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.

If anyone here rides the stationary bike, do the "hill plus" setting and just do the basic hill program. It has its own preconfigured program, and you change the time. Set the time for 20 min, and sprint during the "hill" portions. It is absolutely priceless.

danaisha Jul 16 2007 13:04 Some have said you can do this with just about any cardio exercise.  I hate running and have begun swimming.  Anyone with any experience on how this would work for swimming?  I'm just curious because it seems everyone runs or uses elliptical... ----

I used to be a competitive swimmer and have coached swimming.  My best friend is a gymnastics coach and we recently did a 2,000 mile road trip in which he instructed me in the fine arts of core training and HIIT training.

We did discuss adopting MIIT/HIIT to swimming and depending on your fitness level and swimming ability, here is what you should know:

average swimmers can do a 25 yard length in about 30 seconds.  a well-practiced sprinter will do that same length in about 10-11 seconds (without starting off a block).

a lap (down and back again) is 50 yards and should take roughly 60 seconds at a brisk pace for a decent swimmer, under 30 seconds for a conditioned swimmer near peak - (olympic level sprinters can rip off 20 second 50s at full-blast)

so, an appropriate MIIT/HIIT workout swimming depends on your basic skill level as a swimmer and your speed - but here is the workout I have put down for myself:

150 yards of warmup - 12 lengths, 6 laps

blast 25 yards (all out, reaching tall and pulling strong, high turn-over)
breathe 5-10 seconds
recover 25 yards (low turnover, shorten reach, about 50% pace)
breathe 10 seconds
repeat blast/breather/recover/breathe

I started with 150 yards of blast/recover (6 reps) and it feels good, but I am honestly closer to MIIT than HIIT on many of those reps.

Once I am done with the blasts, I then try to do 200-400 yards of additional swimming, at a more relaxed pace - cooling down to the final 75-100 yards which I do at a very slow crawl.

Sunday I did 950 yards total.
Tuesday I did 750 yards total.
I plan to go back for Friday.

(ps, I do a full stretch out and warm up PRIOR to swimming, including some light weights and 30 min of paced treads on the Elliptical - because it feels good and my body doesn't protest too much, but after the swim I am spent for at least an hour)

I am also doing some other exercising in between (I am in Karate 2 nights a week.)

150 yards of warmup - 12 lengths, 6 laps


I meant 150 yards of warm up - 6 lengths, 3 laps

150 yards warm up
150 yards blasts/recover
100-300 yard swim - regular pace (work on technique)
100 yard cool-down

and I plan to double the blasts/recover and double the pace workouts yardage within the month.

I've been reading up a lot on this subject lately.  It reminds me a lot of what we used to do for our track and feild practices in HS.  I was a sprinter, and wed run what we called "fartleks" (yeah, go ahead giggle) where we'd lightly jog a curve, and then all out sprint the straightaway and continue this for about 8 full circles around the track (2 miles).  Although it wasnt a timed thing, it was measured by distance, and I'm pretty sure this would qualify at HIIT.  From what I remember, the whole workout lasted only about 25 minutes, but the results I got were insane.  I was always super athletic back then, but even after two full seasons of volleyball and basketball I'd get to track and in about 4 weeks drop 10lbs and get some crazy definition in my legs and abs.  I am 5'2" and back then I weighed about 105lbs.

Its been awhile, 5 years, and  now I weigh about 127lbs.  I work out  about 4-5 times a week with 40 min regular intensity cardio and 3 days with weight lifting added on.  I've been doing this for months, and not seeing any results.  While I was sure that all the beer in college is what did it, I haven't drank 3 months and still I have not dropped any weight.   I'm convinced that HIIT like the workouts I did in highschool is the way to go, and I plan on doing it for the first time since then, today!  I'm a little bit scared that I might try to kill myself the first few times since I am having visions of running like I did way back when, but hopefully I'll find a good pace for me and have some good news to report in a few months :)

I hope this thread is still active - i have a question about HIIT.  I find that it's easy on the elliptical, but i questioned whether I'm really hitting the High intensity.   Sooo - tried it on the running path but i got so bagged after three 2:1 intervals I had to go back to regular running to make it home.  Back at the Club, I experimented with the treadmill and it took a few tries to find a high enough intensity.  I did a warmup, then hiked up to a high intensity, then back down to a lower one, then up to one higher than before, then down and then up past the previous intensity level till I hit one that was a real challenge (took three goes).  Kept that one up for another three intervals at which point i felt rather faint and kicked down a notch for the next interval, then down again, then cool down. 

So, finally, here's the question.  is it better to hit the max right off, after your warmup, or can one ramp up to it?  i used to run long - 60 minutes plus, but after a torn achilles had to knock it off and I've just never felt compelled to do it again.  I lift heavy weights every other day and am trying HIIT to lose some fat without compromising my muscle gains.  My trainer had me do it once a week, alternating with a medium intensity cardio bout, and a long slow one (usually a fun bike ride), but it wasn't really doing anything for my fat loss, so I thought I was perhaps not hitting the HIIT often enough or hard enough.  And oh yes, I never do anything to the point of throwing up, but I will go to jelly legs.

you want the jelly legs, and i would imagine that starting off at your max after the warm up is the best scenario (when you have the most energy) -- then you take it down from there to what you can keep up too -- for the long run.  i've been doing a similar routine on the EFX elliptical -- where i crank up the resistance to 8-9, expend my energy at the high level as fast as i can...and when i can't do it anymore, i just slow down -- re-wind, and go again...when i start to imagine that i have to get off cause my legs will fall off, i just lower the resistance by one or two  -- steady off a bit, re-wind -- and do it all over again.  i've worked up to 40 minutes of this starting at 9 -- and going down to 6 resistance.  not bad for a fatty mcfat girl when i first started! :)

lately at the end of my routine, i've noticed i've got more energy left, so i crank it up to 10 for five mintues to make sure i killed myself proper.

I was reading through this post and found that the initial link to the website/article by Keith Scott was incorrect...but with a bit of key word searching I found it.

HIIT Explained

Hope that helps future readers.