The HIIT thread - Post all questions, routines, and experiences here

Now I know I am not a moderator. However, it seems like we always have at least 1 or 2 new threads dealing with HIIT popping up. People either want to know what HIIT is, if they are doing it right, or the various ways HIIT can be done. I say that instead of clogging up the board with all of these HIIT threads, we limit it to one thread. I will leave it up to Melkor whether or not he wants to sticky this thread at the top with the others.

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How HIIT is Done : HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) mixes fast short bursts going as hard as you can with recovery periods. The "sprint" intervals where you go all out as hard as you can, usually go for 20-30 seconds and the recovery intervals usually go for 60-90 seconds. You start out with a three to five minute warm up, and then for 15-20 minutes, repeatedly go back and forth between your sprint and recovery intervals. Then finish with a 5 minute cool down. It is recommended that you only do HIIT up to three times per week on non lifting days or if you do it on a lifting day, wait 6-8 hours after your lifting session.

The Benefits : HIIT has become an extremely popular method of cardio due to the fact that it gets amazing results in a considerable less amount of time than regular cardio does. You only have to spend 20-25 minutes three times per week doing it. It specifically targets bodyfat, spares muscle, and raises metabolism for up to 12-36 hours after you are done. It also gives you an unbelieveable cardiovascular workout because you are working your heart at two different speeds (90-100% in the sprint intervals and 60-70% in the recovery intervals).

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Use this thread to post any articles you have found on HIIT, any routines you want to share, or overall experiences with HIIT and the results you have gotten from it.

Original Post by penkwin:

So, newbie. I've read a lot of these postings (though there are so many that I didn't go through that thoroughly). As someone who normally does an hour on the elliptical when not doing a spinning or step aerobic class, I'm a little skeptical of getting results from working out in less than half the time I normally do... I'm just not really sure where to start. I have read you can do HIIT on an elliptical. Do you guys recommend this?

If you could PM me with responses, that'd be great, as this is quite a large thread.

As long as you are putting 100% into your sprint intervals, you will feel a difference after your first HIIT session. If you truly push yourself, you will find yourself exhausted after only 20 minutes. Now you may still be skeptical because of the fact that the calories burned during the exercise will be lower than usual for you. This should be expected, because you are going for a shorter duration. However, due to the intensity of the exercise your metabolism gets sped up for hours and hours after you are done. So you end up burning more calories while you are at rest. This is what you want because you spend more time per day out of the gym, then in. Also, HIIT targets bodyfat much better because your body never has a chance to adapt due to the constant change in speeds. Finally, it also gives you a much better cardiovascular workout because you are working your heart at two different speeds (90-100% in the sprints, and 60-70% in the recovery intervals).

So a sample routine on the eliptical would be :

- Five minute warm up, 30 seconds @ 100% effort, 90 seconds @ 60% effort, and then repeatedly switching off from fast to slow for 15-20 minutes. Then you do a five minute cool down. A good way to improve, is by adding a minute to the HIIT porition everyweek. For example, if you were only able to go for 15 minutes on the HIIT portion, you make it 16 minutes of 30/90 intervals the next week and work your way up to 20 minutes. Then once you have gotten to 20 minutes of 30/90's, you start making your recovery intervals a bit shorter. Once you have gotten to 20 minutes of 30/60's, you do HIIT on another machine like the bike. The absolute best is doing sprints outside.

Thanks a lot, vyperman! That was very helpful and informative. I'm not much of a runner, but I might try applying this to the elliptical or stationary bike.

How many days a week should you do HIIT?
It says 3 times per week, is the the maximum amout of times weekly you should do it?

I tried HIIT for the first time today on the treadmill.  I did 10 mins of warming up making my way to 4.5mph.  Then I ran at 8 mph for a min then went down to 4 mph for a min.  I was out of breath at the 8mph.  I finished a little over 30 mins ago and my thighs are still warm and tingly. 

I found though that it is hard to do an full min for the simple fact that the treadmill takes a a few seconds to adjust to the new speed.  I did 8 intervals of running and 7 intervals of walking.  I then went to 4.5 mph for about 15 mins and then lowed it to 4 mph for 5 mins and lowered it againto 3.5mph for 5 mins as a cool down. 

Is 4 mph a good gap between the two speeds? Also In reading though this post, it says not to do HIIT until so many hours after weight training.  I did the HIIT this morning and later today when my boyfriend gets home around 5 ish we will do P90X Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, and maybe the Ab ripper X , depending on how I feel.  Is is ok to do weight work out 7 hrs after the HIIT?

I've been doing Boot Camp Tuesdays and Thursdays.  It involves, ladders, hopping like a frog (SUCKS!), shuffling across the gym floor, and circuit training with lunges, weights, Pilate's ropes, medicine balls...My body is totally getting a huge workout (burn about 550 an hour with high and lowe heart rates).

Usually there's a few seconds in between exercises, but I don't know if this counts as HIIT.  Anyone know?

