HIIT Training & Shorter Workouts...

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I do cardio 5 days a week. Four days I do 20 minutes before and after my strength training and I try to do two of those as HIIT workouts. Then I spend one day devoted to cardio for 1 hour straight mixing it up with treadmill, arc and elliptical. Everything I read says the shorter workouts are better, especially the HIIT workouts. I may have to shorten day 5 too and also do HIIT that day. Anyone else do this kind of training and shorter workouts? What are your results? Supposedly, you lose more fat and faster.
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  • Ironmaiden4life
    Ironmaiden4life Posts: 422 Member
    edited July 2015
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    True HIIT ...everything you've got with nothing left in the tank when you're done is excellent at helping to reduce body fat but it shouldn't be overused. Most people say they're doing HIIT but often they're not reaching the 85% target heart range. Because of its intensity 3 times a week is plenty with no more than 20 minutes each session. If you're just starting out you may want to start out with a shorter duration once or twice a week and build from there.
  • KimberlyAndrews1
    KimberlyAndrews1 Posts: 87 Member
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    I've been doing it about once to twice a week. I think I'd better keep it at that right now. I'm 50 years old and I am hitting between the target heart rate of 140-150, so that's about 85% I think. I know it sure feels like I'm going to drop and I can't breath. lol I do walk/run intervals on the tread mill and fast slow intervals on the Arc Trainer and Elliptical.
  • dbritt07
    dbritt07 Posts: 17 Member
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    True HIIT ...everything you've got with nothing left in the tank when you're done is excellent at helping to reduce body fat but it shouldn't be overused. Most people say they're doing HIIT but often they're not reaching the 85% target heart range. Because of its intensity 3 times a week is plenty with no more than 20 minutes each session. If you're just starting out you may want to start out with a shorter duration once or twice a week and build from there.

    I'm doing true 85% (+ sometimes) target HR, HIIT 4-5 days a week at a professional place that does this type of training exclusively. I am eating more now than ever because I am famished all the time and I am actually gaining some weight when I need to lose. It's been six weeks and I decided to take a week off due to some minor knee, foot and back pain I started to just develop since starting this. I need to lose 75-ish pounds and wonder if I am overdoing it. Does the increased appetite go away or is that normal even? BMR is 2350 and my Surge is calculating I am burning roughly 1,000 calories per hour long session plus I walk my dog about 5 miles in addition to this each day.
  • Ironmaiden4life
    Ironmaiden4life Posts: 422 Member
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    You're doing HIIT for an hour at 85% MHR 4-5 times a week??????? :open_mouth:
  • dbritt07
    dbritt07 Posts: 17 Member
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    Yes, I really am!
  • AsISmile
    AsISmile Posts: 1,004 Member
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    dbritt07 wrote: »
    True HIIT ...everything you've got with nothing left in the tank when you're done is excellent at helping to reduce body fat but it shouldn't be overused. Most people say they're doing HIIT but often they're not reaching the 85% target heart range. Because of its intensity 3 times a week is plenty with no more than 20 minutes each session. If you're just starting out you may want to start out with a shorter duration once or twice a week and build from there.

    I'm doing true 85% (+ sometimes) target HR, HIIT 4-5 days a week at a professional place that does this type of training exclusively. I am eating more now than ever because I am famished all the time and I am actually gaining some weight when I need to lose. It's been six weeks and I decided to take a week off due to some minor knee, foot and back pain I started to just develop since starting this. I need to lose 75-ish pounds and wonder if I am overdoing it. Does the increased appetite go away or is that normal even? BMR is 2350 and my Surge is calculating I am burning roughly 1,000 calories per hour long session plus I walk my dog about 5 miles in addition to this each day.

    I can guarantee you that is not your BMR. TDEE perhaps, but definitely not BMR.
    Also, you are probably over doing it.
    1) it is almost virtually impossible to do HIIT for an hour. After the first half hour you should be tired enough to not be able anymore to go to such a high intensity for the second half hour.
    Btw, why would you want go burn 1000 calories working out? You need to eat them back anyway. So why not just go for 200-500 burn?
    2) If you are eating more than you are burning, you are doing too much. Apparently your body can't keep up with your workout regimen on a calorie deficit. Why not drop the HIIT to 2 or 3 times a week and find some other exercise you enjoy doing. Or just keep it at 3 HIIT sessions and make sure you are eating at defecit 7 days a week.

    Ps. Eat back your exercise calories. Don't make your defecit too big and become malnourished.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
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    Everything I read says the shorter workouts are better, especially the HIIT workouts.

    I wouldn't buy into that hype really if your principal concern is fat loss and that is why you are doing it.

