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 vyperman7:

The cool thing is that you can get a good jump rope for a cheap price. I got mine online for 9.99.  Here is a link - http://www.boxingdepot.com/jumpropes.html

It is the Harbinger Speed Rope. It tells you in the description which size rope to buy based on your height.

** One piece of advice on your intervals. You may want to drop your sprints to 15-20 seconds. I have read on multiple web sites that a person can only sustain 100% during a sprint for up to 20 seconds. After that the intensity starts to drop.

 Thanks, I will lower my sprint intervals to see if that helps any. Is 60 seconds ok for my rest periods? Or, should I decrease those as well??

They say a good starting point is a 1:3 ratio. So you could do 15/45 or 20/60. I personally like doing 15/45 because each interval works out to be a minute, which makes it easier to keep track of how many sprints I have done in relation to the overall time. If I do 15 intervals, I know I have gone for 15 minutes. Once you can do 20 minutes worth of intervals at a 1:3 ratio, drop back down to 15 minutes of intervals doing a 1:2 ratio (15/30). They say that once you can do 20 minutes at a 1:2 ratio on any given exercise, it is time to do a new form of HIIT. The cool thing about HIIT is that it can be done in any number of ways.

I like the 15/45 approach. I think I will give that a try tonight during my HIIT session. Thanks for helping me out! :)

Has anyone lost a significant amount of fat since starting HIIT? And if so, how much? I just started, and I really need to kick my butt over this semi-plateau I've been in lately because I'm starting to get very frustrated.

Original Post by xxheysarah:

Has anyone lost a significant amount of fat since starting HIIT? And if so, how much? I just started, and I really need to kick my butt over this semi-plateau I've been in lately because I'm starting to get very frustrated.

It is my understanding that the focus of HIIT cardio is not so much Weight loss as Fat loss.  (Remember, losing fat will make you look and feel better plus improve your health.  It is , in many ways, more important than the weight on the scale).  HIIT will also improve your cardiorespiratory fitness, which is a good thing!

That said, HIIT will burn quite a few calories both during and after the session (due to increased metabolic burn) and, in that respect, will aid weight loss.

Hope that helps!

Original Post by xxheysarah:

Has anyone lost a significant amount of fat since starting HIIT? And if so, how much? I just started, and I really need to kick my butt over this semi-plateau I've been in lately because I'm starting to get very frustrated.

I know I said on your other thread I've had good results, but I'll go ahead and estimate the actual results...I had BF tested in May and in September, and below are my estimated amounts for June and October.

       &nb sp;          Weight      Lean Mass      Fat             BF%

19-Jun       182.2      &nbs p; 118          64.2        ;   35.2%

14-Oct       162.5      &nbs p; 116         46.5        ;   28.6%

Change       19.7        ;       &n bsp;   17.7        ;   89.8%

Now, I've also been doing strength training 2-3x weekly, and the lean mass and body fat percentages are really just my best guess based on the tests from May & Sept.  However, it does show that the vast majority of my weight loss during this time period was fat (89.8%). 

And those results say nothing of the improvement in my overall health and fitness.  When I first started, I could run maybe 1/10th of a mile at a time.  "Sprinting" at that point was about 6-7mph.  I haven't run recently (doing it on the arc trainer currently), but a month into HIIT I could run a half mile straight fairly easily - without making any effort to build up my distance.  My sprints also increased to the 9-10 mph range (which is quite fast for my short legs) within 2 months.  I never did HIIT more than 2x a week, and my running sessions were usually 25 mins including 5 min warmup and a couple minutes of cooling down. 

Edited to attempt to fix the table...not working very well, sorry!

So, I've been running for some time now, and I consider myself to be fairly fit (ran 12.2 miles on Monday, hooray!)...at the same time, I have a few questions about HIIT (because it seems really great).

I've done a few sessions already. Two 30-sec interval versions (up to 11.0 on the treadmill 30 secs, down to 8.0 for 30 secs, repeated 20 ish times), and I did my first 60-sec interval version yesterday (up to 11.5-12.0 for 60 secs, down to 7.5 for 60 secs, repeated 11 times).

It's hard to get much faster than this on a treadmill. Should I move to outside? I feel like I would have a much harder time finding my hardest speeds and correct jogging speeds.

I really enjoyed these sessions, though they made me super hungry later that night  haha

One more question: Is there a HIIT ab-workout? I feel like there must be. Just curious. Thanks all!

I really want to start HIIT as soon as possible. I have been running on and off for the past year so i thought it would be a good idea to complete the Couch to 5k before i started HIIT. Im on my 2nd week of the Couch to 5k program and im already bored, is it too early for me to begin HIIT or should i stick with the Couch to 5k program??

Also can i rely on HIIT soley for fat loss and will i need a deficit??