Original Post by angelaimes:

I tried HIIT for the first time today on the treadmill.  I did 10 mins of warming up making my way to 4.5mph.  Then I ran at 8 mph for a min then went down to 4 mph for a min.  I was out of breath at the 8mph.  I finished a little over 30 mins ago and my thighs are still warm and tingly. 

I found though that it is hard to do an full min for the simple fact that the treadmill takes a a few seconds to adjust to the new speed.  I did 8 intervals of running and 7 intervals of walking.  I then went to 4.5 mph for about 15 mins and then lowed it to 4 mph for 5 mins and lowered it againto 3.5mph for 5 mins as a cool down. 

Is 4 mph a good gap between the two speeds? Also In reading though this post, it says not to do HIIT until so many hours after weight training.  I did the HIIT this morning and later today when my boyfriend gets home around 5 ish we will do P90X Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, and maybe the Ab ripper X , depending on how I feel.  Is is ok to do weight work out 7 hrs after the HIIT?

In all honesty, the treadmill is the last thing you should do HIIT on. HIIT is based on timed intervals and the treadmill lags when it speeds up and slows down. It is much better to do HIIT on the stationary bike because you don't have to worry about changing speeds on the panel. It is just a matter of pedaling as fast as you can on the sprint intervals and pedaling at a slower speed during cool down.

As long as you have 6-8 hours in between HIIT and weights you should be fine. However, I recommend that you do your lifting first, and then the HIIT 7 hours later. Lifting is most important and you want to be able to put everything you have into it. HIIT will really tire you out, especially if you aren't used to it. So even though you have wait 7 hours to lift, you still may be feeling a little worn out. That is why it is much better to lift first.

My final recommendation would to be to make your intervals shorter. If you are able to do something for a minute straight, it isn't hard enough. When you are going all out, it is tough to go 15-20 seconds, let alone a minute. Do 15-20 seconds as hard as you can, and then 60-90 seconds of recovery.

Original Post by mperic81:

I've been doing Boot Camp Tuesdays and Thursdays.  It involves, ladders, hopping like a frog (SUCKS!), shuffling across the gym floor, and circuit training with lunges, weights, Pilate's ropes, medicine balls...My body is totally getting a huge workout (burn about 550 an hour with high and lowe heart rates).

Usually there's a few seconds in between exercises, but I don't know if this counts as HIIT.  Anyone know?

That sounds like a great mix of strength training and conditioning. However, I don't think it falls under HIIT. If only for the fact that you do it for an hour. When you are doing HIIT, you are pushing yourself to the absolute maximum and by the time 20 minutes rolls around, you are dead tired. HIIT would be a 3-5 minute warm up followed by 15-20 seconds all out, 60-90 seconds at a slower speed for recovery, and then switching off between fast and slow for 20 minutes. Then finishing with a 5 minute cool down. The whole thing should take no longer than 30 minutes including warm up and cool down.

As I said before, what you mentioned sounds like a really great workout. However, it falls more under strength training and conditioning then it does HIIT.

In regards to calorie burn - When you do HIIT, the calories burned during the exercise is relatively low because you are doing it for a much shorter duration. However, HIIT jacks up your metabolism for up to 24-48 hours after you are done. So you burn a lot of calories through out the day while you are at rest. This is much better because you spend a lot more time out of the gym, then you do exercising. A lot of steady state cardio will burn calories during the exercise. However, your metabolism returns to normal shortly after.

Is it possible to do HIIT on the elliptical in your opinion? 
I really don't like the bike

Original Post by mrsmueller:

Is it possible to do HIIT on the elliptical in your opinion? 
I really don't like the bike

It definitely is. A lot of people choose to do it on the elliptical.

I am going to do this tomorrow morning - I am so excited and my fiance will be excited that I'm using the exercise bike he bought me for Christmas (I told him that's what I wanted)!!

I would do it tonight but I'm doing strength training tonight and it says not to do it for 6-8 hours afterwards.

Okay - I did it this morning and really liked it!  I definitely need to work harder on getting to 100% during those intervals though.  Towards the end I was really struggling.  I am looking forward to adding this to my weekly routine.

i havent read all of these pages, so idk if someone posted this already, but it really helped me :)

http://www.losebellyfatworkout.com/

it gives you articles and explains what interval training is. i did it for a while, and it def helped out my cardio, but overall it just wasnt the right work out regimen for me. and that okay! i hope it works for someone else:)

I only read the first page of posts, so I don't know if this was mentioned before. Have any of you heard of "Tabata"? Similar to HIIT, but it's 20secs of work followed by 10secs of rest for 8 intervals. Four minutes total for each Tabata. Good example workout.

And I read on this thread someone saying to stretch 10mins before doing HIIT. I think that's a big No-No. Stretching cold muscles is never a good idea. Just warm up with jogging, jumping jacks, maybe dynamic stretching...

After yesterday I have decided that HIIT on weight training days is the way to go.