    HIIT is time efficient certainly and given the higher intensity burns more calories in the same timeframe as lower intensity workouts. On the flip side there is a greater risk of injury. Bearing in mind that with lower intensity work you can do it for longer and recover quicker, even factoring in "afterburn" (EPOC), the results won't be radically different.

    Do what you feel comfortable with but be careful not to overdo the HIIT which can be easily done.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
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    dbritt07 wrote: »
    True HIIT ...everything you've got with nothing left in the tank when you're done is excellent at helping to reduce body fat but it shouldn't be overused. Most people say they're doing HIIT but often they're not reaching the 85% target heart range. Because of its intensity 3 times a week is plenty with no more than 20 minutes each session. If you're just starting out you may want to start out with a shorter duration once or twice a week and build from there.

    I'm doing true 85% (+ sometimes) target HR, HIIT 4-5 days a week at a professional place that does this type of training exclusively. I am eating more now than ever because I am famished all the time and I am actually gaining some weight when I need to lose. It's been six weeks and I decided to take a week off due to some minor knee, foot and back pain I started to just develop since starting this. I need to lose 75-ish pounds and wonder if I am overdoing it. Does the increased appetite go away or is that normal even? BMR is 2350 and my Surge is calculating I am burning roughly 1,000 calories per hour long session plus I walk my dog about 5 miles in addition to this each day.

    Seriously dude, unless you have an incredible recovery capacity, you are not doing HIIT. You may however be doing interval training which is an excellent form of training. In addition, gauging intensity through heart rate monitoring wouldn't really work with HIIT given the lag in readings with the heart rate monitor, the time it takes for your heart rate to climb and fall depending on the length of the work and recovery sets, general cardiac drift. Other measures like perceived effort ("holy crap, I am going to die") would be more suitable.

    Re: the hunger it is something you may have to learn to deal with if you are intent on keeping this training. It could be partly psychological ("I've done a hard session so I deserve to eat more") or physiological (your body trying to recover and needing more energy and nutrients to do so.) Play around with the intensity of your sessions to see if that makes a difference to your hunger levels.

    Finally, check your numbers particularly in relation to your exercise burn. Activity monitors can over estimate / miscalculate the amount of calories burned particularly when doing interval / high intensity work.
  • Ironmaiden4life
    Ironmaiden4life Posts: 422 Member
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    dbritt07 wrote: »
    Yes, I really am!

    Look forward to seeing you in the next Olympics!
  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
    edited July 2015
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    HIIT is not 85% max heart rate. HIIT is above 100% VO2max for a short period. 85% max heart rate is a moderate pace at the bottom end of the lactate threshold that a trained runner can easily hold for well over an hour (if rested).

    85% max is even too easy to qualify as an anaerobic interval. For that you need to be over around 92% max for 2 minutes at a time.
  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
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    dbritt07 wrote: »
    True HIIT ...everything you've got with nothing left in the tank when you're done is excellent at helping to reduce body fat but it shouldn't be overused. Most people say they're doing HIIT but often they're not reaching the 85% target heart range. Because of its intensity 3 times a week is plenty with no more than 20 minutes each session. If you're just starting out you may want to start out with a shorter duration once or twice a week and build from there.

    I'm doing true 85% (+ sometimes) target HR, HIIT 4-5 days a week at a professional place that does this type of training exclusively. . . . and wonder if I am overdoing it.
    Yes, you are overdoing it. On that program you will burn out in not more than several months. That type of workout is good once or twice a week if it is supported by a lot of easy running at not more than about 77% max heart rate. So, if you are doing one hour a week at 85% then on top of that you should be doing 4 hours a week at the lower heart rate. That is sustainable forever.

  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
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    The reason you are so hungry is because running at 85% you are burning through your stored glycogen every workout. If you run at 77% max or less you will burn less glycogen and more fat and be much less hungry
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Everything I read says the shorter workouts are better, especially the HIIT workouts.

    First, better at what? For what?

    Second, if your workouts are that long, you're not doing HIIT, you're just doing intervals.

    dbritt07 wrote: »
    True HIIT ...everything you've got with nothing left in the tank when you're done is excellent at helping to reduce body fat but it shouldn't be overused. Most people say they're doing HIIT but often they're not reaching the 85% target heart range. Because of its intensity 3 times a week is plenty with no more than 20 minutes each session. If you're just starting out you may want to start out with a shorter duration once or twice a week and build from there.

    I'm doing true 85% (+ sometimes) target HR, HIIT 4-5 days...

    That's not HIIT.

    Yes, I really am!

    No, really, you're not.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited July 2015
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    msf74 wrote: »
    HIIT is time efficient certainly and given the higher intensity burns more calories in the same timeframe as lower intensity workouts.

