Holy Crap HIIT is no joke!

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  • Majahonke
    Majahonke Posts: 14 Member
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    I've been doing Crossfit for the last three months. I get personal training with each session being about an hour long. Most of the hour is spent warming up and getting exercise coaching. The workouts alone takes no more than 20 minutes. I find some of the workouts fall into the HIIT category and most of the time they are timed. They are vigorous. I do this three times per week. At 300 lb and 60 years of age the workouts are taxing. I dread going to the sessions but am always glad I did since I feel better about myself afterwards. Not going to the sessions at this point does not seem like an option. I'm hooked. Now that winter has broken I will add road cycling to the mix. I feel both of these activities lend themselves to HIIT and they are never boring. Crossfit sessions are always different and I have numerous bike routes to choose from.
  • maasha81
    maasha81 Posts: 733 Member
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    Lizandro88 wrote: »
    What exercises can I do at home that'll work well with the HIIT system.

    Burpees, jump rope, squat jumps or any sort of jumps, switch kicks, plyo push ups, running / jumping lunges
  • paulaviki
    paulaviki Posts: 678 Member
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    I do a HIIT class on a Tuesday we we do 20 secs on 10 secs rest 8 times, we do this with 6 different exercises so the same as someone else who posted above. It's a real killer especially when the exercise is burpees or squat jumps! It's good fun though and you know it's less than 30 mins in total. The fact I do it after an hour of kettlebells usually finishes me off!
  • KingoftheLilies
    KingoftheLilies Posts: 71 Member
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    Been doing HIIT for years and all my workouts are still less than 15 minutes (more like 12/13), minus 5 minute gentle warm up & cool down.

    Honestly, if you can do more than 15 minutes you aren't pushing hard enough. Your work interval should be all out 100% effort, your rest interval should be 60-70% of your peak ability... otherwise it's just intervals, not HIIT.
  • neaneacc
    neaneacc Posts: 224 Member
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    mountain climbers, spiders in plank formation, high knees, and even jumping jacks also work.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,619 Member
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    JoRocka wrote: »
    The funny thing about HIIT is you never really get "good" at it- you just suck less.

    But yeah- they are pretty brutal. And the better you get at it- the harder you can push- which is why it never gets "easy".
    Yep. There's really no ceiling on HIIT because you always strive to be faster on reps or you can just increase resistance to make it harder. So sucking less at it would be a good analogy.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
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    Lizandro88 wrote: »
    What exercises can I do at home that'll work well with the HIIT system.

    Anything that is metabolically challenging to the point that you can only do it for about 20 - 30 seconds before you have to stop (or significantly slow down).

  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    Lizandro88 wrote: »
    What exercises can I do at home that'll work well with the HIIT system.

    Don't think of HIIT as a "training" system.

    HIIT is merely how you arrange your training. HIIT is the TIMING of it.

    You can do ANYTHING with HIIT... people make me a little stabby when they assume HIIT means get on the treadmill and crank it up to 10- then drop it to 3.5 ever 40/10 second splits.

    I mostly do hiit at home- with body weight- or out in- say the park- all you need is a timer- or even rep sets (you'll see AMRAP which is HIIT.) Time ones to techncially count- like how long does it take you to do 50 burpess- it's like the baby version of hiit- anyway- moving on

    So- pick 5 exercises-
    1.) Squats
    2.) Burpees
    3.) Tuck Jumps
    4.) Bridge Lifts
    5.) Push Ups

    Set a timer for 50 seconds work- 10 seconds rest or if you're new- do like 45/15- whatever- you can do 10/10 (PS this timing sucks- don't do it for anything more than like 3-5 min)


    do 4-12 rounds of that- do as much as you can in each 45 second split. rest- then move on to the next exercise.


    You're going to suck as you get to the end- so say for the first 45 seconds- you might get 25 squats. The last round- you might only get 19- that's totally normal- totally fine.

    Again- you never get really good at it- you just suck less. :) Go forth- be miserable.

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