting' seconds from the recovery to the intense, keeping the total of the pair at 2 minutes so I don't have to think too much about when to turn it up and down. I'm normally very good at math, but not when my heart rate hits 160! :)

vaguy, I'm pretty convinced about the increased metabolism afterwards. I spend the rest of the day feeling like I have an IV of Mountain Dew going, and it seems that the extra energy must be coming from somewhere.

In reply to sqwish: "Why does anyone want to do HIIT if it's so unpleasant? What benefit?"

HIIT has great benefits for fat loss, heart strength, aerobic and anaerobic capacity, and muscle strength. It's more effective than lower intensity forms of exercise. Physically, it's the most health effective way to exercise when done correctly and safely by individuals whose bodies can handle it. Psychologically, the seriously unpleasant physical strain is a benefit for certain people. The abilty to will oneself to act through extreme suffering make people feel willful, more in control of themselves, and their lives. That gives people a more positive outlook on their day. Not to mention the physiological induced endorphin response and increased post-exercise blood flow; both are mood elevators. So in short, HIIT has great physical and psychological payoffs for people with the bodies to handle it and the temperament to enjoy it. It isn't for the extremely unfit or frail. It isn't for people who feel comfortable with their willpower, or who dislike discomfort more than they like feeling willful. For these people, HIIT can be physically unsafe and psychological demoralizing. For them, regular moderate exercise is a better idea. Personally, I love HIIT.

Brilliant and well thought out. Great points. =]

I tried this for the first time yesterday too. It was awesome! I did it on the ellipitical for 30 minutes. I sweated a lot more, and counting the intervals really made the time on the machine pass quickly. I am going to keep at this and see what happens. (I would love to try it on the treadmill next but the high impact of the treadmill hurts my ankles.)

Interesting note: When I read the linked article for this thread and they said it would make you nauseus when you are done, I thought it was total BS. But after about 20 minutes I really wanted to yak! It quickly passed, and I kept going, but I thought it was funny.

I think that sounds like a good workout routine but I thought that the warning in the article was really funny.-

WARNING: This is extremely difficult and you may feel like throwing up when finished. This is normal.

hahaha.

bump

What does this do to your legs?  I want nice lean legs as a girl, but wouldn't this give you extremely thick legs?

The article seems to compare HIIT only to long, low-intensity cardio workouts.  I'm wondering if anyone knows anything (or can point me to a good info source) about HIIT versus medium intensity or regular interval training.

I've been running 4-5 days a week for about 14 months and started out doing low-intensity but increasing my speed slowly every time, particularly for the last bit of each workout.  It's taken me a very long time to make serious improvements in my ability (seriously, close to a year before I finally hit my goal of a ten minute mile).  Recently I've gotten bored of the sameness in my workouts, particularly on days when I can't run outside and started doing intervals.  Usually a mile to warm up, going from walk to jog to slight challenge pace, then a quarter mile high intensity, a quarter mile going from walk (water break) to jog to easy run before cranking up the intensity (usually .1 mph faster than the prior interval) and repeating.  After 4 repetitions, I do an easy run for a quarter mile or so and finish cooling down.

I feel like I've noticed improvement, but it's not really that great a change.  I still run for about the same amount of time (if not longer, since there's less monotony).  I know that this isn't really anything like HIIT, but I find that when I get close to max intensity, it's not usually my breathing or muscles that are feeling maxed out, but tendons in my feet, my arches, my shins (hence the very slow progress).  I'm not overweight or out of shape (ok, slow for a regular runner, but if if anyone calls me out of shape while running 12-15 miles a week, they get a smacking).  Either way, I'd be afraid of leg injuries (and vomiting at the gym) if I ramped up the intensity this much, but is what I'm doing a good compromise?

I tried (at least I think I did) an HITT today at the gym.  I wanted to know if this would be considered HITT?

I did it on the elliptical.  I alternated between 30secs balls out & 1 min rest like suggested.

I had pre-set the elllipitcal incline to a 6 and the resistance to a level 10.

On my sprinting of 30s, going balls out,  I was burning 15/16 cals per min and on my 1 min rests I was burning 9/10 cals per min.  Would this be correct?? I did feel exhausted but I was wondering if this is correcT?

I didn't change the incline or resistance during the time period... just pedaled harder, etc.

today i did on the ellipitcal.. resting rate (10 cal per min) .. 30 seconds of bursts of energy (19 cals per min)

is this HITT