    HIIT is the opposite of time efficient, because it requires significant rest periods between sets, you can't do many sets, and you need softer recovery days. Real HIIT is along the lines of 4-6 all out 200m sprints, with several minutes recovery time between each sprint. That gets you, max, 1.2km of running in 30-ish minutes. In that same amount of time, an amateur runner is going to do 5k, and burn 4x the calories.

    The most time efficient way to burn calories exercising (if that is somebody's goal) is medium intensity steady state cardio, because it can be done for long periods of time, and it can be done pretty much every day.

    scottb81 wrote: »
    dbritt07 wrote: »
    True HIIT ...everything you've got with nothing left in the tank when you're done is excellent at helping to reduce body fat but it shouldn't be overused. Most people say they're doing HIIT but often they're not reaching the 85% target heart range. Because of its intensity 3 times a week is plenty with no more than 20 minutes each session. If you're just starting out you may want to start out with a shorter duration once or twice a week and build from there.

    I'm doing true 85% (+ sometimes) target HR, HIIT 4-5 days a week at a professional place that does this type of training exclusively. . . . and wonder if I am overdoing it.
    Yes, you are overdoing it. On that program you will burn out in not more than several months. That type of workout is good once or twice a week if it is supported by a lot of easy running at not more than about 77% max heart rate. So, if you are doing one hour a week at 85% then on top of that you should be doing 4 hours a week at the lower heart rate. That is sustainable forever.

    Listen to this dude.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    dbritt07 wrote: »
    True HIIT ...everything you've got with nothing left in the tank when you're done is excellent at helping to reduce body fat but it shouldn't be overused. Most people say they're doing HIIT but often they're not reaching the 85% target heart range. Because of its intensity 3 times a week is plenty with no more than 20 minutes each session. If you're just starting out you may want to start out with a shorter duration once or twice a week and build from there.

    I'm doing true 85% (+ sometimes) target HR, HIIT 4-5 days a week at a professional place that does this type of training exclusively. I am eating more now than ever because I am famished all the time and I am actually gaining some weight when I need to lose. It's been six weeks and I decided to take a week off due to some minor knee, foot and back pain I started to just develop since starting this. I need to lose 75-ish pounds and wonder if I am overdoing it. Does the increased appetite go away or is that normal even? BMR is 2350 and my Surge is calculating I am burning roughly 1,000 calories per hour long session plus I walk my dog about 5 miles in addition to this each day.


    True HIIT is a little bit harder than 85% of HR. Your work periods are not as hard as you think.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
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    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    msf74 wrote: »
    HIIT is time efficient certainly and given the higher intensity burns more calories in the same timeframe as lower intensity workouts.

    HIIT is the opposite of time efficient, because it requires significant rest periods between sets, you can't do many sets, and you need softer recovery days. Real HIIT is along the lines of 4-6 all out 200m sprints, with several minutes recovery time between each sprint. That gets you, max, 1.2km of running in 30-ish minutes. In that same amount of time, an amateur runner is going to do 5k, and burn 4x the calories.

    The most time efficient way to burn calories exercising (if that is somebody's goal) is medium intensity steady state cardio, because it can be done for long periods of time, and it can be done pretty much every day.

    Sure, fair point.
  • WeaponXI
    WeaponXI Posts: 63 Member
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    According to Professor Izumi Tabata (the guy that came up with HIIT), HIIT consists of 20 seconds of ultra intense exercise of about 170% of VO2 max, followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated consistently for 4 minutes (8 cycles).
    Today's fitness culture seems to re-label interval training as HIIT, when in all honesty, it's quite different. Studies of true HIIT involve actual athletes(Professor Tabata used Olympic speed skaters for his research).
  • kcjchang
    kcjchang Posts: 709 Member
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    The problem: 1.) con artists that label every workout as HIIT to make a buck, 2.) unswerving believe HRM is the only matrix that matters (a different set of con artists), 3.) general public that clings to the next miracle instead of putting in the work, and 4.) the sensationalizing of scientific researches without trying to understand the underlying science and limits of the research parameters.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    if someone is doing that much HIIT...real HIIT. i doubt they would even be hungry since that type of exercise greatly effects leptin and ghrelin, the 2 hormones that are control hunger.


  • jeremywm1977
    jeremywm1977 Posts: 657 Member
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    kcjchang wrote: »
    The problem: 1.) con artists that label every workout as HIIT to make a buck, 2.) unswerving believe HRM is the only matrix that matters (a different set of con artists), 3.) general public that clings to the next miracle instead of putting in the work, and 4.) the sensationalizing of scientific researches without trying to understand the underlying science and limits of the research parameters.

    Usually after outlining "the problem", it's kind of standard to outline "the solution".
    Please go on.