I did sprints outside for my HIIT in the morning. Afterwards my legs felt pretty good. Now maybe that is due to the fact that my leg strength has gone up considerably from all the squats I have been doing in the past few months. But, my legs didn't feel that bad after sprinting and they used to feel fatigued. In fact, it actually felt like the sprinting helped to loosen my legs up a bit.

Then I hit the gym to lift last night 7 hours later. Enough time had passed where I didn't feel any fatigue at all in any of my lifts. In fact my bench was the best its been, and my squats went very smoothly. I was pleasantly suprised that the HIIT session earlier in the day had no negative impact on my lifting at all. It feels great knowing that I get a full day of recovery today and I don't have to worry about doing HIIT with sore legs.

I was scared, but I tried HIIT for the first time this morning... I was on the elliptical. I did a five minute warmup, slowly upping my resistance to level nine, and then I did six sets of 30s all out (upping resistance to 14), 90s recovering (bringing resistance back to 9), and then a five minute cool down. I'm hoping I did it right. On the intervals my muscles were screaming out and it felt like the longest 30 seconds of my life each time. I was out of breath, sweating, and tired. I'm not sure my heart rate fell enough during my rest periods, but I know it was way up there right after the intervals.

I guess I'm just posting this looking for an assessment of if that sounds good. I also did some lifting after... And a question, how much should I eat today? I normally eat 1500 cals a day, when I do an hour of cardio. I'm also planning to do the hour and continue lifting / ab work on days when I don't do HIIT.

Thanks!

Original Post by penkwin:

I was scared, but I tried HIIT for the first time this morning... I was on the elliptical. I did a five minute warmup, slowly upping my resistance to level nine, and then I did six sets of 30s all out (upping resistance to 14), 90s recovering (bringing resistance back to 9), and then a five minute cool down. I'm hoping I did it right. On the intervals my muscles were screaming out and it felt like the longest 30 seconds of my life each time. I was out of breath, sweating, and tired. I'm not sure my heart rate fell enough during my rest periods, but I know it was way up there right after the intervals.

I guess I'm just posting this looking for an assessment of if that sounds good. I also did some lifting after... And a question, how much should I eat today? I normally eat 1500 cals a day, when I do an hour of cardio. I'm also planning to do the hour and continue lifting / ab work on days when I don't do HIIT.

Thanks!

Good job on your first HIIT session. One thing you should know is that you don't have to up the resistance on your sprint intervals. It is just a matter of going as hard as you can. The trick to getting your heart rate up is getting the rpm's up as high as possible. The higher the resistance, the lower the rpm's because you can't go as fast. It would be like trying to do sprints with ankle weights on.

Now I noticed that you still plan on doing an hour of cardio on non HIIT days in addition to your lifting sessions. What I would recommend, if you have to do extra cardio, is to scale it back to 20-30 minutes after you are through lifting. One benefit of doing HIIT is that you have to do less overall cardio for the week because of how hard you are pushing yourself when you are doing it. If you stick with 3 HIIT sessions a week, you won't need to do hour long cardio sessions. In fact, doing steady state cardio for that long is actually counterproductive because you are more likely to burn muscle than anything else.

As long as you continue to get enough calories and eat clean, you will be fine doing 3 HIIT sessions and lifting.

Thanks, vyperman. So you think I should stay at 1500 for my intake, then?

I'm just worried about gaining, since I'm cutting down my cardio time so much.

Well in all honesty, if you lift weights the scale is the last thing you should be going by because you gain weight when you gain muscle from lifting. This doesn't mean you are getting fatter though. The scale should only be used as a tool to monitor weight by people who don't exercise. It is better to keep track of how your clothes are fitting, how you look in the mirror, and to get your bodyfat % tested every few months or so.

There is actually a formula to use to figure out how many calories per day you need. I will post both formulas for men and women that read this thread.

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

Once you have the answer do the following :

1. If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
2. If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
3. If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
4. If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
5. If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

Once you have the answer this is how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. If you want to try and lose fat and maintain most of your muscle, subtract 500 calories. If you want to try and gain more muscle, add 500 calories to the number.

Wow, thanks again. You are a fountain of knowledge. According to this I should be eating closer to 1800... That seems so high, though!

As long as you continue to get enough calories and eat clean, you will be fine doing 3 HIIT sessions and lifting.

 I am a little confused about this. I am currently doing by HIIT on the same day as my lifting, but everyone seems to be saying to not lift on HIIT days. Does that mean I am supposed to go to the gym 6 days a week (3 days HIIT, 3 days lifting)?

Also, PENKWIN....

I do pretty much the exact same HIIT elliptical routine that you described earlier. I love it, soo much better than doing 60mins of regular cardio 4-5 days a week.

I don't recall what your stats are at the moment, but I am 5'7" and 151 lbs. Within the last month or so I have upped my calories to 1800 and it has been working wonders for me. I have been steadily losing 1lb per week versus my usual .5lb/week for the 4 or 5 months previous to switching.